Forever Today

by Willa Okati

Rick knows better than anyone that no one can change the past. He's made his way to Italy to try to escape bitter memories and thinks he's found someone to soothe the sting: Adriano, tall and lean, laughing and generous. He probably could have a happy life with Adriano, but Rick isn't an easy man to live with. His best attempts just aren't good enough, driving Adriano away. Their story, however, is just beginning. When Adriano loses his memories of the past and can no longer create new memories, living in a state of mind where it's "forever today," Rick seizes his chance to change the past. He doesn't realize just how hard the past will rise up to bite him... [Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual situations.]

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Fiction

ebook

First published June 1, 2008

About the author

Will Okati is made of many things: imagination, coffee, stray cat hairs, daydreams, more coffee, kitchen experimentation, a passion for winter weather, a little more coffee, a whole lot of flowering plants and a lifelong love of storytelling.

Reviews

[Elisa Rolle]

Every book by Willa Okati, short or long, contemporary or paranormal, all of them have a rather poetic taste, a fable flavour. And then this one is dearer to me since it's setting in Italy.

Rick is a scottish travel reporter (we just met him in another book by Willa, Enough to Let You Go, he is the young virgin man who falls in love with Paul); now he is a thirty something old man and he is travelling in Italy to write a travel guide about the Tuscany vineyards. In one of his research he meets Adriano, the only heir to a wealthy family of vine-growers. Adriano is handsome and daring, sexy and forward. He draws Rick in a blissful relationship only to break his heart when he confesses that he must marry to produce an heir to the family.

Now Rick lives alone in a deserted villa, almost like an hermit, waiting for his broken heart to mend and for the need of money to rise. He tries to convince himself that he hates Adriano and that he doesn't want to see him no more, but when he finds the man unconscious on his doorstep, he can only bring it home. Adriano seems to suffer of amnesia, he doesn't recognize Rick, and the only things he knows is that he wants and needs to find his true love, "Rick". And like an happy child, when he understands that the man who finds him and his true love are the same person, he clings to Rick like a starving baby.

When Rick contacts Adriano's father to inform that his son needs help, he is coldly informed that Adrian was disowned and Rick can take him if he wants. And so Rick is faced with a choice: try to find a way for Adriano to regain his memories, or take him like that, needing of nothing else than Rick's love, forever an innocent lover happy only to be by Rick's side.

The book is very sweet and tender, sometime playful, sometime intense, but never sad. Rick is a very good and caring man, he is for all the book a perfect man: gentle, loving and open, almost too open, putting his heart on stake and risking to be deeply hurt. Adriano is a bit of a spoilt man: he has always had everything he wants, money, fast cars and lovers. He doesn't think twice before involving Rick in a relationship he knows will lead to nothing if not a broken heart, he always wants more and more. But as in every fable worthy of its name, a sudden event makes Adriano realizes that he just had what he truly wants and that he lost it. The following Adriano is like a newborn baby, all happy smile and open heart: from commanding man he becomes the man in need of a firmer hand. Don't know if I like better the former or the latter, maybe a mix of the two it would be perfect.

A not so long story, less than 150 pages, but enjoyable and light. Once you start it, you easily will not close it before the end, and you will do that with an happy smile on your face, the same happy smile that Adriano found.

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/30...

[Amy · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked Rick. And I liked Adriano at first, until his memory was lost and he turned in to a clingy whiny person that I could no longer stand. He acted like a kicked puppy whenever Rick looked at him sideways.

I gave up on the repetitive sex scenes when the phrase 'I'm a whore for your cock' happened. Unless the characters are being silly, no. Just...no.

Apparently, Adriano had short term memory loss, so he kept forgetting things every day when he woke up, no longer recognizing Rick etc. This could have been played up so much more. No emotion from Rick aside from a brief comfort scene followed by an extensive sex scene.

And the dog, Hamish, who had been taught to hate the name Adriano...that never came up once the man returned. Details, details...

With all the smut and the good times the characters were having, it seemed the author was as reluctant for Adriano's memory to return as I was anxious for it to be back.

Already a short book, this could have been trimmed 50 pages and the storyline tightened up, and it would have been a decent read.