Review: a heart wrenching story about first love & learning to live after thinking that your life is anything but worth living! .
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 17, 2014
This is book #5 in the Love Series, this can be read as a stand alone but I would highly suggest that you read all the other books also so that you can get a good back story on these characters.I gave this book 5 stars. If i could give it more or stress to you how amazing this book was I would.Melissa is an amazing Author, but she has outdone herself with this story.Shane, Dylan and Conner's story.And although Shane is only apart of the story for a little bitthe story is very much about him too.Shane .. damn I am going to cry just thinking about this man right now. Such a beautiful, gentle loving soul that was tortured and hurt and made to feel like he was nothing.  The only thing he felt like he had in his life was his brother Reid and his best friend Dylan. Even when he felt like he had lost it all those are the two that were there to support him, love him and do anything for him that they could.This story is split into two parts .. Before and after... We have come to love Dylan in all the other books and know what a tormented life that he has. He lives his job, he loves Reid and his family and considers them just as much family as everyone else does. BUT that doesn't stop him from shutting everything else out. He doesn't do love. Not anymore. He lives in his past and with his memories.The first part of this story shows you why. Why Dylan is the way he is. Why he won't let anyone in and love him. You meet Shane and get to fall in love with him just like Dylan did. You see who this man was and what he went through. This part of the story not only broke my heart, but it made me severely depressed. I'm having a hard time writing this right now. Shane didn't deserve the way he was treated by his father, or by his peers. He made a decision about his life and he was tortured for it. To the point where he didn't know which way was up, or where to turn. All he wanted was to be happy. To live. To be who he was meant to be.  The sad thing is yes, this is just a story, but this happens everyday. Somewhere, someone is being treated the same way, for the same reasons. And that is just not the way it is suppose to be. Melissa did such an amazing job of showing what life is for someone who feels this way. For someone who doesn't believe they are normal. But it also showed the love that Dylan and Shane had for each other. It showed so much compassion and love. These two were a perfect fit. Two pieces of one puzzle. First love and best friends.The second part of this story is about Dylan trying to live his life the best way he can after all that has happened. What would you do? How would you live with everything that happened? I'm not sure that I could be as strong as Dylan was, as strong as he  is! Conner comes into the picture and changes everything for Dylan. Messes up all his plans. He doesn't know if he can move on, but with Conner he might be willing to try. This story is about grief, loss and letting love in again. It is about living again. Because what Dylan was doing for so many years was not living he was just a piece of what he could be, Conner brought out of him all that was hiding and still buried a little to deep to get out on his own.This story was just WOW to me. I have read a few M/M books, but none that have shown the deep seeded feelings that they bury so deep within themselves, the guilt about being different. AND most importantly the hatred that people carry around with them because they don't understand something, so instead of trying to figure it out and giving someone a chance they hate. They belittle and they make a person feel as if they are nothing. I will never understand humans and the way that they can treat others. My heart breaks for all that these beautiful people go through.  Thank you Melissa for giving me a wonderful story to read, but also showing me some things that we tend to push to the back of our minds if we don't see it everyday. I hope to be a little bit kinder and a little bit more understanding about things that I don't understand.