Moment of ClarityRating: 3.5 stars
Buy Link:
Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella


Collin and Tanner are back at school after spending the summer on Fire Island. With their dorm temporarily uninhabitable, Collin’s brother, Sean, steps up for them when it is least expected. When Collin and Tanner are outed, it leads to issues with Sean’s custody case and physical violence at school. If that isn’t enough for the two of them to handle, Wendy once again becomes a presence in their lives. Collin feels that everything is his fault and goes to drastic measures to ensure that he will not be responsible for causing pain to those he loves. When Collin feels that Tanner and everything he has worked for is lost to him, Tanner has to convince him that their love is real.

Moment of Clarity is the third installment in the Moments in Time series. It picks up where the second book left off and cannot be read as a standalone. I had become fully invested in Collin and Tanner’s story and was looking forward to this one. After spending their summer together and taking their relationship to another level, everything is looking good for Collin and Tanner. That is until they return to school. For a novella, there is a tremendous amount going on here and so much comes down on these guys one thing after the other. Collin’s brother reaches out to make amends, but that quickly blows up, as well as trying to keep their relationship low profile on campus. These guys cannot get a moment to themselves, between sharing living space and everyone constantly flinging open doors on them. The sex scenes felt rushed and like they were worked in as if they had to be there, as there just wasn’t enough time for the guys to be together.

The only way to convey this is that everyone, with the exception of Collin’s boss and Tanner’s mother, was pretty shitty to Collin, even Tanner at times. Especially Collin’s brother who only could be bothered to have a relationship with Collin when it worked to his own benefit. Then we have the Wendy story line. I have been patient with her story line up until this point. Her actions, not surprisingly, were incredibly selfish and that entire story line did not work for me. The conclusion of it was attempted to be settled with an ambiguous text. There was no resolution that we are made aware of, and without giving anything anyway, Collin never even asked about what happened with that situation and the reader is never informed. Collin just kept taking being poorly treated and saying that it was all okay. There were many frustrating reading moments.

The first book in this series, and especially the first chapter in that book, really grabbed my attention with these guys and the writing remains solid throughout the series. The story arc overall turned into somewhat of an ensemble piece. The second book had many secondary characters and then this book, which is supposedly Collin and Tanner’s final book, again did not offer enough time for them to be together. The times that they were together were still the highlight of the book. But, the ending did not feel finished and there were certainly openings left for several story lines to continue. While this book did not take me where I wanted to go or offer the closure I was expecting, it would be worthwhile to start with the first book in the series to be introduced to Collin and Tanner.

A review copy of this book was provided by Dreamspinner Press.

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