Summer Son

by Anna Martin

Ellis Broad never imagined he would end up a single father before he turned twenty-nine. Then again, most of his expectations for the future evaporated when his husband of three years filed for divorce, leaving Ellis as their six-month-old son Harrison's only parent. After the divorce Ellis hides, working from home on his small graphic design business so he can be a full-time dad. He succeeds until Zane Hadlin stumbles into his life.

Zane is everything Ellis desires and everything he fears at the same time. A former gang member from the wrong side of the tracks, Zane turned his life around after his older brother was killed in a shooting. Now an artist, Zane shows Ellis a path back into the world and all he's been missing out on.

The only problem is, Ellis's ex-husband hasn't quite gone for good, and his digging into Zane's past could drag up secrets no one is prepared to deal with.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Family, Childrens, Audiobook, Contemporary Romance

223 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 31, 2014

About the author

Anna Martin is from a picturesque seaside village in the south west of England. After spending most of her childhood making up stories, she studied English Literature at university before attempting to turn her hand as a professional writer.

Apart from being physically dependent on her laptop, she is enthusiastic about writing and producing local grassroots theatre (especially at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, where she can be found every summer), travelling, learning to play the ukulele, and Ben & Jerry’s New York Super Fudge Chunk.

Although her most recent work is in the LGBT romance genre, in the past Anna has worked on a variety of different projects including short stories, drabbles, flash fiction, fan fiction, plays for both children and adults, and poetry. She has written novels in the Teen or Young Adult genre, Romance and Fantasy novels.

Anna is, by her own admission, almost unhealthily obsessed with books. The library she has amassed is both large and diverse; "My favourite books," she says, "are 'The Moonstone' by Wilkie Collins, 'To Kill a Mockingbird' by Harper Lee and 'Oryx and Crake' by Margaret Atwood." She also owns multiple copies of Michael Crichton's Jurassic Park books and re-reads the Harry Potter novels with almost startling regularity.

Anna claims her entire career is due to the love, support, pre-reading and creative ass-kicking provided by her closest friend Jennifer. Jennifer refuses to accept any responsibility for anything Anna has written.

Reviews

[Barbara➰ · Rating 3 out of 5]

After going through a divorce, Ellis is raising his son practically alone. His ex husband decided he didn’t want any part of Harrison. When his friend Meg invites him out with friends, Ellis is immediately attracted to the new guy, Zane.

So I really wanted to love this story. It had things I love: two hot guys and babies. And I liked it a lot. It was really sweet for the most part. But, and there’s always a but, there was so much that needed expanding on. So many things that could have been fleshed out more. For instance some of Zane’s background and family like his father, Ellis says he knows Zane will tell him when he’s ready but that’s it. We never get to see the conversation. Things like that happened throughout the whole story.

Zane was amazing. He immediately fell in love with Harrison and was so good to him. I wish we’d had his POV though. He’s artistic and creative. I wanted his thoughts and feelings. I wanted to be in his head. I never doubted his feelings for Ellis or Harrison but it would have been nice to actually read it.

I liked Ellis but at one point he hurt Zane and that pissed me off. He gets his head out of his ass but still...And (Warning! Huge spoiler) when they get married I never felt Ellis really wanted to. I felt he was just doing it for Zane I never doubted he loved Zane though.

And WTF with the ending? Bam! The end! No, I need more closure than that. So, needless to say, I’m a bit disappointed.

[Meep · Rating 2 out of 5]

Potentially a cute heart-warming story, but it's all recounted - nothing experienced. Even when Zane is telling Ellis his backstory he says two lines then Ellis as first person pov summarizes it, meaning what should have been an emotional moment became drab.

You MUST like babies in books to enjoy this one. To me it held more baby bonding than romance. Baby Harrison appears or gets mentioned on practicually every page. There's more sense of love interest Zane bonding with the baby than of him getting to know Ellis.

There's a nice group of friends and families are supportive.

It's a nice story but the tell not show creates too wide a distance, if the style is one that works for you then you'll love this single dad fic, but for me what could have been lovely quickly became bland, even tedious to read.

A few minor plot niggles
- He wont put the baby on the floor at a kids activity group, but will in a doctor's office?
-Someone so particular he's not comfortable with his mother babysitting, turns the baby moniter down so it doesn't interrupt!
-Meg at 4% claims she's no longer friends with Ex-Oliver, at 52% she's the only one with his currrent number...
-The condoms don't matter trust of someone just met. (He's too big, bless him)
-The ex seemed to have a split personality. He doesn't care about baby, then he's keeping baby, then out of the blue as well as controlling, blah-blah, he 's a racist...
-Zane is out with friends and texts Ellis but doesn't mention his [Zane's] brother is there and that he's just come out to him?
-At the beginning of a custody battle - asking Zane to move in with him.
-FREE legal assistance, because the cause matters!

