The Bones of our Fathers by Elin Gregory

This was a five star read despite not really being the kind of story I would necessarily choose if I was browsing on Amazon. However, the beauty of being a reviewer is discovering authors you would normally overlook and getting to enjoy their work. Elin Gregory is a great story teller. She has obviously done a huge amount of research which makes this story feel authentic and it was also surprisingly educational. 

Mal moves to a small town on the Welsh border to become curator of their small museum. He is on the rebound from a failed relationship and doesn't expect such a place to have much of a gay scene but soon enough he meets the infamous Dirty Rob. Rob is a local and works as a digger operator. An instant attraction forms and the rest of the book centres around their developing relationship. The main plot line of the story however, is the discovery of an ancient burial tomb on a piece of land that is being cleared for building new houses. Mal is called in to assess the find and from there on in, all hell breaks out in the small sleepy town. 

A fantastic array of support characters enhance this story and I really enjoyed the message of 'community' that was highlighted by their acts and deeds throughout. The dialogue is humorous and witty. The sex scenes are naughty and very well described without being overly explicit, and there isn't too much angst.

As the plot thickens events conspire to break Mal and Rob apart, but I found myself rooting for their HEA because they are both such great guys and very deserving of each other. Overall there was a real feel good factor in this story. I was drawn in by the plot surrounding the discovered relic and liked the message behind that too. (No spoilers!) I hope there will be more books possibly involving some of the other characters because I found I've gotten rather attached to them all...