Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Falling for his roommate gives ex footballer Micah the second chance he deserves, and what could be better than loving your best friend?

Micah
I’m a broke ex-football player with a bum leg and PTSD. Last summer, I had two choices: the streets, or find a cheap room to rent in the city. I chose the second option, which landed me with a brand-new problem, cos I hadn’t banked on my roommate becoming my best friend. Or that before long I’d find myself head over heels in love with him. Trouble is, even if Sam likes me back, I ain’t fit to be no one’s boyfriend. I don’t know how. All I do is wade through every precious moment and hope that he doesn’t regret the day he ever met me.

Sam
I’m a gay book nerd with no business falling in love with hunky athletes. Micah is the dictionary definition of beautiful, inside and out, he just doesn’t know it. And he definitely doesn’t know I’m ridiculously in love with him. The embarrassing kind of love. 

He’s all I can think about.

But it’s not as simple as loving someone who doesn’t love me back. Micah is damaged goods—at least, that’s how he’d put it. The world has chewed him up and spat him out, and he thinks he deserved it. That he’s still the battered mess he was a year ago.

I want to shake him, and shout in his face that he’s not. To force the truth on him and make him believe in himself the way I do. But I can’t save Micah. One day, perhaps he’ll realise that he already saved himself.

Book Review

I enjoy this author’s stories with characters who are well-developed, three-dimensional, and have a painful past. That is the case here, and while I’d normally appreciate getting into a story of friends to lovers, especially when the friends are roommates, the pace of this story was very slow. So slow, in fact, that I found it difficult to maintain my interest for the first 30 to 40 percent. Thankfully, after that, both Sam and Micah felt more real and their actions and reactions more of what I hoped for and more in tune with each other. Micah also began to take some measure of control of his health issues—physical and mental—and commit to being more open in communicating with both his therapist and Sam.

 

As the story opens, Micah is suffering from depression, PTSD, and most definitely low self-esteem. As the blurb indicates: “he thinks he is damaged goods” and that attitude is a huge influence on how he acts. He was critically injured when he fell to the subway rail tracks at the height of his football career, and that incident exacerbated his psychological conditions. He has money put away from his professional career but seeks to rent a room with a roommate instead of living alone. He instinctively knows that being alone will only make his life more miserable. Sam has space in his apartment, and he’s thrilled to find such a good roommate, who’s both quiet and very good-looking.

 

From the first, both men find each other attractive and yet neither acts on that attraction—each internalizing how important it is that he found such a good friend. Much of the early part of the story is of unrequited attraction and Micah’s angst, self-imposed isolation, and worry that Sam will suddenly realize he can’t be friends with him after all. Micah tends to spend a lot of time in his head. He’s depressed and that comes through loud and clear. Unfortunately, my empathy led me right into depression with him, and the story, at the points where Micah was imploding, dragged me down.

 

Sam is well-adjusted, good-looking, and has a wonderful supportive family. He’s almost too good to be true. He makes a great friend for Micah, is level-headed, and eventually even falls in love with him. But the story doesn’t follow the usual lines of two men meeting, becoming friends, falling in love, and getting their HEA. It takes some time for the two to actually get together sexually, commit to each other, and finally reach a point where readers can see their HEA. In between there are multiple ups and downs and Micah’s psych issues are front and center, so for those readers who are affected by reading about depression, be aware that it is a huge part of this story.

 

Overall, though, if you enjoy m/m romance with great characters who overcome difficult situations, this should be a great story for you.

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Signal Boost for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel
Heat Level
Publication Date	12-March-2020
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/dp/B085N5VVZS