Rating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella
Logan is a home health nurse, the private companion and caregiver of a wealthy Texas matriarch, Gail McFarren. He has an esteemed relationship at the McFarren estate, managing all the servants on a day-to-day basis for Gail as she becomes sicker and weaker during his three-year tenure. Logan is thrity-three, and estranged from his family who disowned him for his acknowledged homosexuality, but Gail adores him and he has developed an amiable relationship with Gail’s grandson, Bradley, who hired him. Bradley is the object of Logan’s special esteem. In short, he has a crush on his beloved patient’s straight grandson.
As the story begins, we learn that Gail has been battling advanced metastatic cancer and has opted to stop all but palliative treatment. She has faded in and out of comas for the past several weeks, but it seems that the current one will likely be the end. All the house staff are making the house in readiness, in accordance with Gail’s wishes, for her extended family to arrive and pay their respects. Logan is managing as best he can, while also keeping a bedside vigil for the woman who’s become like a grandmother to him. All along he is awaiting the arrival of Bradley, who is off on a business trip and cannot be easily reached.
In the meantime, all of Gail’s scurrilous relations come acalling. People that Logan has heard about and never seen in all the three years he’d worked for Gail. He abhors the nonchalant attitude of these graspy people, and is pitted against a shameless and uncouth relation with designs on Gail’s treasures and light fingers that may be removing objects even before the good lady’s last breath.
Throughout all, Logan wishes for Bradley to return, if only so he does not miss his dear grandma’s end. But, also, because Logan is sure Bradley—a strapping and formidable man—will keep his relations in check. And, there is the fact that Logan is hopelessly in love with Bradley and knows that their time together is now marked by the end of Gail’s life. For, what need will Bradley have of a home nurse once Gail goes?
This is a very sweet read. Logan is a kind and nurturing man who has had some bad experiences in his past. Having been cut off by his family, he only desires a home of his own, and he has felt at home with Gail, and Bradley when he comes to visit. His pain over losing both Gail—his dear patient and friend—and his home is fully relatable. Also, I totally identified with his anguish on Gail’s behalf for the crap behavior of her family. The writing is strong and evokes a sense of kinship with this man’s plight.
I think the misdirection/miscommunication when Bradley returns is a little over done. Bradley has important issues to discuss regarding life after Gail, and it pertains to Bradley finding love. Which, naturally, breaks Logan’s heart and causes him to completely avoid Bradley. The end was rushed, in my opinion. I really would have liked some better development of the funeral, and Logan and Bradley’s big talk, and all that came after. Still, that didn’t bother me. It’s a good sign when I want more, really. I had one glaring issue, however, which I will not spoil, but I will say I was really digging the book when I got sideswiped by an aspect of Logan’s sexual history that was wholly unnecessary and nearly unpalatable. With no preamble or foreshadowing, I honestly couldn’t suspend my disbelief of that “truth nugget,” and I had to call Logan a liar, which I didn’t want to do, at all, because I mostly adored him. Apart from that bit, I was really satisfied with the story. While I wanted more in the end, I was happy that Logan has his HEA. Also, this is a very low-steam read. The love doesn’t happen until the very last bit.
