Review: Dance with Destiny a Highly Recommended Read!

Title: Dance With Destiny

Author:  Sloan Johnson

Publisher/GR Link: GR 

Genre: MM Contemporary

Vice: Coming Out, loss, new beginnings

Rating: 4.75

Lock this book up : 4 out of five kets, very hot and supports the story.  Bring a fan!  It gets hot!

Length: Novel

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: I love it!

Best Line: "'I'm not going to fuck you tonight', I inform him bluntly. 'Fucking is something you do with a guy you're attracted to.  What I feel with you, Dom, it's so much more than that. Tonight, I'm going to make love to you so you'll never doubt my confidence that we're it for one another.'"

Synopsis: Tony DeLuca has to get to New York, nor’easter be damned. His older sister is getting married and it won’t matter to her if the entire east coast is shut down if it means she’s short a groomsman. She’s the only reason he’s willing to make the trip home to face a father who’s never forgiven him for wasting a perfectly good degree to become a firefighter. And that’s only the tip of the iceberg when it comes to everything about Tony that his father will never accept. 

Dominic Tricoli’s living his dream. He’s spent the past few years working to mesh his business degree and love of the outdoors into a thriving company, providing team building retreats for some of the country’s largest corporations. Unfortunately, there’s a price to pay for happiness, and having someone to come home to at night is the sacrifice Dominic made.

When Dominic overhears Tony’s plight, he’s drawn to help the man get to New York City. Little does Dominic know that one kind gesture will awaken a side of him he’s ignored for far too long. Against his better judgment, he gives in to his desires and Tony’s advances. Just for the night.

When destiny steps in, giving him another chance with the charismatic man who saved his hide, Tony’s willing to do whatever it takes to earn Dominic’s forgiveness and understanding. There may not be forever, but Tony’s determined to enjoy every single minute he’s given with Dominic.

You can’t fight fate. Whatever’s meant to happen, eventually will. 

Impressions: I was lucky enough to read Ms. Johnson's earlier book, Teach Me, and I really enjoyed it.  I was really excited to read this one, and it totally surpassed my high levels of excitement!  This book was amazing, and I can't wait to re-read it.  I hope for more about these two guys, because Dom, and especially Tony, really captured my heart!

The story begins with two men driving a rental car to New York during a storm.  After a hot, but slightly awkward start, they meet up at a wedding, one there for the groom and the other for the bride.  

I was definitely captured from the start of the book.  I had a little bit of trouble keeping the MC's straight with the alternate point of views in the beginning, but I very quickly determined their very different personalities.  I really loved watching these guys realize how strong their feelings were, and I appreciated that Ms. Johnson really took the time to explore their complex backgrounds.

About 50% of the way through the book, I wondered how much more could happen.  The MC's were beginning to fall in love, Tony was getting close to standing up for his love, and Dom was coming along well, and I expected this to wrap up like a typical love story.  I was so glad it wasn't over, but I wondered what could come next.  What came next set this book apart for me.  

We really were able to experience the loss Dom had in his past, and we got to see the transformation that Tony went through.  Both Tony and Dom as a couple grew and faced challenges that were difficult, but which never tested their love.

I really connected with these two, and I loved their supporting characters.  The friends and families that supported them helped provide the support that these men both needed, and sadly lacked in their own lives.  I found them to be very realistic in their actions and reactions.

As for the end of the novel, while I won't give any spoilers, I will say that I really enjoyed it.  I know there are challenges that Tony and Dom will face, but I have every feeling that they will face them together.  I believe that the challenges are temporary, and I have every positive hope for their future.  I would love to see more from these two, as they are definitely at their HEA for love, and I want to see them get their life HEA too!  Great story and a very, very highly recommended read! 

Also, I would be remiss if I didn't take the time to say that this book was HOT.  Like turn the fan on hot.  The sex scenes were emotional and SO sexy!

Advanced copy received from author for an honest review.  

Book Review: Second Helpings

Title: Second Helpings

Author: Charlie Cochrane

Publisher/GR Link: Riptide, GR

Genre: MM

Vice: Loss, new beginnings, Contemporary

Rating: 3.75/5

Lock this book up: 2 out of 5 stars.  Sex is not central, but plays a key role

Length: Novella

Satisfaction: HEA

Cover Impressions: I like the simplicity. 

Best Line: "I'm not sure if its been too long a time or too short a time, but its the right time."

Synopsis:Stuart Collins’s life might as well have ended a year ago when his partner died in a car crash. Even Stuart’s widowed father has found new love with an old friend, Isabel Franklin, so why can’t Stuart be bothered to try?

Then he gets a phone call from Isabel’s son, Paul, who wants to check out whether or not Mr. Collins is good enough for his mother. During dinner together, though, they end up checking out each other. Trouble is, Paul’s got a boyfriend—or maybe he doesn’t, since the boyfriend’s supposedly giving Paul the push by ignoring him. Or maybe Paul just wants to have his cake and eat it too.

Honesty with each other is the only way to move forward. But maybe honesty with themselves is what they really need.

Impressions:  This is a character building book that really examines what it takes for someone to move on and to find happiness again.  We begin by seeing two older people, the parents of the MCs, gaining the courage to seize their second helping at happiness again, and we quickly meet the two men who need to do the same.

This is a not a book about action, it is really a book that examines what it takes for each person to feel that they can grasp happiness again.  Stuart had a wonderful life with his husband, and now struggles to realize that no one can help him grab happiness again, except for himself.  I really liked Stuart's struggles, and I liked that Cochrane didn't send us any voices from beyond to guide Stuart.  As for so many who have survived tragedies, the choice of happiness is in his hands, and he knows it.

Paul was more of a struggle for me to like, but it was because the impediments to his process of moving on were also himself, and his inability to accept that things had ended.  When I learned more about his situation my compassion increased, and I saw that part of Paul's challenge was the gray area he was living in.  Stuart knew his happy times with Mark had passed, but Paul was in a more common, and in some ways more tragic position.  He had the hope that things would improve and that he could find his happiness again.

This book was a different book, and more filled with a  slow exploration of what it takes to heal, and it is wonderfully written and definitely worth a visit!

Definitely recommended.

Review posted on Amazon and Goodreads.