Loving Him: Hearts Intertwined Book 1, Drea Roman

Attraction so strong can only carry a relationship so far.  With a heart full of grief, Black can't really make room for Aubrey, yet he can't help but try.  Aubrey is falling quickly for the hesitant, vulnerable, unfailingly sweet, and sexy artist except the lack of transparency is slowly eating away at his heart.  Without complete honesty there can be no healing, no progression, no them.  Black will have to decide if a past of pain and loneliness is more important to hold onto than a future of forgiveness and love.

So. Many. Words.  At times it was so full of beautiful description that I was right there feeling along with the men, seeing what they saw, and experiencing the moment along with them.  Unfortunately, more often than not, my eyes were glazing over and I was skimming over whole paragraphs, pages of text that revealed a serious lack of self-editing.  The story could have packed a lot more punch if the writing were streamlined, focused, and backed with intent rather than description.

As for the story itself, it was a good story of healing, love, compassion, forgiveness, and shedding the things that held them back.  The tragedy was definitely a tragedy, but it was built up over and over again only to fall flat with the confession and retelling.  Having the discussion broken up like it was broke the tension and lessened the effect it should have had.  While the conversation itself probably needed the moments of relief for both of the characters, it also dragged it out and a ton of repetition of the very few known facts didn't help anything either.  Saying the same thing in slightly varied ways doesn't add intensity or enhance the telling, it cheapens it and makes the reader tune it out.

Both men were likable and interesting, but when certain side characters got page time, like Aubrey's aunts, they pulled focus and were far more memorable for me.  The story overall was good and the relationship, when it was purposefully guided, was wonderful.  For a first-time author this was a good attempt but they would benefit from streamlining, editing, and attentive beta readers.

*$2.99 on Amazon