Dreamspinner Presents
http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=5791
Blurb
Paramedic Pete Adams lived through the year from hell watching his lover, Ash, fall apart, and the precarious balance between work and home is becoming more strained. His heart is always home, with Ash, but the dark side to his job is weighing him down.
Tattoo artist Ash Fagin is recovering from a nervous breakdown triggered by revelations about his traumatic childhood. His battle with mental illness is far from over, but with Pete by his side, he’s feeling good again, so good he doesn’t notice something missing until it walks right into his living room.
Ash believes he’s had enough coincidence in his life, but when a voice from the past comes looking for him, it takes the devastating injuries of the one he loves most to convince him to let a ghost become the family he never knew he wanted.
Review
Ash is recovering from his breakdown and Pete is helping him as best he can while wrestling with his own demons.
Though Pete has been the strong one in the past, his job (in general) and some tough calls (specifically) drain his energy and force him to really rely on Ash for a change.
Things in Ash’s life are changing too. A mystery woman enters his life who may or may not be significant in his past.
There is more drama and angst – as is to be expected – but overriding it is the love that Pete and Ash share. It only deepens and strengthens as each of them grows and heals.
**
I can’t say this is a “happy” book, but it feels lighter than the first. I was grateful to see Ash healing and moving on (mostly) from his past and I loved seeing more of Pete as a real person and less the idealized boyfriend.
I felt like I connected with the MCs more in this book and thus liked this book a bit more than Slide.
Garrett Leigh is a very good writer and I really appreciate her ability to create these very deep, complex, wounded characters. When you’re in the mood for angst and heart-ache but you need to know there’s light at the end of the tunnel – I’d turn to her for a sure bet.
Audio
For me, Michael Lesley turns this book from a good to great. I just adore his take on Ash. I can almost see and feel him through his voice alone. Michael does a tremendous job of giving us the emotion, the variation in characters and the timing to draw us deeply into the story and immerse us in the character’s lives.
4.5 of 5 hearts