[Elsa Bravante · Rating 2 out of 5]

Más que una historia el libro parecía una sucesión de hechos sin ningún análisis de los personajes o situaciones: y pasó esto, y lo otro, y entonces esto, y después lo otro. No quiero extenderme más porque no quiero ser cruel, seguro que a su autora le costó escribirlo.

[Pjm12 · Rating 4 out of 5]

I bought this on impulse, but having enjoyed a couple others from this author, felt confident it would be good.

And it is.

There was just the right balance of angst and good times. Each of the obstacles in the way of Ellis and Zane's happiness are overcome realistically - which is to say, not too easily, but not with overdrawn (melo)drama either.

Ellis' ex confused me a little. Sometimes he is such a bastard (and I thought for sure he was the one who alerting the cops to Zane's whereabouts, but there didn't seem to be any reason for him to behave the way he did. So, I wanted more motivation to really accept his ugly behaviour.

I liked all the arty stuff, the group-of-friends stuff, and of course, the smexy-times stuff.

Very enjoyable, absorbing story.

[Bitchie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a very well written book, I just didn't connect with the characters for the longest time. I felt that the writer did more telling than showing. Even when it was supposed to be Zane telling Ellis about his past, it was Ellis "telling" the reader, rather than Zane telling Ellis. It also felt a bit rushed. Within 4 months, Ellis goes from being a single dad, vowing to never get married again, to in love and getting married again. Zane was quite sweet, although he felt a bit too good to be true. Perfect boyfriend, perfect stand in parent, perfect everything. The custody issues with the ex came as no surprise, and I didn't think that the stuff from Zane's past cropping back up really added to the story at all. It felt like it was just stuck in as an afterthought, a way to stick a bit more drama into things, and then was over and forgotten in a flash. Everything would have been exactly the same if that bit had been totally left out of the story. Really, a disappointing story, considering how much I've loved other books by this author.

Oh and I almost forgot! Unprotected sex! Unprotected sex was had in this book. They barely knew each other at this point, but both took the other's word on "I'm clean", of course, because the condoms Zane had wouldn't fit Ellis's apparently large dick. With all the socially conscious, health conscious, everything has to be just so for my kid Ellis, it just didn't make sense that he would risk his health that way.

[Chris, the Dalek King · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like with most of Anna Martin's book, I really enjoyed this. And even with my general lack of interest in children I found these three guys absolutely adorable together. I do have to agree with another reviewer though (I can remember who it was, and I'm too lazy to look it up right now) who thought that the lack of condom use in this book was incredibly irresponsible for Ellis. Granted, I always think if you are going to stick your dick in something you need to cover up unless you have buttload of test up the wazoo. Still, the dude has a kid and you can't do that kind of stuff anymore.

Other than that, I liked it all. Even the parts where I think someone should have slipped some arsenic in Oliver's coffee.

[YullSanna]

Развития отношений нет, они просто влюбляются друг в друга. Ну ок *пожимает плечами*
В месте, где начинается грызня за ребенка с бывшим, - бросила.

[Leaundra · Rating 5 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this one and loved Ellis and Zane together. Baby Harrison was a sweetheart(sidenote, I love the name Harrison , it's my baby brothers name ;-)Zane was so great with Harrison and Ellis, it was great to see, especially with him being so young. Ellis' ex-husband wasn't a prize, I'll let you read it and find out how he was. They have tons of friends and family that were also so great in the book. I would love to know what they're up to now, but that's just me being greedy ;-)

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

*** 3.5 Stars ***

An utterly adorable story with a whole cast of likable main and secondary characters. Solid fluff read for a Saturday afternoon.

