'Foundation of Trust' is book five in A.M. Arthur's 'Cost of Repairs' series and once again I loved it.  We met David in a previous book when Rey was looking for a partner for his catering business. There were hints that David had things in his past he wanted to keep there and now in 'Foundation of Trust' we get to find out what's been haunting David and driving him to keep everyone at arms length.

 

I wasn't really sure how I felt about David in the previous books, but I am now. I like David. The new person in this story is Owen.  Much of David's heartache and pain is because of Owen, so needless to say I was sure I would not like Owen...wrong.  I like Owen, partly because breaking David's heart was the last thing he ever wanted to do. Unfortunately Owen was a degree a victim of circumstances and it was some of those same circumstances that contributed to David's heartache.

 

'Foundation of Trust' was a very appropriated name for this story because at the heart of everything that went wrong between David and Owen was that the trust between them that is so integral to a strong relationship got destroyed when Owen left and his sudden reappearance in town years later with promises of undying love just aren't enough to fix it. Then to make matters worse David has other issues from the past to deal with and his behaviour towards Owen only shakes the foundations of Owen's faith in their ability to find their way back to each other.

 

For David and Owen it comes down to a question of is their love for one another strong enough to see them through as they rebuild the foundation of trust that has been damaged between them. It's a question that any one of us can find themselves asking when a relationship takes an unexpected turn...is love enough to rebuild trust?

 

While the ending was a happy one it was one that the MC's had to work for and it was believable. I liked David and Owen and the love they shared and I sincerely hope that I get to see more of them. 

 

It was great to see Rey and Sam's story continuing in Acts of Faith. Seeing them adjust to such a change in their relationship with the arrival of Rey's daughter, Faith, really showed how awesome they are together. Both of them have issues they need to deal with, but they do with like adults and together. The major issue I had with this book was the character of David who was really interesting and just seemed to disappear in the later third of the story. I hope that A.M. Arthur continues this series and focuses on David soon.

I really enjoyed reading this series of books and the characters created by the author for me it was well done. I don't know if ‘Acts of Faith’ is the last book or just the most recent one. I think for Rey & Sam it may be the last one that focuses on them. I really liked these two men until part way through this story and then my anger and frustration with Rey in particular knew no boundaries. I was furious at him, to say he was behaving like the world’s biggest douche in my eyes was an understatement.

I finished this book last night and took the rest of the evening and part of this morning to ponder what it was that I wanted to say about the book and one of the things that I realized was that although I was disappointed that I no longer adore Rey and Sam the way I originally did, I think it speaks to the author’s talent that they could change my attitude within a matter of a very few pages especially given that the reason I liked Sam & Rey wasn’t because they were ‘perfect’ more the opposite. To me Sam & Rey were two men who had both been robbed of what they held dearest and loved the most in life and they each responded to the events  in a different manner.  Sam lost his partner, Ben. Rey lost his child, Faith (this was covered in the first book ‘The Cost of Repairs’) I loved how they came together to help and support each other, gave of themselves even though they were each so emotionally fragile in their own way.

I was going to cite examples here of why I was so angry with Rey, but in my opinion it would be giving away too much of the story to do this and I don’t want to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t read the book yet. While I freely admit the fact that my opinion about Rey changed so dramatically and so quickly made it hard for me to finish the book, I really, really wanted to just chuck it...literally right across the room, thankfully Hubby was there to tell me if I did that we weren’t replacing my e-reader, suffice to say that got me under control. 

I realize a lot of people may feel differently after reading this book than I do and that’s cool we all react and respond to things even books based on our own personal experiences. For me, I was left feeling like I had to walk away from a trusted friend because I suddenly found out they weren’t who and what I had believed them to be, it hurt and left me feeling sad. I’m not going to say whether or not that changed or my opinion of Sam & Rey changed because as I said I don’t want to spoil this for anyone else who reads the book. Maybe it did, maybe it didn’t, maybe it sits somewhere in between or maybe I’ll have to read this one again one day and I’ll feel entirely different about it all. However, it works for me, ‘The Cost of Repairs’ is an interesting and well done series. I enjoyed reading these books and I know if there are more to come in this series, I’ll be looking for them and I look forward to reading other books by this author.  

Acts of Faith (Cost of Repairs #4) - A.M... The continuation of Sam and Rey's story from Book 1, [b:Cost of Repairs|16072627|Cost of Repairs|A.M. Arthur|https://d202m5krfqbpi5.cloudfront.net/books/1349815787s/16072627.jpg|19130502], picks up the story about 18 months into their relationship. I have not read books 2 and 3, which revolve around different couples, and it was not a problem.

Where it appear that the relationship has grown even stronger since the events of the first book, Sam and Rey fall back into old behaviors when several big changes occur at once. The book is well written and the characters remain true to themselves. While I don't always enjoy storylines that revolve around miscommunications and failure to talk, based on the history of the characters and the huge and quick nature of the changes in their lives, it is a natural and almost expected coping mechanism.

My concern when I finished the first story is that much was left unaddressed. This felt like a good wrap up for these characters, and it appears that the series will continue with Rey's new business partner David, as his story was left unfinished.

Color of Grace (Cost of Repairs, #2) - A... 3.5 stars

I really enjoyed this book... like really did

The writing was seamless and kept me entranced

Mare~Slitsread