Rating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Brook and Casey were once in love and happily raising their son Ryan together…then their world was torn apart. Nowadays, they can barely be in the same room with each other. When their son goes missing on a camping trip, however, Brook and Casey will have to put aside their anger with one another in order to find Ryan. As the two are given a second chance to make amends for their past mistakes with each other, they have an opportunity to listen to each other, reconcile their history, and recover the love they once shared.
I honestly have mixed feelings about this book. There were parts of this story that I really liked, then there were parts that had me shaking my head. As many of you know, I usually avoid novellas because many times I feel as if I am missing part of the story – and unfortunately, this is one of those cases. This is a book that really could have benefitted tremendously from a couple of more chapters.
The plot was intriguing with two people who once were the loves of each other’s lives – now mortal enemies – having to work together to find their missing child. Considering the story starts off with a “bang” with these two butting heads over Ryan going away for the weekend when it was Brook’s weekend with his son, I was not the least bit optimistic that these two could reconcile their differences at all. There are a ton of raw emotions (anger, bitterness, hurt, despair, and guilt) seeping through those opening pages.
These raw emotions make for some really hot sexy times between these two. While these guys may have trouble verbally communicating, they have absolutely no problems when the lights are off.
I also liked that the ending was appropriate for this story. I know that some of you like stories where there is a happily ever after and plans for weddings – but you aren’t going to get that here. Instead, you get a realistic ending that will leave you satisfied.
One of the issues I had with this story is that it is told strictly from Casey’s point of view. Casey has been raising Ryan on his own for the last year and a half – with the exception of an occasional weekend with Brook. Without giving away any of the details, Brook did something wrong and it led to the demise of their relationship. For me, I wanted and needed to hear/see both of their sides about what happened and how they could move forward, but instead, all we get is Casey’s viewpoint.
A second issue I had is that I couldn’t understand how these two men, as parents, could have done some of the things that they do in this story. The first time they did something inappropriate was fairly early on in the book and, while I didn’t like what happened, I could understand it because we’ve all been there and said or did something that we wish we hadn’t, and I thought that how Casey handled the aftermath was acceptable. Yet, I just didn’t get how any parent could do what these two did in the middle of their son being missing. Yes, I was thinking “who does that?”
Overall, while I had some issues with this story, I thought it was a fairly decent book. If you love a second chance at love story, you will want to check this one out.
