His Kind of Love, Kate Hawthorne

Joel, a vulnerable young man with nowhere to go ends up on Gabriel's doorstep and unwittingly opens the doors to his future.  But will that future be rosy or full of fear and disappointment?

Joel has been abandoned and a disappointment his entire life.  He has one friend and a job he enjoys but his days are quiet and unassuming and quite simple.  He's lonely.  A prospect for a date has him excited but quickly turns into a series of unfortunate events leading right to the very person who could ease that loneliness.

Gabriel has been waiting for someone to ease the pain of loneliness for years.  When one bedraggled but very dear young man takes his offer of a safe, warm, dry place to stay he's sure that Joel is the one.  But Gabriel has secrets.  Big ones.  Ones that, if revealed, could send Joel running and Gabriel won't take that chance so he hold those secrets as close as he can.  Until that choice is taken away from him.

There are quite a few downs and a couple ups in this story.  I love Joel's earnestness and his willingness to forgive and love.  He has a big heart and is very, very sweet.  He's also very trusting and quite naive.  Gabriel is generous, full of love, a bit damaged, and also quite earnest.  Together they have the potential to be excellent partners.

There is also a huge creepy factor to this story that I have a hard time getting behind.  Yes, all's well that ends well, but it doesn't make the situation okay or even healthy.  Gabriel needs some serious counseling.  The kind of love that I was expecting was BDSM type stuff that might have been a bit much for the sweet, youthful Joel.  The instances of self-love hinted at Joel being receptive to a rougher, more specific type of loving.  Yet that wasn't the case.  What Gabriel's type of love is is actually a bit disturbing no matter how deep the love it comes from is.  Athena said it best:

"Joel, listen.  There's no denying what he did was shitty, and a lot creepy, and maybe a smidge romantic, but mostly creepy."

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