The Right Way: The Way Home Book 3, May Archer

One moment.  One kiss.  One momentous change.  Bas and Drew have been friends their entire lives and are closer than siblings.  Brooding genius Bas often becomes lost in logic and the only one to break him from his obsession is Drew with his concern, easy banter, meals, and soothing voice.  Drew finds comfort in control and being a mother hen to Bas.  That care comes from more than friendship, though he'd never admit that to his best friend.  Until one moment of cinnamon red-hot flavored bliss reveals Drew's biggest secret and drives a wedge between the two friends.  With a dangerous Russian coming closer and closer to hurting all of them they'll have to work together to stop him before he succeeds in silencing them all forever.

There's been a ton of angst between these two characters who can't imagine life without one another but changes between them confuse and frustrate them in equal measure.  Bas promises not to run from Drew but by retreating into his logic and his computers he does it anyway.  Obsessed with discovering everything he can about Alexei he spends days sifting through code and information all to find out more about who they're dealing with and what could possibly bring him down.

He avoids Drew to the point that the rest of their little adopted family conscripts Drew to break the silence between them.  Drew misses his friend like he misses a limb but he's also very hurt.  Halloween wasn't supposed to turn out like this.  One time.  That was all it took to both break his heart and renew his resolve to get over his feelings for Bas.  With the threat that Bas will do something risky for all of them because he can't find the balance Drew usually gives to him, he makes a date with a rando and then goes to Bas' basement office with Pad Thai.

With the doors open between them Bas realizes just how big a presence Drew is for him.  He's still immensely confused by the conflict between his head and his heart but can't bear to push him away anymore.  Resolved to keep their friendship intact he tries to go back to their norm while also dancing around the giant Halloween-shaped elephant in the room.

With danger close on their heels they become distracted and circumstances mean they have to deal with everything all at once.  Drew's dictating to Bas what he's feeling, Bas is jealous and lashes out, their feelings are all over the place and their friends are trying to keep things focused on SILA's threat.  Once both of them decide to talk about their relationship and actually listen to one another things come together rather quickly.

I haven't read The Easy Way yet but the way Cort handles both Drew and then Bas is awesome.  His advice is even better.  The way he talks, like kitten with a ball of yarn, and his subtle and not-so-subtle analogies are both funny and spot-on.  I'm in love.  I'll be reading his and Cam's story really soon.  Cort gave them both perspective on their relationship situation, enough to make them see beyond their own heads and into what could be if only they'd think less and feel more.

And feel more they did...so sexy when they finally got to it!  The steamy moments were fueled by the years and years of emotional involvement, selfless love, and so much yearning.  There was forgiveness, healing, and passion.  And then a knock on the door...

That knock changed the game for everyone.  For Alexei and their little family as well.  It was dramatic and the reckoning that came was a bit unexpected and more traumatic than I had expected as well.  It certainly wrapped up all the craziness from Alexei's vendetta they were dealing with.

Wrapping up the happiness, however, was a little different.  The epilogue didn't match the rest of the story, or even the entire series, in fact.  The point of view was kind of outside but kind of not either. Like it was the guys' voice but then not, as if I were reading from Bas' perspective and then hearing the crowd's whispers and then he was a bit sappy for Bas and then I thought maybe it wasn't him since we were getting all the "static" from everywhere else too.  Overall, it wasn't the best epilogue because some really amazing moments were glossed over and were included as a catch-all type of epilogue rather than really closing out the story with the strength and determination that ran throughout the series.  I'm hoping for bonus content to be on the author's website to make up for the tantalizing glimpses we got into their future and for a bit more closure than was included in the story.

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*Cam and Cort, Damon and Cain, Bas and Drew

Each of them found The Way Home, to each other.

Read each of their stories...