Rust Belt

David and Seth #4

by Jessica Freely

LGBT SuspenseTimes are tough in the Rust Belt, where once mighty industries now wither and die. As a city struggles for survival, two men find passion, comfort, and redemption in each other's arms.Seth is scarred, body and soul, by his experiences in the Pit, an illegal fighting ring where men are brutalized for the entertainment of the crowd. Though he managed to escape, Seth will never forget those he had to leave behind. When he meets David, he is instantly attracted to him but knows that the sexy, bookish blond is far beyond his reach. Then David is attacked on the street and in an eye-blink, Seth alters both of their lives forever.For lonely, virginal David, Seth comes out of the night like a hero from one of his favorite books, only hotter. Seth's passion and tenderness pierce the protective shell of isolation David has drawn around himself. In the wake of their shatteringly erotic encounter, David asks Seth to live with him. But just when it seems like happily ever after can happen even in Detroit, Seth's past comes back to threaten everything they hold dear.Publisher's This is a sequel to a book released by another publisher, and contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices, violence.

Genres: M M Romance, Contemporary, Romance, Erotica, Gay, LGBT, Science Fiction

140 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2009

About the author

Jessica Freely can't resist a wounded hero. As a reader and a writer, her favorite stories are of soul mates finding redemption in each other's arms. Married to the love of her life in a beautiful relationship based on mutual goofiness, Jessica also warps minds as an instructor in Seton Hill University's Writing Popular Fiction MFA program. Her dog, Ruthie, doesn't seem to care that Jessica's an award-winning and best-selling author in multiple genres. She just wants to play tug of war with Jessica's pages.

Reviews

[Deeze]

Hmmmmmmm billed as a sequel but after skimming the beginning it seems like its the same story only longer. We shall see.

[Phaney · Rating 2 out of 5]

The beginning was… interesting. A bit more than a recap of Hero, with some verbatim bits of dialogue, but mostly summed up within fifteen pages or so.

But then I got bored. Really bored. During the sex scene, no less. It wasn’t an awful scene, just… So I went to do something else instead.

After half a day or so I continued but it simply did not become much more interesting.

I guess the whole thing turned out to be oddly tepid. Not what I’d expect out of near-rape, rape, murder, slavery, gangs, kidnapping, and so forth.

I am also a little in the dark on the subject of condoms. They’re just not always mentioned. Sometimes they are, sometimes they’re obviously not involved due to circumstances but it’s not acknowledged. Especially with Seth’s history this would seem to be a big deal to me. Gong by their use in the final scene I must assume that they’re supposed to be present at all times. So it’s just bad writing.

David and Seth’s relationship feels wonky. They kind go from, “I love you” answered by a joking “yeah, right” to easy exchanges of “I love you” without any hint of transition occurring. Maybe this happened off-screen in those two months that passed but, you know? This should be in the book. I’d rather have that than the sex scenes and retreading of stupid decisions they make about keeping things from each other.

And, okay, I get that Seth is being drugged during the fight, but that he suddenly starts to think like a self-absorbed killer and complete bastard makes no sense at all. Drugs don’t change your thought process into once particular, narrowly defined type of morality. They can make him crazed, sure. Maybe even make it impossible for him to recognize anyone. But he is reasoning about it in his mind and the selective blindness towards who David is seems awfully convenient. That’s not the lizard brain activated, people. That’s just the author forcing a situation.

David’s personality, by the way, turned out to be what it is on purpose. I guess the blurb was just very misleading and that impression lingered with me over the past few years to the point where I found it hard to adjust.

Anyway, and this might after all be due to my current frame of mind rather than the book’s fault, but I found it difficult to connect, to believe. Maybe the flow was off.

[Heidi Belleau · Rating 4 out of 5]

I could not put this book down! All of the complaints I had in Hero were addressed here. I loved the representation of PTSD and that it wasn't presented as something easily fixed. I loved the slow way Seth and David worked through Seth's issues sexually and otherwise. The fight scenes at the end were very gripping and incredibly dark.

My only complaint was the final fight scene, between Seth and David. I thought drugging Seth with an unknown drug was psychologically taking an easy way out. I think it would have been far more compelling and conflicting to see Seth in captivity for longer, slowly worn down to the state where he could fight David, or felt he had to fight David. Having him drugged into not recognizing David seemed like an easy way out. Of course, that would have made an already very dark book even darker, but I think it would have made for a much more gripping conflict for me as a reader.

Overall I was very pleased by this book: I'm always happily surprised by how Jessica Freely tackles such tough issues in her fiction and presents them with care and compassion, and the sex really is top notch. I hope we see more of Seth and David sometime!

[Ebook Addict Reviews]

I really enjoyed Rust Belt by Jessica Freely. The fighting might have turned me off a bit, but it wasn’t the focal point of the story so by no means a major issue.

David’s shyness was sweet and Seth’s determination to keep David safe was endearing—not that David was a pushover. He was just as determined to keep Seth safe as Seth was him. I was actually kept glued to my seat because throughout the story, I swear I could hear the theme song from Jaws playing in my head, letting me know that something bad was about to happen. The suspense was tangible, the characters well developed—David and Seth are both very interesting men and well liked by other characters in the book—easily attracting and keeping this reader’s attention.


Theresa

[J.J. Levesque · Rating 4 out of 5]

I loved this book, because like me, David collects books. It was nice to see a character in a book that shares the same passion that I do. The relationship between Seth and David is sweet, even if Seth is a bit like a stalker at first. And I must say, I would love the apartment David has with all of those books.

[Blackravens Reviews · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 Ravens. Very rarely does a book come along that it pins me in that awkward space between needing to keep reading to reach the Happily Ever After, and needing to stop because I can’t take a moment more. Trust me when I say Ms. Freely had me filled with dread for the sake of her characters. To view the rest of this review, please visit http://www.blackravensreviews.com/?p=...

[Shirley · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this story. The characters were well developed and the interaction was great. David and Seth were very believable and I loved the way they developed throughout the story.

I really hope there's another book in the series.