Rating: 4 stars
Buy Link: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
With A Much Younger Man, we are back in St. Nacho’s, a fictional town that holds a warm place in my heart. Z.A. Maxfield has released a new story set in the idyllic coastal town that connects to the main St. Nacho’s series. This is an age gap story with Doc Lindy, just shy of forty years of age, blindsided emotionally by Beck, a twenty-year-old drifter who comes to town. They meet as Beck is playing his guitar for tips and still involved with a guy named Tug, who turns out to be a not so savory “friend.” But the story moves quickly, removing Tug from the picture and leaving Beck in need of help—something Lindy and his friends offer without reservation.
There is a bit of Daddy/boy kink going on here, including some age play, but it doesn’t extend much beyond feeding and bathing. The story takes us on a journey—Lindy’s journey–from being a passive, busy nurturer who is sure he has nothing to offer another man, to someone who realizes that love can clear a lot of hurdles as long as the two involved communicate and are on the same page. This is definitely Lindy’s story, but there is just enough Beck moments to make it really feel sensual and romantic. In between those scenes, there is a lot of overthinking on Lindy’s part and a whole heap of patience on Beck’s. The story moved along at a really good pace, though, despite all the angsty passages.
I think what bothered me most about A Much Younger Man is not the fact that all of the supposed friends and even his own mother try to convince Lindy he is wrong for Beck, but that Lindy, himself, bought into it all until his father convinced him otherwise. One conversation with his dad and suddenly he is set to go all in on the relationship with Beck, which begs the question for me: what happens the next time Lindy feels unsure? For all his angst and worry over whether he is doing the wrong thing by loving Beck, the sudden capitulation seemed well…way too sudden. Plus, I feel that everyone from his staff to his own mother had no right to shred him as they did—talk about making a guy feel guilty for loving someone who appears to be his polar opposite.
I really fell in love with Beck and with Lindy when he chooses to stay in the moment with Beck and not allow his fears to crowd in as a third wheel. When they are all in, this couple is downright magical and romantic and steamy hot. Those are the moments when this story becomes a gorgeous age gap romance that has every possibility still ahead and the future still unwritten. It reminded me why I enjoy this author’s St. Nacho’s series so much and definitely left me looking forward to more stories about the new people in this oh so familiar place.
