Debra E's Never-Ending TBR

3.5 stars

I love angst and drama in my books and A.M. Arthur never makes it easy on the men in her books. In this book the drama and angst take center stage and it was a bit unrelenting. It’s not only the main characters, psychiatrist James Taggart and cop Nathan Wolf who have serious issues, but all their friends and family do too.

Nate and James have been best friends for years. For James, one drunk “truth or dare” kiss at a party in college has left him yearning for his straight friend, knowing they would never be together. James is a master of partying and one time hookups in gay bars. Nate has always kept his feelings about the kiss to himself, and while he thought briefly it could be something, he has pushed it aside and concentrated on his career, placing his mostly unsatisfying relationships with women to a back burner. Fifteen years later another drunken kiss that James doesn’t remember in light of blacking out, throws their whole friendship into a tailspin. When Nate opens up to James and doesn’t get the reaction he was expecting, as series of rash decisions leads to even more drama and heartache.

There is a lot more going on in the story than just a friends to lovers / GFY romance. The author tackles PTSD, alcoholism, abuse, mental illness and a number of other issues that the secondary characters bring to the table (I’m assuming that the rest of the series will focus more in depth on those). There is also an underlying mystery revolving around a series of murders that Nate is investigating. Even though the two friends vowing to talk over things, there are miscommunications, misunderstandings and general bad behavior between James and Nate that threatens not only their tentative new relationship as lovers, but their 15 year friendship as well. Regardless of that, it’s clear the men love each other and mostly react out of fear.

I enjoyed the story, although Nate’s constant running without talking did grate on me. Nothing was easy all the way up to the last page of the book and while I was invested in the two men, I wanted a bit more of the good times between them. I was surprised by the story of Nate’s partner, Det. Carey, and James’ friend Elliott made for a really good, but really messed up, secondary character and I’m looking forward to the resolution of those stories in future books.

ARC provided by NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.