Rating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | All Romance | Amazon UK
Length: Novella

When Dylan Trevino got the opportunity of a lifetime, he left without a backward glance. But he never thought his boyfriend, Aston Winkler, wouldn’t follow. In the eleven months, three weeks, and two days since, Dylan has wanted nothing more than to get Win back. But now that Dylan is back in Austin, he just needs to be ready to win over Win’s heart once again. Of course, he sees Win for the first time at the worst possible moment for him. Dylan is working a crap job, and he’s hardly the man he used to be. Still, he follows at Win’s request.

Aston can’t believe Dylan is back in town, and he can’t believe that Dylan didn’t let him know. Hearing Dylan call him Win reminds him of all they had. But it also points out his reality. His heart has been broken since Dylan walked out the door and he’s barely started mending the pieces. He tries to be friends with Dylan, but their attraction is still strong. Miscommunication leads to an argument, and Aston asks Dylan to leave. But when Aston figures out the secret Dylan has been keeping, he goes above and beyond to help Dylan. The two men dance around each other, never truly talking or figuring things out. And only when things finally come to a head months later do they work things out and realize that their hearts are still fully engaged.

I enjoyed this short novella, and really liked the characters within. Dylan is a strong, cocky, confident guy, but he’s had some hard times and is now struggling. Aston, or Win as Dylan calls him, is geeky and insecure, much of which stems from his abnormally tall height. The two men were good together when they were actually together. But the past almost year has been tough on them both. I loved the premise here, and it’s what got me interested in the book. A reunion romance is right up my alley. And parts of this story definitely worked. But I’ll admit that other parts left me wanting.

Preston has written two very engaging characters. Dylan and Aston couldn’t be more different, and yet it’s easy to see how well they could work together. I liked that their differences were showcased and that I got a really strong picture of who each man was. This was done well, and I liked these two guys. They definitely had chemistry, and even though the sex was off page, it was easy to feel. I wanted nothing more than for them to figure it out and get back together. And when they did, I definitely got a sense of satisfaction.

But the truth is, the miscommunication between them was a crutch for this story, and I was time and again reminded that if they just talked to each other, even for a few minutes, most of their issues would have been worked out. In the beginning, it made sense. But as it dragged out through the length of the story, I found myself getting rather frustrated that they just couldn’t have a dang conversation. Even when they did talk, they didn’t say much, glossed over things, and continued to have misconceptions about what the other was thinking and feeling. There was a plot point of Dylan being worse for the wear and needing to get back on his feet before he got into a relationship again. This made more sense to me, and I wished that this point had been further explored. So this frustration definitely weighed heavily for me, and lessened my enjoyment of the book.

In conjunction with that, I felt there were some missed opportunities to explore and explain. A few more sentences about Dylan’s opportunity and why he left wouldn’t have gone amiss. Also a bit of an expansion on Aston’s thoughts and feelings, as well as his career since then. It’s not overly detrimental to the plot as a whole, but these things were definitely missing for me and I felt like the story lacked depth in a few small places.

That being said, I did like this book and enjoyed my time with it. The characters themselves really go a long way to making it appealing, and even with the plot issues, I’d still recommend this book for the MCs alone. If the blurb and premise pique your interest, then definitely give this one a shot.