All In

by Taylor Ryan

When Jason agreed to basically babysit his friend's step-brother, he knew the kid was a temperamental brat--I mean, Brad had told him that the kid had even tried to kill him once, so the hateful attitude didn't surprise him. Unfortunately, what he didn't expect was a sixteen year old mute whose anger was born from something much darker than just disliking his stepbrother. And finding out what that is pushes Jason to fold or go all in.

Warning: this is a M/M story and contains scenes of a sexual nature between men. This story contains depictions of abuse: physical, sexual, and emotional, as well as thoughts of suicide--please do not read if any of these things bother you.

68,000+ words

Genres: Abuse, M M Romance, Dark, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance, Suspense

367 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 19, 2015

About the author

Taylor Ryan is the pen name under which I publish my M/M fiction, as I started out writing young adult fiction and have recently migrated genres. I have been writing M/M fiction since June 2014, and Tears of the Neko was my first published work in the M/M genre.

Reviews

[Elyse · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars
This book was not what I thought it would be and deal with some hard subjects, like physical abuse, rape and suicide attempt.

Jason is hired by his friend Brad as a bodyguard/babysitter for his younger 16 years old step brother Devlyn. He doesn't really have a choice since he own everything to Brad because he is paying his dad nursing bills. According to everyone, he is a brat with a bad temper and nobody can deal with him. He spend most of his time in his room.

Things are not as it seems, and it takes some time for Jason to see that there might be a reason why the teen hate Jason so much.

There are some romance in the background, but it not really the focus here. It is all about getting out of an horrible situation where there seems to be no way out.

[n2reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

This story is definitely more of a focus on the relationship of a guardian/caretaker and the kid he has to watch than a flat out romance. There are two relationships going on, but they are not the main focus of the story. Devyn has been abused by his older brother, well, step brother, for years. He's mute and has no recourse as to get any help. Jason needs money and is hired as Devyn's guard. It's the relationship between the two of them that is the heart of this story.

[Horselover · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heartbreaking and so hard to read how Brad treats his brother-in-law, a boy under his guardianship. Mute and unable to defend himself in a household controlled by his shady guardian, Devyn's pain is so sad and touching. It's hard to watch Jason at first, seeing Devyn as a horrible kid, but the slow realization of what's really going on makes the story so good.

[Britney · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is one of my guilty pleasure books. It is a fun read with characters you love to love and love to hate.

[♡❀✦☞ Sammy ☜✦❀♡]

Stopped at 28%.

Maybe I will come back to this book in the future but for right now it's a DNF.