Review: 3.5 stars for contemporary M/M romance
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 10, 2014
Dare is a new father mourning the loss of his fiance, Gillian. She died in a car wreck on the way to delivery, but their son, Kendrik, lived. Alone, Dare struggles with his depression, and the challenges of caring for his son.One week after Gillian's passing her estranged twin, Cole, arrives on Dare's doorstep. At midnight. In the rain. Dare catches Cole's resemblance to Gillian and is overcome in his sleep-deprived state. Imagine Cole's shock to learn his sister--who had recently written to invite him to meet her family--had died. Now, Cole's overcome, but he submits to Dare's insistence that he stay.Over the course of a week Cole not only 'fits' in with Dare and baby Kendrik, he experiences an awakening of his sexuality. Dare, it seems, is the object of his affection--the first person he's ever desired. Cole's 22 and his level of sexual experience is paltry--mainly because he believes he should actually have feelings for a partner and he's never allowed himself to get close to anyone besides Gillian. See, Cole believes he's cursed. He feels he brings bad luck to all he contacts, a fact described to him by a carny fortune-teller years ago. It was the reason he ran away from the foster system, and Gillian, four years ago.Cole acts on his new-found desire for Dare. The results are...explosive. And unsettling. Dare has noticed Cole, and thought his 'awareness' was a transference due to Dare's uncanny resemblance to Gillian. Now he's not so sure.Several weeks pass with the two men sharing a home, but not sharing their feelings. Cole won't accept any experimentation or curiosity experiences--and Dare's ashamed to pine for the man who should have been his brother-in-law. In the meantime, both men experience dreams in which Gillian gives her blessing.A few pokes from some close friends and a near-death experience cause Dare to take another chance and Cole to accept the love he deserves.I had a few problems with the story, things that didn't make sense.Dare is 'widowed' with a newborn child--and his living parents don't even enter the story. Um, this seemed so odd. I cannot imagine ANY decent parents who have absolutely no contact with their children in four months--especially a child who has suffered such a great loss, and has become a new parent. Grand babies usually get granny calling--at least once. Instead, Dare has a really close relationship with Gillian's adopted parents--his aunt and uncle. Aunt Marge calls all the time and babysits when Dare and Cole return to work. Weird.The supernatural part of the story was not fully realized. So much more could have been added to bolster (or explain) Cole's superstitions over his own bad luck. There are hints that treating Cole poorly resulted in trauma for some of their foster parents, and yet nothing is stated about what ACTUALLY happened. Fleshing this out would have generated some tension between Cole and his desire to leave Dare--some level of risk that could have been exploited to further their relationship.The story of Gillian and Cole's parents' demise. Two sentences about the shady circumstances? Help me to understand. This was CENTRAL to Cole's life. It deserved explanation.Dare has the most generous boss in the HISTORY of bosses. EVER. Really.The progression of Cole and Dare's 'relationship'. It was abrupt and jarring. I couldn't fathom the final scene, at all. I love M/M. But I just have a hard time with how this ended. It was unrealistic. I could have absorbed a little less 'activity' and felt the relationship was solid and progressing. There's a lot of ways to express love and I think these two men would have been a little more...restrained. That was how their characters were written, after all.Over-description took me out of the story. I love feeling 'a part' of the story, but I don't need 1.5 pages of how to make a quiche to bring me there. This isn't a chef romance, and it didn't really add more to the characters, so it felt egregiously long. I skimmed. This skimming experience repeated a couple of times for me. It detracted from my enjoyment.I received this book via Goodreads' Don't Buy My Love program in exchange for an honest review.3.5 Stars for this contemporary M/M romance with some magical elements. I was interested and engaged with the story most of the time, but the issues above reduced my overall enjoyment.