Review: Loved the first half of the book.. but it was downhill after that.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2012
I was excited when I saw a third book in this series.  I loved the first book despite it's problematic coach/athlete story line. I was excited when the first two reviews said this book was better than the first two. (The second book plot rambles.) I was pleased to see that "Burning it Down" tried to tackle the hard issue of gay domestic abuse.  And I was really enjoying the first part of the book.  The author does a good job setting the stage and it was nice to see what happened to the couples in the previous books.My first problem was the couples constant calling each other 'boyfriend', throwing it in a a very unnatural way.  RUINED the sex scenes.  I've never heard anyone talk like this and I don't find it cute, I find it very very irritating.  For example.. "So where're we heading, boyfriend"?  And it's not occasional, it's constant. Most of the time the "boyfriend" could just be dropped.Second, this book does NOT handle abuse story line very well.  The back story Adam has just gotten out of a very abusive relationship.  His previous boyfriend was described as being excessively jealous, as well as the belittling & hitting ad controlling all aspects of his life.  Owen is supposedly the opposite, very open and caring.  BUT his actions don't live up to this promise.  When they go away for vacation, Owen plans the whole trip and doesn't tell Adam where they are going.  For a person who has been in an  controlling relationship, this just feels WRONG is so many ways. They should be planning the trip TOGETHER.  The scene that upset me the most is where Adam gets hit & kissed on by cute young thing in a restaurant. One minute Owen is being amused by the situation, and the next Owen is jealously throwing the young man out of the restaurant by force.  WHAT??  If I were Adam I would find that scary.  Why is this thought of as romantic?