Zach stumbled into owning a video store even though he doesn’t even like movies, and now he’s barely scraping by.  He knows next to nothing about his own wares, and he doesn’t really care about the customers.  He’s lonely, so he happily falls into a casual relationship with the shop’s new landlord, Tom.  It’s not really satisfying, but he is willing to take what he can get.  Then a customer walks in, asking about movies, and suddenly Zach’s offering him a job.  Angelo quickly proves to be the best employee he ever had.

Angelo Green didn’t plan to get a job at A to Z video rental, but he loves working there.  It’s fun and easy, and Zach quickly becomes a friend.  Angelo’s not happy to find his feelings for Zach deepening.  Zach’s with that creep, Tom, and Angelo doesn’t do relationships.  When Zach finally starts to get a clue, will Angelo run?

A to Z is a lovely story about two very different men learning to understand and love each other despite their differences and issues.  The story is told through alternating first-person chapters, and both Zach and Angelo are great narrators.  Zach is thirty-four, lonely, and clueless.  It took him years to get his life together after wasting his college years partying and having random sex.  He doesn’t see his own appeal at all, and he has a tendency not to understand jokes that cracked me up several times.  In spite of his cluelessness, he’s a good person and a loyal friend.  Angelo is a very different person.  His childhood was horrible, leading him to run away from foster care at sixteen.  He’s been taking care of himself ever since.  He’s prickly and even the idea of a relationship freaks him out.  He’s afraid of his attraction to Zach, and yet afraid of losing him at the same time.  When Zach’s video store is threatened, a chance encounter with Matt and Jared (from Marie Sexton’s Promises) may be their salvation, or it may destroy everything.

It was easy to root for Zach and Angelo as they work through Angelo’s issues and the potential loss of Zach’s livelihood.  One thing I really liked about A to Z was the story’s slow pace.  Angelo and Zach form a friendship before anything else, and that’s a pleasure to read.  They also deal with Angelo’s problems slowly, without the magic fix I’ve seen in way too many romances.  The scenes between them are sometimes funny, sometimes emotional, and sometimes hot, but always enjoyable.  The glimpse into the lives of Matt and Jared was nice, too.  If you’re in the mood for a slow-paced, emotional tale with realistic conflict and a sweet ending, pick up A to Z.  You won’t regret it!