"Grief is not linear." It's been a long year for Everett. He's locked his heart away so far behind a wall of misplaced loyalty that he finds himself traveling a dark, twisting road on the way to care for his stubborn, homophobic grandfather in a town he never wanted to see again. A little accident however, derails that trip and introduces him to the local law...a seriously hot specimen who makes Ev feel things he swore he was done feeling forever. Silas is intrigued by the reluctant man he finds limping on the side of a dangerous road. Turned on too. As they grow closer it's clear that there are some serious emotional hurdles they'll each have to clear to find their HEA...but only if the person behind the disappearances from the town can be stopped because it's more than just their relationship in danger.
I'm pretty sure I loved almost everything about Everett. There were many times that I was completely frustrated with his determination to push Silas away but I felt so much sympathy for his struggle. Dealing with your own grief is never easy. And for him to take the advice of so many professionals and still feel totally lost? How is that easy or healthy? So when he meets the man who could possibly give him everything his heart yearns for, everything he was hoping for but lost, his response is absolutely understandable and equally exasperating.
Silas, on the other hand, kept me interested mostly by being vexing. The constant denials, the total dick move at the bar, his pushing based on his own hurt feelings...so many things frustrated me. But I totally loved him. He was such a perfect match for Everett and the honesty of his heart as well as his personal hangups made him so very human.
Whenever their relationship hit an obstacle I was so bothered by their reactions but by the time they got their resolution I honestly can't see it going any other way. Everett's moment of realization is in a pretty dramatic situation but I loved his reflection on it...recognizing that hearing his own thoughts voiced by a crazy person is, well, crazy went a long way to making me find humor rather than disappointment in his weakness.
Speaking of the crazy, the "villain" is pretty obvious once they're introduced. We knew a big moment was coming but while who ended up being involved turned out to be predictable, it was the lead-up to it that was interesting. And the surprise confession was exactly that; a surprise that brought everything full-circle and answered the grief of so many people gave closure in a way that just accepting grief hadn't been able to do up to this point.
With a story filled with so much grief we could have had a melodramatic set of events and emotionally unstable characters that didn't achieve necessary growth or evolution. Instead, our first look into the love lives of O'Learians gives us humor, passion, softness, healing, acceptance, growth, intrigue, uniqueness, and love. I kind of want to live there...between a town that sees a rainbow flag as a field of phallic objects, nosy neighbors who want everyone to find their love match, and the bakery with treats I seriously drool over, who wouldn't want to be a part of their world?
*$3.99 on Amazon or FREE on KU!
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