E. M. Lindsey

Possible Trigger: Religious Conversation Camp
Colton never thought he would amount to much, but Sage and Derek Osbourne never let him believe otherwise. It was with a place he could call home that Colton finally let himself believe he might have a future. If only that future involved the ridiculously attractive, much older man who just blew into Fairfield. At nineteen, Colton knows he’s young, and he knows his life is anything but easy, but he also knows what he wants. If he could just get Marcel to trust him to make those decisions. He’s ready to be with someone, to lose that big "V" word, and most of all...to fall in love. He just needs that special "someone" to trust him. Then there's Marcel...Colton's future "special someone"! Marcel has never wanted anything more than what he considers to be "just average". Things like a husband, a good job, a house with a picket fence, and maybe a dog or two. To him, it all seems to be so far out of his reach. In spite of how hard he works; he’s rarely given a chance to be like everyone else. When Marcel goes out for a drink try and forget, he never expects what happened...he walks away with an attachment to a younger man. Marcel knows this young guy has no business wanting someone as messy as he is. Colton insists that he knows what he’s getting into, but Marcel likes him far too much to subject him to all the ways Marcel’s life will hurt him...it doesn't matter how much he wants it. I've read and own a lot of books by this author so I was fairly sure that both guys would get their "happy." The story got 3 stars which is unusual for anything by E.M. Lindsay because she did have me wondering there for quite a bit longer before it happened.… (more)

Slow start, and about the dismal topic of domestic abuse, although this about that particular type of abuse that we are now calling coercive control - a particularly insidious and evil psychotic behaviour that one person exerts on another.

OMG, by the end, this book had packed a punch, not just about this topic, but about the power of kindness, and open heartedness, and patience and flexibility (opposite of rigidity), and buckets of EI.

Wound into the story was polyamorous attraction/love, as the established married couple of Sebastian (Bas) and Luca left themselves open to the possibility of love with a third man, Alexandra (Xan), whom they formed a connection to through a chat room - was it for safe discussion of cheating? - and offered him support to leave his douchebag partner Max.

I've been moved like this by previous E.M. Lindsey stories. She writes about emotional trauma followed by healing - mercy! - thanks to the help proffered by an elevated human being who has usually been there and recovered due to someone supporting them - Soren in Renegades comes to mind.

I have not heard J.R. Warlow narrate before - where has he been hiding? and there are no others by him on Hoopla -- strange?! 9 hours 37 mins.… (more)

I've read several E.M. Lindsey novels now and her work is characterised but such an emotional depth I become deeply invested! I loved this one, and I haven't yet read the comments that have resulted in a mere 3 star rating.

I don't say there is much realism - the characters are black or white/goodies or baddies. Lindsey focuses on the MCs struggle to be good, and do good. That part felt stilted.

Nevertheless I found the story un-put-downable. Supposedly cold-as-ice businessman, Rhys, and his newly appointed assistant, Carter, who is deaf, completely held my attention. Living with deafness is a moving and sensitising part of the story.

Much of the plot tension revolves around Carter's misidentifying Rhys as his identical twin Reed, with whom he had a disastrous meeting through a dating app. As an identical twin myself I found this infuriating ... but plausible as the novel explains it - Carter never saw Reed properly - low lightlng, the brevity of the date, etc While they look very similar, the twins characters have nothing in common except to have been scarred by their unloving, ruthless father. Despite being smart and more perceptive than most, Carter never entertains the possibility of a misidentification. I felt like shouting it!

I'd watched the beautiful Australian movie, Of An Age (2022), and I was in the mood for a serious, earnest MM novel - this filled the need perfectly - plenty of angst and pain and almost as much poetry, thanks to Lindsey's writing.… (more)