Rating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Luke Ryan owns a successful tech company with his two close friends. His life is busy with work, as well as being the guardian of his ten-year-old niece, Ella, and dating doesn’t exactly fit into his schedule. Still, Luke would love to find the right man.
Finn Thomason, a trauma surgeon, just relocated to Boston for a job at the hospital. His schedule changes and he works longs hours and it’s hard to find a relationship to fit into that. During a rain storm one evening, Finn finds Luke seeking shelter under an awning without an umbrella and after making conversation, he offers to walk Luke to his destination. The spark is ignited and Luke then invites Finn out for coffee. The men grow close over the summer and they have something special developing, but when the new school year starts, Luke has little time to devote to Finn and Finn isn’t sure how he fits into Luke’s life with Ella, who isn’t exactly welcoming to him. The men want to be together, but they will have to adjust not only their schedules to make their love story last forever.
This story opens with a cute meeting for the men as Luke is caught in the rain without an umbrella and the men are attracted to each other from the start. The book is character and relationship focused and we see the daily lives of both men and how they try to balance a relationship with work and the demands of family.
Luke is guardian to his niece as his brother is in the military. He is devoted to her, but his schedule is demanding. He hasn’t had a lot of luck with men in the past when they learn about Ella, and he’s wary of Finn’s reaction when he finds out. Finn never expected to date a man with a child, but he feels a special connection with Luke and is willing to keep an open mind, yet Ella isn’t overjoyed at the new development.
I enjoyed meeting both Luke and Finn and seeing their relationship unfold. The book overall was a little slow as we see a lot of daily activity from both men and while I do enjoy that aspect, there was that little special spark missing for me here. The tension in the story comes from the work schedules of both men and the demands Luke has with caring for Ella. The men are good together and their intimate moments are filled with passion, but their relationship is new so they don’t have in-depth conversations that much at first and their lives start moving in different directions without putting down a framework for what they are looking for.
There were a few threads that seemed like they were going to start to go somewhere, but then didn’t, which left certain scenes or conversations not fitting in overall for me. The men are in a good place at the end, but the ending felt incomplete to me and there was still more story left to tell.
The book is set in Boston and Coles did offer a good sense of place that tied into the location. There were also a few characters introduced that would be candidates for their own story as this is the start of new series. There were parts of this book that were uneven for me, but it did engage me enough to want to see what is next for the men that make up this Boston Seasons series.
