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Blurb
As a young man, Dominic Jacobsen already suspects he’s gay, and he gets all the confirmation he needs when a rich boy from out of town climbs into the back seat of Dominic’s GTO. One night with Lamar Franklin is all it takes to convince Dominic he’s found the man of his dreams. Unfortunately, that one night is all he’ll get before Lamar returns to Tucson.
Fifteen years later Lamar returns to Coda, Colorado, after ending the latest in a string of bad relationships. He’s alone, depressed, and plagued by late-night phone calls from an unidentified caller. Lamar’s ready to give up when he comes face-to-face with his past.
Since he was seventeen, Dominic has dreamed of a reunion with Lamar, but that doesn’t mean he’s ready for it now. Facing small-town rumors and big-family drama is bad enough, but Dominic won’t risk losing custody of his teenage daughter, Naomi. The only solution is to make sure he and Lamar remain friends and nothing more. Clothes stay on, no matter what.
It seems simple enough. But for better or worse, Lamar has other ideas.
Review
Though this comes from the Coda story line, it is a standalone. However, if I hadn’t read the other books I wouldn’t have found much that I found appealing in this story.
Basically, this is about Dominic and his complete unwillingness to be a gay man because he’s afraid of what people will think. Poor Lamar just gets hurt over and over as Dom chooses everyone’s happiness but Lamar’s time and again.
Lamar and Dom met as teenagers and made out once on the night before Lamar left town. There is no contact between the two for the next 15 years.
Lamar ends up dating several men with major problems and never finding the “right” guy. He moves back to Coda not realizing Dom still lives there and is in fact teaching his daughter for weeks before realizing who she is.
Dom can’t be gay – he thinks – so he ends up in a failed marriage with a wonderful woman and they have a daughter. For the last several years he’s been raising his daughter and sharing custody with her mother.
When Lamar comes back to town, the attraction is still there. Back and forth we go with the “I want you” “I can’t be around you” but “I want you” but “I can’t be gay” but “I want you” until finally Lamar puts his foot down.
When Matt (from earlier books), the wife, and ultimately the daughter, all finally get Dom to listen to reason, Dom finally admits who he is to his family and reaches out to Lamar, hoping it’s not too late.
**
Marie Sexton and the Coda series was one of the first few books in this genre I read. I LOVE them. I was so psyched to see the boys again that I barely skimmed the blurb and just said YES,YES,YES!
While I was more or less happy to catch up with the guys: all married now, still acting like they did before (ie Jared makes Matt jealous just by breathing, Matt still checks out women more than men, Zach still likes watching Ang with other guys) it wasn’t earth shattering.
I really, really didn’t care for Dom. Not even at the end when he’s supposed to have “redeemed” himself. He just felt like a douche and Lamar could do better.
Though I was happy for the HEA I didn’t feel it as keenly as I had in the other books in this series.
If you’re a fan, you’ll probably be like me and be interested enough in the series to continue with this, but if you’re not I don’t know that this will appeal all that much.
Marie writes really well, and I love her descriptions of life in Colorado (makes me homesick!), but I was disappointed in the love connection between Lamar and Dom. I just didn’t see them making it.
I give it a 3 of 5 hearts because it wasn’t bad, it just wasn’t nearly as good as I was expecting or hoping.
