Review: B rating.....
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 21, 2013
My Review:Jesse's been on his own for two months after his parents kicked him out for being gay. He's managed so far, but that was before his landlords set fire to their building brewing drugs. Now he's taken on their huge mastiff dog as a tenant...with one problem, he has no where to live. He hasn't been in Seattle long enough to have made good enough friends that he feels okay with bumming a place to work.Tomas was a firefighter on the scene when Jesse's place burnt. He could see the shock and hopelessness in the young college kid so he took him and the dog home with him. He lives in an apartment garage at his parents place, but it's better than on the street for the kid. Plus, he's really attracted to him. I should note here that I was a little uncomfortable with this set-up. Tomas made it VERY apparent from the very beginning that he would be okay with Jesse being more than just a roommate. It almost had a feel of sleaze to it...like Jesse needed to put out for the place, although Tomas kept saying that it was fine if he wanted to not go there. The pressure to do so was still there.And beyond that initial difficulty, there is a lot standing in the way of a relationship between these two guys. Tomas has been raised in a fairly restrictive way. His family is not open to gay men, especially his brother. As a result, Tomas has his own hang-ups about what's appropriate behavior and what's slutty. He's completely in the closet, too. Jesse is out, but has a difficult co-worker who is one of his best friends who hates this new arrangement with Tomas. To me, it seemed like there was probably jealousy at work there.Because there are so many speedbumps in front of these guys, I had a harder time with this book. It just seemed like EVERYone was against them. When they were alone and together, everything was fine, but the moment they went out, tensions started to rise and they'd begin to have problems. It was painful to read.There were several characters introduced which will probably eventually have stories and I do like a hot fireman, so I will probably continue with this series. This book wasn't a favorite of mine, but the set-up for the series is good! Coffee, college, firemen....what's not to love!?!