I loved the hell out of this book! 

I wrote in one of my status updates in GR while reading that this book didn’t just tick my hurt/comfort kink box nicely, but it slammed into it with a 2″ x 4″. I can’t think of a better way to put it than that. I love hurt/comfort. I adore emotional hurt/comfort. It’s my drug of choice and these two gave it to me in spades.

I’ve not read the previous books in this series, but as the blurb said, I didn’t need to to enjoy this one. Having said that though, I will probably read them because I did fall in love with the brothers and this family. I loved the dynamic between them and the little glimpses I saw of their lives.

Ethan & Beau are damaged, but in so very different ways.

Ethan is irrevocably shattered by the death of his first love, Gavin, who was taken from him violently, and needlessly. All because of a narrow minded, hate-filled bigot, who relentless taunts him for years afterward. The guilt and pain that torments Ethan causes him to shut down, emotionally. He continues on, but he doesn’t live…just survives. No attachments, no emotion. With his family, his friends, and his lovers. Isolation and casual sex are Ethan’s gig. And he’s good at it, for a while.

Beau is kind of a lost soul. He’s one of those people that you can’t help but fall in love with. Sweet, gentle, kind. It’s amazing he ended up that way. Growing up in a loveless household, Beau has never felt what it’s like to be loved, cared for. He has friends, and has adopted the Walker family more or less as his own, but he’s never had anything that’s just his.

When these two finally give in, the chemistry between them is explosive. Their first time together is one of the most sensual, erotic, and emotional sex scenes I’ve read in a long time. (I’m quite certain I saw that in another review, but I can’t remember who said it.) And emotional sex…well, that can just about undo me when it’s done right. It ranks right up there with my h/c kink.

“I know exactly what I want. And you’d be smart to give in because I can tell you, I don’t have any intentions on giving up.”
[..]

“You don’t want this,” Ethan said, his voice low.

“You don’t want this,” he repeated, his voice containing less anger and more confusion.

Beau placed one hand gently on Ethan’s hip, tilting his head as he studied him. He kept his tone serious when he said, “I want this more than you’ll ever understand.”

Beau is determined to heal Ethan, and Ethan is just tired enough to let him try. The two of them are so sweet together, I didn’t know whether to smile or cry half the time.

It’s funny, there’s nothing new or earth shattering in this book, everything has been done before and yet I loved it to pieces. I guess that’s a testament to the writing and the characters, or it just really hit my kinks. If you like men comforting each other, watching a relationship grow and heal two broken people, I think you’ll enjoy this book. Give it a try, I don’t think you’ll be disappointed.

This one is difficult for me to rate, because for great deal of the book, I really didn't like one of the MC's, Logan. But, at around 30% he started growing on me a little. He's arrogant, shameless, persistent as hell - almost to the point of annoying - but there were a few things I saw through the brash exterior that kept me reading.

Logan is, in a word, a slut. He makes no apologies for it either. I kind of respected that. He's a very blunt, in your face type of personality that I think you will either love or hate. Our first impression of him at the book's opening are his inner thoughts as he cashes in his ticket to the mile high club. He loves sex and has/will sleep with anything with a pulse - male or female. That's not what bothered me about him though, it was his relentless arrogance that I found grating - at first. Imagine my surprise when that very quality became almost endearing to me the further I read. Yeah, I was stunned too. 

The first part shows us Logan, who's a lawyer working next door to a popular bar. It's one he frequents weekly, but when he sees a newly hired Tate working there for the first time, he determines then and there to make him his - and will stop at nothing until he is. Problem is, Tate is straight, in the middle of a nasty divorce, and so not interested. The mix of them together is quite volatile.

The second part delves a little deeper into them and their relationship.  Logan, well... I think it was around 50% that I figured him out and stopped actively hating him, because I understood him. We come to learn later about the things in his life that have made him who he is. And Tate, I really liked him. He was always honest, and had no problems in calling Logan out on his shit. I think they were well suited for each other once they admitted it.

This is very much a relationship/character driven story. There is a lot of sex, but to me, it seemed to be how the author chose to show the change in their emotions/relationship over time. You can judge whether or not it's too much for yourself. Personally, I think it's just skirting the border of it, but It was pretty damn hot regardless. And these two are pretty explosive together, so if you're looking for sweet, romantic sex, you will be sorely disappointed. But, don't be fooled, there's still a lot of emotion under the surface in both of them. They are both very much the alpha male, slam each other up against the wall type. As far as the plot, if you put some thought into it, it's not really that hard to figure out. So while it's not terribly original, given my love for reading damaged characters, it kinda won me over in the end. For a first attempt at a m/m book, all in all, a good read.

Cliffhangers will never not annoy me though. ;) Annnnd, we have to wait until Summer 2014 for the next installment. Ugh.

I'm reading this series a bit out of order. Since I pay for each book that I read, which is far more than it should be with my budget, I try to stay away from the pricier publishers. The prices of MLR Press books are ridiculously high, so I'm reading them as they come available to me  or the prices fall - screwed up as that is. This one was $9 for 300 pages, the other two? $6 - for 100 pages. I just find that really high for ebooks of those lengths. Maybe I'm cheap? Or just broke. ;)  But I'd been eying this series for so long, I just gave in and borrowed it. I couldn't help myself any longer.

That said, I loved this one and I can't wait to read the other two.

Full review to come.

Sweet story that started a little slow, but I really enjoyed the interaction between Sebastian and Alex. Sebastian was a sweet soul and seeing their relationship build, and Alex 'grow up' was heartwarming. I enjoyed it.

Full review to come.

I really enjoyed this, I wish it had been longer.

Full review to come.