[Sadonna · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a lovely story! Ellis is moving on with his life and his infant son Harrison after a nasty and contentious divorce. Turns out his ex-husband, Oliver, isn't really that interested in raising the son that they both agreed to have and especially after he confirms that he isn't the biological father. Well too bad for him. You can't send children back and he is going to be responsible for the child he brought into the world - at least financially. In other ways not so much. That is until it looks like Ellis has moved on. After focusing on work and raising his son after his divorce, Ellis is tired and a bit reclusive like most single parents who do not have an abundance of energy left at the end of the week. His best friend Meg encourages him to go out though to meet up with their friends on a weekend when Oliver is supposed to have Harrison. He reluctantly agrees and then he meets Zane. They are definitely attracted to each other and spend time together that evening. Zane says he'll call Ellis. When he doesn't right away, Ellis is disappointed, but he's gotten a little bit used to that ;)

After running into Zane after a little bit of time has passed, Ellis lets Zane cook for him and they realize that they really would like to spend time together and get to know one another. But of course there are obstacles in their way - like Zane being a bit younger than Ellis and still a student finish up at Art school, Ellis's vindictive ex, Zane's mysterious past, Ellis's worries about Harrison, etc. There are definitely a few bumps in the road for them, but they really care about each other and do their best to communicate - even though Ellis struggles with words sometimes.

I really really enjoyed this story. It was sweet without being sappy. Realistic without clubbing the reader over the head. Zane and Ellis are interesting and very different characters. And of course Harrison is adorable :) Their friends are supportive and generous and really look out for this couple. Just a lovely read and one of the many reasons Anna Martin is an auto-buy for me :D

[Anke · Rating 4 out of 5]

Finished last night and today I want to say: this was an engaging read, well paced, not too much drama, although it all cleared up a bit too smoothly. But it left me with a good feeling and a smile on my face.

[Janie · Rating 4 out of 5]

The characters in this book were exceptional and there was just the right amount of emotions all over this book. Ellis was a great dad and I loved Zanes character.

[Maame · Rating 5 out of 5]

I knew this book was going to be good when l saw it on the Dreamspinner press website some weeks ago. I made sure l got one as soon as it came out. I was not disappointed. There are so many mm romance books that it's impossible to consider the fact that some gay couples also divorce. This book was very well written,very realistic, and kept my attention all through to the end and l loved the ending. Let's face it gay couples are just like any other couples which means that sometimes they divorce and fall in love again. They can't always be the only ones falling in love all the time. Highly, highly recommended.

[Katrina Passick Lumsden · Rating 4 out of 5]

Anna Martin has managed to impress me. The romance between Ellis and Zane is sweet and natural, and neither character is perfect, but realistically flawed. Ellis's son, Harrison, was incorporated so well into the story. There's no annoying cooing from him or from the adults in the story, which is a relief as most stories including children tend to get so saccharine I can't stomach them. There's very little angst here, and while there are some obstacles, the relationship between Ellis and Zane remains, for the most part, strong and stable.

[Laura · Rating 5 out of 5]

I absolutely loved this story - Anna Martin is fast becoming one of my "must buy" authors. Ellis and Zane are the perfect couple and I loved how Harrison wasn't just a prop in the story, forgotten about when convenient. This is a story about family and friendship - I will be recommending to everyone!

[Tina · Rating 5 out of 5]

4,5 stars.

I’m a fan of most of Anna’s book so it’s no surprise that I liked this one a lot.

I have to admit, though that I was considering to skip this one. Bringing babies into M/M romances isn’t usually my cup of tea but the synopsis made me curious and I gave Summer Sun a try.

I really loved how Anna weaves the story around a single father of an adorable baby who finally meets the perfect guy, even though said man’s past isn’t easy to deal with.

As always I loved Anna’s writing style, it’s unique, lyrical and full of emotions. The sex is smoking hot, the humour and the angst are well-balanced. Summer Son is an entertaining mix of heartache and love, hurt and passion.

The heroes are so cute, with all their sweetness and heir hotness…I even loved their flaws. Plus, I loved baby Harrison, what an adorable little guy. :) Things are tough for these guys to work out, but I stuck with them, because I believed they just deserved their HEA. Brilliantly done!

[M · Rating 2 out of 5]

Cute story. Very cute.

Unfortunately I couldn't connect with it. I liked the MCs, but they stayed so flat to me. There were so many emotional moments, especially with Zane, but also with baby Harrison. But I didn't feel any of them. I think my main problem was that there was so much telling. Everything was told, but never really experienced.

Bummer because I like this author & the story itself was good. Many aspects, but not to overloaded. Although some of it could have been more detailed for my taste. Again, that might have had to do with the way the story was written. As it stands, it was okay, but could have been so much better.

[Otterpuss · Rating 5 out of 5]

I adored this story!!
I loved everything about it from the main characters to the relatively angst free drama to Harrison to the secondary characters.
Would absolutely love to read more about Ellis, Zane and Harrison.

