Genre: Mystery, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: MM Gay
Reviewer: Linda, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
Elijah Masters hasn’t been the same since his dad died in an electrical fire. He sleepwalked through senior year to graduation, but away at college, he had nowhere to hide. Partying and skipping classes, he got sent home on suspension.
Having to go back to live with his mom is bad enough, but while Elijah was away, his mom moved in her much younger boyfriend, Justin, who’s a fitness god with questionable adulting skills. They’re talking about getting married.
The only bright spot in Elijah’s day is flirting with Mike, a kid he barely spoke to in high school, who hunkers down to study at the coffee shop where Elijah works. But while Elijah tries to find his normal again, Justin tries to reel Elijah in, and he’s a lot more dangerous than his chill bro exterior.
The Review
Elijah Masters had his life fall apart, beginning in his senior year in high school when his beloved father was killed in an electrical fire. Everyone rallied around him to get him through high school so he could attend Stanford University with a scholarship. Unfortunately, when he got to Stanford he did everything wrong, including submitting a report that he plagarized. Being suspended and having to return home was devastating, but it was just the beginning of the nightmare that his life turned into.
It’s been less than two years since his father’s death. When he gets home, he’s greeted by a man much younger than his mother – his mom’s new fiance. Justin Michael is not what Elijah would ever have expected his mother to pick. He’s is handsome, a health food fanatic, and apparently has no income of his own.
Making matters worse, Elijah can’t help but feel attracted to his mother’s fiancé.
Elijah gets a job at a coffee shop, hoping to save enough money to move out of his mother’s home. It’s there that he first sees Mike Shatz, a kid from high school who was always rumored to be “slow.” Mike has ADHD dyslexia and a processing disorder but he’s in a two year college working towards getting into a four year school. Mike is gay too, and always had a thing for Elijah in school, but they ran in totally different crowds.
Elijah can see now that Mike is a very special kind of guy, and very different.
It’s Mike and his other friends who are responsible for pulling Elijah out of the depression he has found himself in, mostly because of Justin. Justin is a monster with a smile that draws you in, and when Elijah finally realizes the full extent of his deception and evil nature and confronts his mom, she takes Justin’s side. Justin is one step ahead of Elijah, and always comes out smelling like a rose.
I won’t go into detail about Justin’s actions, or Elijah’s, but Elijah never stood a chance against a man whose entire life was built on deceit and lies. This wasn’t a happy read, but it was the journey that Elijah had to take to come out a winner. Mike and Elijah work on a relationship, and Mike is just a wonderful character who, in spite of Elijah’s mess ups, finds a way to get past them.
A love story about overcoming odds, and getting a second chance at life. Four stars.
The Reviewer
I am an avid reader the mother of 3 sons and grandmother to seven grandchildren. Since retiring I have been doing more reading while volunteering as a CASA worker. CASA is an organization that works with the family court system to ensure that children are in the best living situation. There are way too many children that get overlooked in the foster care system and I visit homes and make visits to the parents. I was born and raised in New York and my husband of 50 years and I live in Upstate New York.
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