Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Daniel Mulligan is tough, snarky, and tattooed, hiding his self-consciousness behind sarcasm. Daniel has never fit in—not at home in Philadelphia with his auto mechanic father and brothers, and not at school where his Ivy League classmates looked down on him. Now, Daniel’s relieved to have a job at a small college in Holiday, Northern Michigan, but he’s a city boy through and through, and it’s clear that this small town is one more place he won’t fit in.
Rex Vale clings to routine to keep loneliness at bay: honing his muscular body, perfecting his recipes, and making custom furniture. Rex has lived in Holiday for years, but his shyness and imposing size have kept him from connecting with people.
When the two men meet, their chemistry is explosive, but Rex fears Daniel will be another in a long line of people to leave him, and Daniel has learned that letting anyone in can be a fatal weakness. Just as they begin to break down the walls keeping them apart, Daniel is called home to Philadelphia, where he discovers a secret that changes the way he understands everything.
This was a very emotional story. Daniel has never had someone who loved and cared for him in his life, his father and brothers barely accepted his existence and his classmates never wanted to connect with him. When he is in a small town for a job interview Rex helps him after an accident and then disappears the next morning he is sure that Rex is just another in the long line of people who wouldn’t care about him.
Both Daniel and Rex have a hard time with building a relationship, it more happens by accident in the beginning until Daniel is able to really see what is happening between them. Rex lets Daniel into his life, but keeps him at a slight distance afraid that he will leave. When Rex is there for Daniel when he needs him most it helps him start to see that he really can rely on someone else to care and help him. It did seem as if Daniel had to have things happen multiple times for him to finally understand anything emotional.
I had a hard time with the narration of this story. The narrator didn’t change voices for characters and with the different points of view within the story I had a hard time knowing who was talking to speaking at the moment and had to go back several times and re-listen to portions or stay very focused on what I was listening to. The story would have been a 4 out of 5 rating, but I had to knock it down a bit due to the narration.
Cover art by AngstyG is wonderful and gives a good backdrop for the story.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | Audible | Amazon | iTunes
Audiobook Details:
Audiobook, 13 hrs 26 min
Published March 25, 2016 (ebook first published July 10, 2015)
Edition Language: English
Series: Middle of Somewhere #1
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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 