[Ivana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute story with a gorgeous baby, what more could you want! This was just what I needed in a comfort read. I hated his ex, I hope he's miserable but there was no over the top angst. No over the top drama. An easy read that gave me the warm and fuzzies.

[Daphne · Rating 3 out of 5]

This low angst story provides all the warm fuzzies anyone could want along with a bit of steam. Zane and Ellis fell quickly and hard and a whole lot was crammed into a short period of time. The ending seemed a bit unlikely but it dripped of romancelandia happenings.

[Barb ~rede-2-read~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

Note: This audiobook was provided to me by the publisher through Hearts on Fire Reviews in exchange for an impartial review.

Audiobook narrated by R.L. Davis

Ellis and his husband, Oliver, were among the first to get married when same sex marriage became legal, then to have their son born with a surrogate, and finally, the first to get divorced after three years. Ellis is now raising his son Harrison alone, though Oliver has to pay child support since the decision to have the child was made jointly, and he must own up to his responsibility. Ellis won custody and Oliver has weekend visitation, though he rarely picks up the baby until Saturday and returns him early on Sunday.

Forced by his friends to finally go out to enjoy himself one night, Ellis meets Zane, a young art student of Egyptian descent. Zane Hadlin is sweet, fun, and totally interested in Ellis. Spending some time together eventually becomes frequent as Zane is totally enraptured by Harrison and vice versa. Before too long, he’s moved in at Ellis’s invitation, and the future looks bright for the two of them. But Zane has a past that is apparently going to haunt him, even ten years after he was involved at the scene of a crime. When he was a young teen he witnessed his gang leader brother’s murder and was forced to testify at the murderer’s trial. His mother then packed up the family and moved them to Vermont where she had distant cousins. Zane was cleared of any wrongdoing, but his name is forever associated with the gang war.

When Ellis’s ex decides he wants custody of their son because “that terrorist” is a bad influence on him, Zane offers to stay away from them, and he loves them so much he’s even willing to move back to Vermont, but Ellis puts his foot down and digs in for a major custody battle for which he wants Zane by his side.

This is a sweet story of family love—the love of a man for his child and the love of a man for another man, his lover, his partner. R.L. Davis’s narration was great with totally different voices for both MCs, something that doesn’t always happen in an audiobook. I loved the voice the narrator gave to Zane. It emphasized his youth and his sweet personality. His smooth narration of the whole story kept me interested from beginning to end.

Anna Martin is a gifted author and the story is gritty and realistic and one that should appeal to all lovers of a romance involving men with children and a strong desire for family. I highly recommend this audiobook. Very nicely done.

[Katharina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Okaaaay.... I must have had a couple of bad days (or bad reads) when I wrote the original review here.

So this book always kind of niggled at me, maybe because I was so disappointed after reading it and that was so very unexpected. So, I thought after several years, let's give this another try. And I have to say - while all points written in the original review are still kind of true, it really wasn't all that bad. I enjoyed reading this book well enough this time around, even though a couple of the obvious writer props popping up every now and then made me roll my eyes. But, oh well. Not that big a deal, actually.
So definitely not my favourite of Anna Martin's books, but three stars might be a fairer verdict after all.


***Original Review - 2 stars***

I... have no idea what happened here. I mean, I love Anna Martin, loved most of the books of hers I'd read. So, of course, I had high hopes going in. And then...

This book was so unnecessary. I mean, I really liked Harrison, he was great. But the love story between Ellis and Zane? It seemed basically over after 50 pages, nothing further to add. The evil ex? Urgh. And what's with that story thread of Zane's past - and how it was resolved especially? The whole thing was such a clear writer's prop, trying to bring some tension into an otherwise completely tension-less story. And it didn't work because it just seemed... unbelievable. And a bit ridiculous.

I read it to the end, though, because the writing itself was good enough, and the story wasn't so ridiculous that I wanted to stop at any point, but at the end I felt dissatisfied. And disappointed. Damn.

[Ezi Chinny · Rating 4 out of 5]

★★★½.
This book was interesting. Ellis gets divorced and becomes single dad with young son Harrison in tow.
Said man meets Zane through mutual friends and they hit it off immediately. Then life happens. Their domestic bliss gets interrupted by Zane's past. I'm still working through how I feel because I didn't quite but the insta-love. Nor how quick Ellis let Zane around Harrison. I'm surprised by some of the unsafe practices Ellis engaged in, I'd think he'd be worried and cautious if no other reason than for Harrison.
I'm still mulling it over.

