Beyond the SeaRating: 4.75 stars
Buy Links: 
 Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novel


Troy Tanner is a member of a hot boy band, but he is willing to walk away from everything when his brother slides into drug abuse and refuses to get help. Troy decides to leave the band and head home, chartering a private jet to take him across the South Pacific. Along the way they encounter a freak storm that crashes the plane, leaving Troy stranded alone on a desert island with the co-pilot, Brian Sinclair.

The beautiful beach should be paradise, but with the guys stranded in the middle of nowhere with minimal supplies, they must focus on survival. Each day they hope for rescue, but they are way off course in a small island in the middle of the vast ocean. The chances of anyone finding them are slim, and the risks to their health and safety are high.

Troy and Brian are determined to do the best they can to survive, and along the way a friendship grows between them. And over time, that friendship begins to develop into feelings of caring and love, with both men finding real happiness with one another. But the two men are still all alone on a desert island with almost no chance of rescue and little chance of survival. And even if they manage to make it off the island, can their relationship survive when they make it back to the real world?

Oh, I really liked this one. Desert island romance. Swoon. Andrews does an amazing job with this aspect of the story and the first portion of the book really focuses on how these guys manage to survive alone on the island. I found it fascinating to see how they manage to build a life there, bit by bit. They have some meager supplies from the plane, but they need to learn to build a fire, make a shelter, find food, and attempt to signal for help. They constantly have to worry about running out of food and water, of getting injured with inadequate medical supplies, and of surviving the elements. Andrews really captures this all so well and it makes for such interesting reading.

As the guys spend more time together, we slowly see their bond grow between them. This story really has a strong friends to lovers feel, as it takes the guys a while to move from friendship to something more. This intense situation brings the men together and they form a strong connection as they learn to rely on one another and spend so much time together. Troy and Brian begin to turn to each other not just for the physical support of survival, but also open up to each other emotionally as well. Both men have a history of taking on a lot of responsibility and shouldering heavy emotional burdens. Troy spent his childhood as not only a tv and music star, but also taking care of his addict father. Now he sees his brother going down that same path and feels like it is his job to protect him. And Brian suffered a tragedy in his past that still weighs him down with feelings that he should have done more and saved more people. But somehow being together helps Brian and Troy to share their feelings and to ease some of that burden that each man carries around. They open up to one another in a way they aren’t able to with other people, and that emotional connection eventually turns into feelings of love and affection.

Andrews manages to really ground this story in the emotions of these characters. Any time you are dealing with a “stranded on a desert island trope” there is always a bit of a fantasy element there. But the way Andrews presents the story, I could totally believe in their growing relationship and the love these guys have for one another. Their feelings take both men somewhat by surprise, as they both previously identified as straight, and they each have some moments of uncertainty as they recognize their attraction to one another. But that is not a major conflict for either man, and each accepts his bisexuality and understand that the affection they share is more important than the labels they had previously placed on themselves.

So overall I just loved this story. I think Andrews manage to combine the survival elements with the romance side of things really nicely. I loved seeing these guys working together to manage to survive, and I really loved watching them fall for one another. The story is sexy, romantic, exciting, and really engaging. I definitely recommend it.

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