Rating: 4 stars
Buy Links: Amazon | iBooks | Amazon UK
Length: Novel
Norman Hardy loves his quiet live as a conservation officer in the remote area of Quack Lake. Life in a small town makes it hard to find a partner, but Norman also knows he wouldn’t be happy living anywhere else. He decides to give the Perfect Match Agency a shot. The company has a great track record for matching alphas with their ideal omega mate and he is thrilled when they find someone for him as well. But Norman can’t help but be worried that his future omega isn’t going to want to live so far off the beaten path. His last relationship ended when his boyfriend decided that he didn’t want to live in the tiny town and took off. So Norman is cautiously optimistic, but wary about whether things will work out.
Bentley dreams of a mate and a family, so he decides to sign up for Perfect Match. It turns out his potential alpha lives in a very remote place and Bentley’s friends are surprised he is even considering pursuing a potential relationship with him. But Bentley actually loves the idea of a more quiet life out of the city and surrounded by beautiful wilderness and decides to give it a shot.
After some chatting back and forth, the guys are clicking well enough they decide to see how they work in person. Bentley makes the trip out to Quack Lake with the plan to stay a few weeks and give Norman and him time to get to know each other. Bentley is thrilled with the shy and sweet Norman, who is so caring and kind. And he finds himself really enjoying accompanying Norman on hikes through the national park and experiencing what the area has to offer. Norman finds Bentley adorable and sexy and is thrilled he seems to share so many of Norman’s interests. The guys seem to be a perfect fit and, as they give in to the attraction between them, find they are on fire together in bed as well. Both men are starting to dream of what it could be like if they end up settling down together for good. But with the clock ticking on Bentley’s planned trip, he and Norman have to have the confidence to share their feelings with one another if they hope to have any chance for a real future.
Faraway Match is the fourth book in the multi-author Perfect Match Agency series. The series features standalone stories all set in the same world and featuring the Perfect Match dating service. However, while tied together by set up and the basic world building, the stories are all standalones and so far don’t seem to contain any overlapping characters (though that appears to change in book 5).
I have read two of the books in the series so far, including Horvat’s Cautious Match, and both had similar starts with the couples matching and almost immediately falling into heat/rut that led to intense sex. So the omegaverse tropes were pretty front and center and the sex happened almost immediately. This story takes a different approach in that Norman and Bentley spend time getting to know each other and, while things ultimately get very hot between them, the actual omega heat comes way later in the book. In some ways, the first portion of this story could almost be a traditional contemporary (with the addition of some self lubricating body parts). That’s not to say that the story doesn’t ultimately lead into the full omegaverse experience, complete with heat and mpreg and crazy intense sex, but this book definitely has a different tone, one that I think really works for this story and this couple. This is a book about a man who lives a quiet life in a beautiful remote area meeting a man who it turns out wants that same kind of life. Norman and Bentley spend their time hiking and exploring and having cozy nights by the fire and walking Norman’s dog. And having sex. Lots and lots (and lots) of sex. So don’t get me wrong, this is a very erotic story. But there is also a slow, sweet cadence to the book, particularly early on, that really works for the story.
The book is pretty low angst, as while Norman worries about Bentley wanting to stay with him, it is clear when we get Bentley’s POV that he loves life in Quack Lake. I do wish we had a little more development on the character end to set up Bentley as dissatisfied with his life in the city, or having wished for a quieter life, or something to show a little more clearly why he would be motivated to consider making this huge move and life change so easily. But I do think Horvat does a great job showing just how well these guys fit together in almost every way. It makes for just a sweet, romantic, and very erotic story that I found really enjoyable.
