Carina Press Presents: http://ebooks.carinapress.com/6D174924-1060-4B31-8A76-1BD338605A4E/10/134/en/ContentDetails.htm?ID=6683E311-33F0-4252-B4A8-2E5502D530A5
Blurb
Detective Nathan Wolf might just be a junior detective, but he tackles every case with the passion that he lacks in his personal life. A series of failed relationships with women has left him still single at thirty-four—because he’s too scared to admit to his longtime crush on his best friend James.
Dr. James Taggert likes to keep his profession as a psychiatrist separate from his party-animal persona. Known around the gay clubs as Tag, he’s the guy who screws them, leaves them, and never looks back. But James’s drinking is getting heavier, and when bad memories from the past resurface, he’s close to becoming the worst version of himself.
After a drunken blackout ends in a hot and heavy make-out session with his very straight best friend, James has no memory of the steamy affair. But Nathan isn’t sorry for the kisses that James can’t remember. Nathan finally musters the courage to tell James how he really feels, but a life-altering event might force them apart before they can ever be together.
Review
James is an alcoholic psychiatrist who is dealing with his own tragic past by living at the bottom of a bottle and mindlessly hooking up in bars.
At first Nathan is a just James’ best friend who may or may not be sexually interested in James (his first and only man-crush) but then he gets attacked and now he’s also suffering from PTSD.
There are also some secondary characters who are going through A LOT of really bad stuff and this stuff gets interwoven into James and Nate’s story as well.
Nate and James dance around their attraction and then finally commit to trying things out, but there are still obstacles to be overcome.
In the end we get a pretty solid HEA.
**
This was my first book by this author and I’m not sure if this is representative of all her work or not, but for me it was way too much angst and not enough fluffy, sappy, loving to reward me for living through the drama.
I did NOT like the fact that James is a black-out drunk to the point that he has some questionable sexual encounters of dubious consent, especially AFTER he and Nate are beginning to hook up with one another. Because I couldn’t really like James (he’s a shrink who can’t realize he’s an alcoholic? Sure, he’s in denial, but really??) I didn’t like him for Nate.
I liked Nate well enough, but thought his straight to gay-for-James was a little bit too quick given all the other drama in his life.
The smexy times were great, but it bothered me that James was seen (on page) with Elliott, too.
Perhaps this is a more “real” type romance in that life isn’t always kittens and rainbows, but for me, I look for books that are chock full of glittery-unicorn-rainbow-filled-love-fests and when those moments happen after an angst filled journey they are the highest reward. In this case I got the angst but not nearly enough romance to compensate.
The writing was good and the story was interesting, but I was so tired of the drama by the end that I was honestly glad to see the story over.
Writing/Editing 4
Romance 2
Sex/Heat 4
Storyline 2
World Building/Characterizations 2
2.8 of 5 hearts
