Date of Publication: January 13, 2016
Genre and Themes: LGBTQ, Child Abuse, Romance, Mystery, Murder
Format: 254 pages, ebook
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
ISBN: 9781635332148
Cover Artist: Brooke Albrecht
Characters: Nevin Ng, Colin Westwood
BLURB:
Small but mighty—that could be Detective Nevin Ng’s motto. Now a dedicated member of the Portland Police Bureau, he didn’t let a tough start in life stop him from protecting those in need. He doesn’t take crap from anyone, and he doesn’t do relationships. Until he responds to the severe beating of a senior citizen and meets the victim’s bow-tied, wealthy landlord.
Property manager and developer Colin Westwood grew up with all the things Nevin never had, like plenty of money and a supportive, loving family. Too supportive, perhaps, since his childhood illness has left his parents unwilling to admit he’s a strong, grown man. Colin does do relationships, but they never work out. Now he’s thinking maybe he won’t just go with the flow. Maybe it’s time to try something more exciting. But being a witness to a terrible crime—or two—was more than he bargained for.
Despite their differences, Colin and Nevin discover that sparks fly when they’re together. But sparks are short-lived, dampened by the advent of brutal crimes, and Colin and Nevin have seemingly little in common. The question is whether they have the heart to build something lasting.
The story overlaps with the first book, Love Can’t Conquer and has an alternating point of views between Nevin and Collin but it can be read as standalone.
Let’s talk about Nevin. I’m not that much of a fan of his character at first. He’s a typical fuckboy and I don’t like that side of him. I get that he’s commitment-phobic and all that but during the first few chapters, he’s like itching for sex every single page. I’m like, seriously, is he always horny? I mean, I get that he’s lonely, I get that he’s stressed but it’s kind of off-putting. That’s just me though.
You have to understand that his childhood didn’t give him much to be happy about. I eventually started to like him at the latter part of the story so all’s good. He actually kind of reminded me of Ash from the THIRDS series by Charlie Cochet.
Then there’s sweet, sweet Colin. He came from a rich and very accepting family and has a super adorable cat named Legolas. On the exterior and perhaps financially, he is the total opposite of Nevin but both men have good hearts.
The story isn’t as intense and as angsty as the first book but it does have its moments especially when they finally realized they are meant for each other. Guessing the culprit in the serial killing of old people in the story was a bit predictable but the execution was good because the story didn’t really center on it. It was mostly about the day to day lives of our main characters. The banter between them was real good and the side characters including Colin’s parents are a real joy to read.
This is another wonderful story from Kim Fielding. It’s a shame we didn’t hear much from Parker (Rhoda’s son) this time because if I were to based it in the first book of the series, I kind of thought that we’d get his story next. Maybe he’s up next!
Rating : 4 out of 5 stars
About The Author
Kim Fielding lives in California and travels as often as she can manage. A professor by day, at night she rushes into a phonebooth to change into her author costume (which involves comfy clothes instead of Spandex and is, sadly, lacking a cape). Her superpowers include the ability to write nearly anywhere, often while simultaneously doling out homework assistance to her children. Her favorite word to describe herself is “eclectic” and she finally got that third tattoo.
All royalties from her novels Stasis, Flux and Equipoise are donated to Doctors Without Borders.
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