[Toni FGMAMTC · Rating 3 out of 5]

There are several things I liked about this book. It's the first time that I've read about a divorce and custody battle between two men. It gets into the biological links and legal issues with using surrogacy. Also, one of the main characters is Egyptian American so that adds to the diversity. Even though he was born in America, he still has to deal with being though of as an outsider, a terrorist even. The love is super sweet. The best part for me was the baby. He definitely pulled my heartstrings, and I loved seeing the love interests interact with him. Awww.

[Marion · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.25 Stars!! I absolutely loved this beautiful, well written story about family...and what it means to be a family. For a family themed story it was very sexy! Add some angst plus fabulous secondary characters and this was another solid read from Anna Martin!

[Tamika♥RBF MOOD♥ · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

[clear skies · Rating 1 out of 5]

I love how the author white-washed an ethnic character.

He's not Muslim.
He's not religious.
He's an American.

Wow.

I would swear but someone may get their feelings hurt.

[Annika · Rating 3 out of 5]

Audiobook review

I’ve been a fan of Anna Martin’s ever since I read Signs a few years back. So when I came across this audiobook I needed to read it. Summer Son is definitely on the fluffier side of the scale but not overly so.

Ellis Broad is trying to start over with his six-month old son Harris. Having recently been dumped by his husband he’s not really looking for someone new. He’s not looking at all to be honest. His life is Harris and making their new lives work. But his best friend convinces him to go out one evening… an evening where he just happens to meet Zane.

Ellis and Zane's relationship seemed a bit too easy and too quick. They went from first meet, to serious relationship in one breath. In the next they were living together and fighting Ellis' ex for custody of Harris. Way too much insta-love to be really believable. Especially considering that Ellis had a young son. Their relationship was a bit too easy. There was no real building to it or a solid foundation, it just suddenly was.

Then there was Zane's past. After all these years it suddenly comes back to cause trouble – and his pas as such was a too far-fetched for my liking. Mostly it all added up to cause drama for the sake of it, as a plot device. It didn’t feel genuine for me.

On the other hand, this audiobook was mostly uncomplicated and a quick and nice read or listen when you are in the mood for something sweet. And if you, unlike me in this case, don’t overanalyse it and take it for what it is – it’s definitely worth the read. And you will have a good time with these guys and the family they’ve created.

Summer Son seems to be the only audio book R.L. Davis has recorded and it was very well done. It wasn’t always perfect but it was definitely enjoyable. He has great pacing and enunciation and, my personal favourite, he adds feelings to his narration – he lives it. I loved his accent for Linda the lawyer, it was great and added so much to the feel of the book.

However, there were a few noticeable issues with the audio recording itself. Re-takes are a fact of life or at least in the recording business (wouldn’t it have been great if you could have re-takes on other things as well?) but I digress, anyway there are always re-takes and parts or sentences were re-recorded, but in this audiobook they were at times painfully obvious. Where the tone and voice didn’t match the rest of it. It’s strange to have part of a sentence sounding completely different from the rest. It’s not a huge mistake, and it’s also a fairly common one, but it’s something the listener will notice.

All in all, I did have a nice time listening to this book, and would love to listen to more by both Martin and Davis.

A copy of this book was generously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

[#Mathias# · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 pour l’histoire. 3 pour la qualité de l’ouvrage.

MxM bookmark ou RB en l’occurrence a encore frappé ! Je crois que le relecteur s’est endormi sur sa copie. Des répétitions dignes d’un élève de primaire, des manques de ponctuation si évidents… c’est encore une fois, une belle œuvre inachevée pour cette maison d’édition.
Heureusement c’est un livre qu’on m’a offert, car j’aurais vraiment eu des scrupules à avoir dépensé 15€ pour un livre si inachevé…

Pour l’histoire, c’est un peu cousu de fil blanc. Un peu simple et prévisible et il m’a manqué des éléments. Malgré ces deux petits points, l’histoire est vraiment mignonne et sympathique. J’ai passé un bon moment (il faut le lire en mood plaid-canapé 😊)

[Shawna · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 stars - This book was frustrating at times. I think the former gang member backstory was so watered down and weirdly down played to the point of why include it at all, and I couldn’t figure out the evil ex and why he was so evil . . . (Also Chekov would be rolling in his grave.) And then, it just sort of ends, and there’s another surprise wedding (but it’s just the guests that are surprised, so that's okay I suppose.)