Blurb: A night of drunken confusion at nineteen resulted in Patrick Connelly fathering a child. Determined to be there for his son, Patrick walked away from a sport he loved and forever hid his sexuality. After Patrick’s brutal divorce and a vicious hate crime, his son, Jay, has become obsessed with graffiti. Hoping for a fresh start, Patrick moves Jay to his childhood home in Seattle. Within two weeks, Jay is arrested again. On his way to pick Jay up, Patrick stops an assault, then finds himself in handcuffs too. Thinking things can’t get any worse, he’s confronted by the sexiest man he’s ever seen—his son’s new probation officer, Ken Atkins.
The hardest part of Ken’s job is working with difficult parents, and the undeniably handsome Patrick Connelly is going to be a difficult parent. A chance encounter and steamy hookup with Patrick leave Ken blindsided. As they work together to try to keep Jay on the right path, the passion between them proves impossible to resist. When the assault Patrick prevented comes back to haunt them and Jay gets into trouble again, Ken must convince Patrick that ensuring his son’s happiness doesn’t have to mean sacrificing his own.
Review: The Way Things Are is an easy-breezy read with very solid characters. I loved how Patrick and Ken easily complemented each other. They have regular jobs, regular friends and even things about their past were very much realistic making them both very human balancing each other.
There’s not much to say about the twist in the story since it was really predictable but sometimes predictable is good right? I wish there was more resolution regarding Patrick’s son Jay but I feel okay knowing that he’s getting there.
I also want to have Corbin’s story! His backstory about his closeted ex was so good I feel that there should be more of his story!!! It’d totally be fun to see him and David finally hooking up – or not.
This is a beautiful story from A.J. Thomas that I would gladly recommend to anyone eying for an easy read.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
Published January 30th 2015 by Dreamspinner Press
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