TrustRating: 4 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Trey’s homophobic father has passed away and because he didn’t change his will, Trey has inherited his house and money. The first thing he does is sell the house. Next on his agenda is to take a road trip across the U.S., hooking up and having sex in every state to say a final screw you to his…ahem…dearly departed dad. Unfortunately, Trey’s grand plan takes a hit when his car breaks down in the tiny town of Willow’s End, Missouri. He finds himself stranded, in the very early morning, with nowhere to go and no place to stay. He sees a bakery with the lights on, and even though the door is locked, Trey takes a chance and knocks. He’s greeted by a handsome man who lets him in. Maybe that man looks a little familiar?

Charlie is the owner (and baker) at the bakery. It’s not exactly a cash cow, though. Willow’s End is dying out thanks to the mill shutting down. It’s also not necessarily the greatest place to be a gay man. A lot of people aren’t exactly accepting of him. He lives with his elderly Aunt Bee and just tries to keep his head above water. So, on that morning, when he hears a knock at the door, he doesn’t think much…only that he is helping out a cold stranger. Or his he a stranger?

It turns out, after a few minutes Charlie and Trey recognize each other. They’d encountered each other in a bar in Kansas. Trey, who cares only for no strings hookups, tries to pick up Charlie. Charlie, who cares nothing for no strings hookups, feels tempted to fall for Trey’s charms, but instead of going with him, he manages to get Trey to spend a couple hours talking with him. They even exchange phone numbers and text back and forth for a short time before it tapers off, and they both let the potential relationship go.

Trey decides if he’s stuck in Willow’s End (staying at Aunt Bee’s house, of all places), he may as well try to seduce Charlie and make him the first of 50 one night stands. Charlie, however, still doesn’t want anything to do with something casual. Could there, maybe, be a happy medium?

I thought the blurb for Trust seemed interesting, so I jumped on it. I’m a fan of second chance romance, and this seemed to be right up that alley. I wasn’t disappointed. It was a good story, and I enjoyed it.

I have to admit, I wasn’t crazy about Trey. Truth be told, I’m sort of over the whole manwhore thing. The whole I don’t do love. All I want to do is hook up thing started wearing on me a while back. So, I was turned off, at first, but he grew on me. It took a little while. Even though Charlie had said he didn’t want a cheap one nighter, Trey continued to drop hints he wanted to make Charlie his first of 50. He began to be friendly with Aunt Bee, and he wanted to come and help Charlie at the bakery. Soon, he was a goner, and realized maybe he did want more.

I felt so much pity for Charlie, pretty much through the entire book. He made so many sacrifices and was so lonely. I imagined his face, and I even pictured him sighing heavily every two minutes. He wanted to do the right thing, even if it was wrong for him. He loved his Aunt Bee, and she loved him as well, but it’s surely not easy to live in a town where you’re not really understood or even wanted.

Both men were written well, with just the right amount of detail. Their relationship seemed to have developed in a sort of “real time.” Even though they did have that bit of a history, they didn’t fall into an insta-love situation. Also, the road was rough. There wasn’t a huge amount of angst…just enough to make me feel slightly uncomfortable, not ready to throw Kindy across the room.

Aunt Bee was really the only significant background character. She was charming, sweet, and very wise…almost a little bit like a fairy godmother. She seemed to know exactly what both Charlie and Trey needed, even though they didn’t know themselves. There’s a bit of a subplot involving her having financial issues, and it’s a good one. It doesn’t interfere with the main Charlie/Trey story. In fact, it enhances it, especially when it nears the end.

The ending of Trust tied up neatly…almost too neatly, but I liked it. It took a story that was relatively sad most of the way through, and made it happy and hopeful. I thought it summed up everything perfectly.

This is the fifth book in the Men of Virtue series. I’ve gone to Amazon to look at the others, and they’re all stand alone stories. From what I can tell, no characters cross over, so there’s no reason to be afraid of being lost in any way. I’ve already gone and gotten book one because I liked this one. I’m definitely going to recommend this book.

kenna sig