Rating: 3.75 stars
Buy Link:
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Length: Novel

 

Jonas used to dream about the large house across the lake and who might live there. It seemed perfect when he met Richard, the charming and handsome older man that owns the house. Jonas has now been dating wealthy Richard for a year and although Richard has asked Jonas to move in with him, Jonas is reluctant. He’s reluctant for a few reasons and two of the biggest are Richard’s brother, Rory, and Rory’s boyfriend, Lee, who also live in the house.

Richard and Lee spend a lot of time together and Jonas thought they were becoming friends, but now Lee spends all of his time embarrassing Jonas and being downright mean to him and Jonas has no idea why. When Richard has to leave town on a business emergency right at Christmas time, Jonas is going to find out why Lee has such disdain for him. But when Jonas and Lee stumble upon some uncomfortable truths, their lives begin to unravel, and Lee might not be Jonas’ biggest problem after all.

This book is a bit of a wild ride and is not a traditional romance. Told in dual POV from Jonas and Lee, we get caught up with Jonas first. He’s been dating Richard for about a year now and things should be perfect, but Jonas has a lot of reservations. Richard is incredibly close to his brother, Rory, and Rory’s boyfriend, Lee, and Richard just expects that they will all just get along. Richard and Rory are both about twenty years older than Jonas and Lee, they are wealthy and successful, and we can see how much influence they have over the lives of Jonas and Lee and not in the healthiest of ways.

It’s more evident with Lee how much Rory controls his life and it’s clear from the start that there are a lot of red flags in both of these relationships. First, Jonas has to find out why Lee hates him so much and then Jonas and Lee have to team up to figure out what is really going on and that takes them through some life altering betrayals and reveals.

That’s about all you want to know of this book before you read it. The beginning sets up the relationships between all of the men and then brings Jonas and Lee closer as they unravel a lifetime of deceit. The reveal does take a longer time to get to and while I would have liked it come a little sooner leaving more time for the relationship, the tension leading up to the revelations is well written.

Darien Cox writes a novel for Jonas and Lee that edges outside of the lines and I always appreciate a genre novel that spins the story in a different light.