Book Reviews

Book Blurb

One never intended on being a father and the other isn’t looking for a relationship, but they’re about to find out that what they want and need might be the last thing they expected.

Steve Moore wasn’t planning on being a dad. He envisioned a life of teaching and professional swimming. Fast forward a year and he’s the guardian of his ten-year-old sister. He wants love and passion, but who wants to date a guy with a family?

Farin Baker believed love wasn’t in his cards—until he takes his nephew to swimming lessons. One glance at the water-slicked hunk teaching the class has him thinking about jumping into the dating pool once again. He’s ready for a fresh start and a hot guy for his bed.

Will these two men find heat between the sheets or will the guardianship situation be the biggest detriment to them finding happiness?

Publisher's Note: This book was previously released elsewhere. It has been revised and reedited for release with Pride Publishing.

Book Review

This story was very similar to book one in both structure and plot. Two lonely men, one of them a single “dad”, they initially dislike each other and then find common ground. Both men had incredibly bad prior relationships that hinted at emotional abuse, and after much internal emotional angst they begin to date.

Farin, introduced in book one as an upstanding guy who loves his brother Colin to the point of overprotectiveness, here in book two flip-flops to behaving like a complete jerk to Steve. He behaves poorly, then turns around and apologizes which helps to show Farin’s fear of intimacy in a relationship.

Steve, brother and guardian to his ten-year-old sister, is a week away from his final court date to legalize his guardianship. He doesn’t want to get into a relationship that may jeopardize the ruling, but he wants a stable guy in his life. Then he finds he’s being targeted by the Coalition for Heteros for Cedarwood, which may also endanger his pending guardianship. This added some angst to the plot line but did not overwhelm the overall relationship thread and allowed Farin to demonstrate he could be the boyfriend Steve needed.

The dialog between Steve and Farin – from an emotional heart to heart on a bench minutes after they meet for the first time, to stumbling awkwardness in the get-to-know-your-likes conversation, to rip-clothes-off sex – was not as cohesive as it could have been and limited character and relationship building. Again, I think it was to emphasize Steve’s need for stability and protectiveness of Genie, and Farin’s fear of relationships.

This second volume in the series was not as strong as book one – to me, Steve and Farin did not come across as cohesive main characters emotionally or physically. The background of pending guardianship began strong then stumbled from too many inputs. Personally I think this would have been a stronger book with either some plot items removed, or turned into a longer story.

But overall, Farin gets his story, Gage and Genie are a couple of sweet kids, and the reader is guaranteed a Happy Ever After.

 

 

 

 

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

Additional Information

Format	ebook
Length	Novella, 151 pages/38992 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	18-June-2019
Price	$2.99 ebook
Buy Link	https://www.pride-publishing.com/book/ripples-in-cedarwood