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@debbiereadsbook, @PridePublishing, @MatthewJMetzger, #Contemporary, #MM, #Romance, 4 out of 5 (very good)
How can a man like him ever be enough?
Jesse has never had a real boyfriend before. He's a firefighter, and that's all that anyone's interested in—a quick and thrilling screw, and a story for the future. So when he lands Ezra Pryce, the most beautiful man in the whole of Brighton, Jesse can't quite understand why Ezra is still here eight months down the line.
Not that he's going to complain. Ezra's sexy, sarcastic, and nothing shot of perfection—and Jesse can't hope to measure up. He isn't going to be enough for someone like Ezra in the long run, and he is living—and loving—on borrowed time. When a disastrous weekend in Norwich introduces Jesse to the staunch disapproval of Ezra's family and the six-pack of his ex-boyfriend in one fell swoop, Jesse's fate is sealed.
He cannot hope to live up to an ex who has every intention of getting Ezra back, and all the looks and charm to do it too. Jesse is not enough for Ezra and he's never going to be.
Right?
Eli Bell is the only son of a police chief inspector and a forensic scientist. He's grown up wonky in a world that only deals with the straight and narrow -- and his new boyfriend isn't helping.
Rob Hawkes is six feet of muscle, tattoos, and arrest warrants. A career criminal and a former tenant of Her Majesty's Prison Service, he'd rather hit Eli's parents than sit down to dinner with them. One wrong move, and Rob could destroy Eli -- and his family -- without a second thought.
But this isn't what it looks like.
Rob's not in control here -- and Eli's the one to blame.
Review
This book is a bit of a wild ride. Both Rob and Eli have explosive tempers. They fight. With each other and in Eli's case with his family members.
There are class difference and some star crossed issue to clear up. The BDSM parts were a bit intense for me but I bought into the love between the heroes.
The portions of the book that dealt with transgender identify and family emotionially connected as did the discussion of police and public relations.
The resolution to the conflicts was a bit over the top but in here is tucked a pretty good love story.
Stefan has ... fantasies.
He knows chasing those fantasies is only going to end in disaster, but he can't seem to stop his self-destructive spiral. He’s a transgender man struggling to come to terms with the intersection of his identity and his sexual fantasies as a submissive. He needs someone to take control before he loses it completely.
Daz can take control. He can teach Stefan everything there is to know about sex and submission, but for some reason, he can't get inside Stefan's head. Daz can stop Stefan’s self-destruction but not the fear that fuels it.
Stefan needs to know who he is before he can accept what he is. And it's Yannis -- Daz's aromantic, asexual, stern, and sarcastic partner -- who has the answer.
I won't rate, because the writing and the characters were good, but I still didn't want to go on reading.
It was too heavy on the BDSM side for me - not something I like anyway. And it was a bit sex-heavy. Also it didn't have a "romance" as the couple was already established, which made it miss my favourite part.
I also didn't enjoy the repetitve drama scenes with the family - a bit too much.
So this might have been one of those "It was me, not you".