Uhhh…the smut was good and Noah was a nice character. That’s all I’ve got.
This is the second book that I’ve read by this author, and what I can safely say is that this author confuses sexual intimacy with connection/romance. There was so much sex in this book, and while it was really well written, and the scenes were spicy/steamy, they do not make a romance. Nearly 30% into the book only covers two days of Noah and Brad being together, and most of that is them making eyes at each other and then eventually giving in and having sex. There’s not a lot of conversation or getting to know one another in that timeframe. Once they get back into town, they decide that they’re going to be together, which is kind of quick, but I could see past that. But then the big reveal happens and they get separated for 18 months… and over the course of that separation, both men decide that two days with one another was enough for them to be in love with the other one. And my question is… How? And why?!
And there is so much miscommunication between the two of them that it’s just not even entertaining to read after a while. They both jump to conclusions and they end up just wanting to irk/annoy/wind up the other person instead of just having a conversation that could easily solve most of their issues. And a lot of the times they solve their problems by just fucking. We had like a two or three chapter stretch where they were spending time with one another and they actually had a really sweet relationship in those chapters and I found myself really engaged and liking what we saw… And then it abruptly came to an end and we went right back into them miscommunicating with one another and getting pissy with each other.
I just think this author has really interesting ideas with very poor execution. Because why do they fall in love with each other in two days? And then, if that weren’t enough, she separates them for 18 months! It would’ve been so much more interesting and engaging if they were forced to stay near each other during all of this. The tension would’ve been so much more palpable and enjoyable if they engaged in this sexual encounter over the weekend, and then had to basically pretend like it never happened and live with one another while slowly falling in love with each other. That would’ve been so interesting to read, and instead we get this weird separation, and then as soon as Noah comes back into Brad’s life, they’re fucking again!
And the melodrama was just way too much and it overcomplicated what should’ve been a pretty straightforward story. There was no reason to make Noah’s mom cheat on Brad while Brad was cheating on her with Noah. It just felt very tacked on and kind of gratuitous. And making her this one dimensional, shallow character just erased what could’ve been a very interesting dynamic/conversation of Brad cheating on her with Noah and feeling guilty about it, but not being able to stay away from each other because their connection is too strong. But because the author made her out to be this selfish, vain character, who was pretty terrible to her son, we, as the viewer didn’t care that she was getting cheated on. And in fact, I feel like we were kind of encouraged to think that she deserve to be cheated on because she was cheating herself! Also, what the hell is up with Noah’s dad? I understand being hurt that you were cheated on… But just up and leaving your wife and child and never contacting him again even well into his 20s is super messed up! I was waiting for this reveal that Noah’s dad had died or something like that to explain away his absence, but the fact that that man is just fully out there living his life without trying to get to know his son again is absolutely wild to me. And Noah speaks about him so highly and I genuinely don’t understand why no one else is pointing out how shitty that is of his dad!
But, my biggest critique of this story and why I had such a hard time reading it, and why I almost stopped reading it several times is Brad. This man pissed me THE FUCK off. I like flawed characters, and I like characters that push my buttons and feel like real people. So I don’t mind that Brad was afraid to come out, I don’t mind that he was wishy-washy, and I don’t mind that he was conflicted throughout this whole story. What I do mind, is that this is a 40-year-old man acting like an 18-year-old kid. Noah was leagues more mature than this man despite being damn near half his age. Brad is a jealous, childish, temper tantrum having man and I cannot stand him for it. There were so many times where I was reading Brad, and I could only picture him as a teenager, because that’s how he was coming off as. He’s constantly getting jealous of anyone who even looks in Noah’s direction, he’s constantly accusing Noah of leaving him, and not even trying to view their situation from Noah’s point of view and even trying to understand how difficult it is for Noah. Brad is all about himself and how he feels and how he’s not ready to come out and how he doesn’t want to lose his daughter, blah, blah blah, and throughout this whole story, Noah is giving this man so much grace and has given him chance after chance after chance to get his shit together and prove that he wants to be with Noah, and Brad just throws it right back in his face! He tells Noah that they can’t be together, and then he’s stalking Noah at his job. He tells Noah that he’s not ready to be anything with him, but then they’re having sex outside of Noah’s work and then they’re having a romantic weekend together! Noah is nothing but loving and supportive toward Brad in the hospital scene, and Brad, not only more or less dismisses Noah, he flings himself into the arms of his fiancée that he’s pretty much established from the start that he’s not really that into, and shuts Noah out. And then he has the gall to be super surprised when Noah feels rejected and needs some space. And again, he doesn’t even try and understand this from Noah’s point of view, he’s just thinking: ‘Noah is running away from me again’ instead of taking responsibility for his own actions! And then, he has the audacity to get mad at Noah when they meet up again at the fair and then immediately solves the issue by fucking Noah. He made me so mad, I genuinely almost stopped reading like five or six times because I was so over him. I’m so glad that Noah was a more mature, fleshed out, palatable character.
And because of this, it makes sense that Noah’s epilogue is him realizing that if he wants his sister to grow up in a healthy environment and Brad to have a relationship with who he thought was his daughter, Noah has to try and reconcile with his mom. And it’s this very beautiful, mature reasoning coming from this 24 year old. And do you know what Brad‘s epilogue was? Sex.
Also, I do wish we had gotten a little bit more of the feeling guilty for cheating angle because Noah’s mom cheated on his dad. Noah made a very offhand remark about how he was feeling guilty for helping Brad cheat on his mom, because that’s why his dad left. And I wish we had explored that more, but of course we didn’t. We also got a very off hand remark about Brad‘s parents and how he didn’t feel comfortable coming out to them, and again, I wish we had learned more about them in their relationship with Brad.
There were some good ideas, they just weren’t followed through, so the story that we end up with is just very shallow and melodramatic. I didn’t hate all of it, again, I enjoyed Noah as a character, and there were some sweet moments between the two of them. But for the most part, this book just isn’t executed the way that it could’ve been. And so I’m just left feeling disappointed and wanting more.