Rating: 4.5 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Jeremy Rose works as the bodyguard for Anna Maxwell, one of the leading directors on the ridiculously popular TV show, Wolf’s Landing. He’s taken the job because that’s where he’s sent, not to escape his deteriorating relationship with his estranged children. Or at least, that’s what he tells himself. Jeremy’s always on guard, though his job isn’t particularly dangerous, and that’s why he’s with Anna on the early morning bus trip to go eagle watching. And how he first meets Scott Fletcher.
Jeremy is instantly attracted to Scott. He can tell Scott is in his forties, just like he is, and Jeremy is drawn to the sexy man. And it’s more than just Scott’s salt and pepper hair that grabs Jeremy’s attention. When he fails to make a move in time and Scott leaves at the end of the day, Jeremy is kicking himself. But then a chance meeting in the counselor’s office brings them together again. Immediately they admit their attraction to one another and that night they have insanely good sex. When Scott offers to meet again, Jeremy hesitates because he doesn’t want a relationship, but Scott explains he’s not looking for a relationship either. It’s easy for the men to settle into friends with benefits.
But they are spending more time together than they expect, and they miss each other when they are apart. Neither man really realizes that a relationship is building between them. They spend some time talking and Jeremy explains about the situation with his children and how he realized he was gay later in life. Scott, in turn, shares his baggage about losing the only man he loved, a cop who was shot in the line of duty. When Jeremy goes with Anna to Vegas for a Wolf’s Landing convention, a moment’s inattention has a fan getting too close and Jeremy taking an elbow to the face putting the threat down. When he gets back to Bluewater Bay, Scott gives Jeremy an ultimatum: he needs to get a counselor involved to fix things with his children, because Scott can’t just stand idly by and watch it tear Jeremy apart. Jeremy and his ex-wife tried counseling before and it didn’t work, so Jeremy is dead set against it. But if he wants Scott, and wants a relationship with his family, Jeremy has to reach out for help. And hopefully Scott will still be there after he does.
We’re back in Bluewater Bay for another installment of the series. I have to say, I really love visiting this town and getting to meet all sorts of characters. I like that each book works as a standalone, so if you’ve missed any do not worry. But I also like seeing cameos from characters we read about elsewhere. Rain Shadow was no exception and it’s another really nice addition to the series.
Jeremy is our narrator and I’ll be honest and say that I just loved him from the very beginning. He was real and relatable. I really felt like he had honest actions and reactions to his situations, and I loved that his flaws were believable. Jeremy was one of those guys that just felt like he could have stepped off the page and into real life. Though there were moments where I wanted to shake him, especially where he hung on to his convictions against using a therapist, the truth was this was absolutely consistent with his character. That being said, his big change of heart and growth felt just a little bit rushed to me. I would have liked to see it drawn out a little more.
I really liked that both Scott and Jeremy were a little bit older, both in their forties, and they felt and acted like it. Because of it, their leap into a relationship after both of them were certain that’s not what they wanted, really made sense. And talk about chemistry! These two guys sparked from the moment they met, and whenever they were together—whether having smoking hot sex or just talking—there was absolutely no doubt that they worked together on every level. I loved watching their relationship progress and it was absolutely believable.
So the romance here was fantastic, and Jeremy and Scott were consistent, well-drawn, and believable characters. Scott had a lot of baggage too, and that really played out well and made sense. However, I have to admit that when Scott suddenly issued an ultimatum, it felt a little sudden. After being so supportive, he was suddenly asking for all or nothing, at least that’s how it seemed. So I had trouble wrapping my head around his shift in thoughts. It was the catalyst that brought about Jeremy’s change of heart and the resolution of the story, so I would have liked to see it feel a little more solid. I had a couple of other small quibbles with the story and the plot, and especially with Jeremy’s daughter who felt younger than she was supposed to be and her actions, at times, simply a plot device. I also felt that there were some points that were a bit redundant and I could have done without the repetition. But these were small in comparison to the goodness that was this story as a whole.
Basically, yeah, I really liked this book. I thought it was another great addition to the world that is building in Bluewater Bay. I liked the ultimate conclusion of the story, and I really loved these guys together. This is one that I can definitely recommend.
