Book Reviews

Book Blurb

When Kris Cerny walks back into Two Spirits, the art gallery he owns with Josh McPhee, all he wants is a clean break. Austin's booming real estate market means the building he bought years ago is worth a fortune, and with the sale, he and Josh can finally go their separate ways. They won't be reconciling, right? Josh may be sober now, but an addict is always going to be an addict, and Kris can't take that chance again.

Josh isn't willing to sell. Not yet. He's discovered a new artist in Santa Fe he knows will put Two Spirits in the black, and if he can just make a success of the gallery, maybe he can earn Kris's respect, if not recapture his love. He need Kris to give him time for one more buying trip, one more gallery show. Josh wants nothing more than a final chance to make things right. Kris agrees to let Josh have this last ditch effort on one condition-- he wants to go along for the ride. On the way Josh hopes they'll find the next big thing in the art world as well as peace, forgiveness, and a love he thought was lost forever.

 

 

First edition published by Dreamspinner Press, January 2016.

 

Book Review

I loved this book with its theme of “refiring” something to make it better. The symbolism of the clay wedding vase that is set up in the prologue, then picked up later in the story, adds a nice touch to a beautiful, if difficult, love story. Like the clay, some relationships don’t make it on the first go, for whatever reasons. In this story, Kris and Josh have spectacularly failed to make theirs work, despite the fact that they love each other deeply. Kris is ready to break up, but there is the matter of the art gallery they own together, and Josh wants one last chance to make a profit. When Kris insists they do this together, it is the beginning of a journey the outcome of which neither of the men would have believed possible. Their progress may be slow, the obstacles seemingly impossible to overcome, but with feelings as deep as they are between Kris and Josh, it would be criminal not to make the attempt.

Kris is a hard man. He knows how to make money; he has his priorities straight, and the opportunity to sell the building that houses Josh’s art gallery is just too good to delay the inevitable any longer. As much as he loved Josh once upon a time, Kris is unwilling to deal with an alcoholic who, Kris is sure, is bound to relapse sooner or later. He has seen it happen in his family, and he is unwilling to let the disaster touch him again. Not with Josh. The past is the past, and they were good together, but no matter how much he loves Josh, it just won’t work for him. Better to break up now than to drag things out. Right? Um no, not quite. Kris thinks it will be better for Josh to have the money from the sale, so he is taken care of, and maybe able to start again. Kris has no idea that is not at all what Josh is looking for.

Josh is, in many ways, Kris’s polar opposite. He has an eye for art, if not business, but the gallery means everything to him. It’s not just a business; Josh believes making it a success is the way back into Kris’s heart. After all, Kris is all about the money. Josh has worked hard to become and remain sober (it’s been five years now), and he wants Kris to at least respect him. Secretly he hopes that forgiveness will follow, so he hangs on to the gallery and making it work with a passion that seems irrational to a guy like Kris. But then, there is a lot Josh has not told Kris, a lot he has tried to ignore and suppress about himself, so how can he expect his ex-lover to understand him?

As in many cases of relationships on the rocks, most of Kris and Josh’s problems come from a lack of communication about the fundamental things that make each man tick. Both Kris and Josh have things they have never talked about, despite the fact that they have known each other since college. And in the absence of knowledge they use assumptions. A recipe for disaster if there ever was one. As soon as they spend a lot of time together on their road trip to New Mexico, they begin to open up. Now that they have a little distance from each other, the things they talk about are constructive for a change, and even though it is by no means easy, the chance of making up is too tempting for both men not to give it a try. Of course, the fact that they are still physically more than compatible has something to do with it.
 
If you like stories about men who have to work for their second chance, if you want to see their “irreconcilable differences” becoming a thing of the past, and if you’re looking for a read that deals with real problems, clashes in personality, and deep emotions, then you will probably like this novel. I think it’s a great character study as well as a touching love story.

 

 

 

 

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

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novel, 263 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-June-2020
Price	$4.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Refired-Recovery-Book-BA-Tortuga-ebook/dp/B08B3WLMQ7