Love Ahead is a compilation of two novellas by Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux .

In Under Contract , we meet Ted Lucas, a foreman at a Birmingham construction company and his assistant foreman Nick Cooper. Lucas is infamous around the job site for his bad temper and abrasive ways. He is in love with Cooper, but he has been outed at a construction site in the past and is very reticent to expose himself to ridicule once again. Cooper shares Lucas’s attraction but is hesitant to call what they are feeling “love.” When Cooper is injured on the job, Lucas moves in to take care of him and to hopefully win his friend’s love. Their relationship seems to be progressing until Lucas is informed that he is being transferred to another site…two states away. Will these two men choose to stay together regardless of the transfer or will they choose to go their separate ways?

Over the Road looks at the world of long-haul trucking. Elliott Cochran and Jimmy Vaughn are friends who have never actually met each other. They talk for hours on the phone or by CB radio but know each other only by their call names. They are only phone friends and will probably never get a chance to actually meet each other, so why do they feel guilty when they each find someone to have a physical relationship with?

In Love Ahead, Madeleine Urban and Abigail Roux give us two well written and entirely enjoyable stories about men finding love with each other in the unlikeliest of job fields. The worlds of construction and long-haul trucking are traditionally homophobic, but these two stories break the macho stereotypes and give us love stories that are sweet, emotional, and even humorous. Ms. Urban and Ms. Roux have developed strong and well-rounded characters and have placed them in situations that test their mettle and challenge their comfort zones.

Although both of these stories are excellent, I found Over the Road to be the slightly more entertaining of the two. Much of this story is taken up by telephone conversations between Elliott and Jimmy, and the repartee between them is affectionate and frequently hilarious. Even though the reader knows exactly what is going on at all times, an element of suspense is maintained throughout the story. It is enough to keep a reader hooked and rooting for Elliott and Jimmy to find and recognize each other. Readers looking for stories of love and humor will find Love Ahead to be both engaging and fun.

Reviewed by: Whitney