Rating: 3 stars out of 5
Tattoo artist Max Marshall races into his hometown of Sweetwater, West Virginia—and is promptly pulled over for speeding. Max’s luck isn’t all bad, though, because he recognizes the deputy, Tyler Reed, Max’s childhood best friend’s older brother.
Reconnecting with Tyler helps Max settle back in, and it also leads to attraction. But when he tries to explore that connection at the grand opening of his tattoo studio—by kissing Tyler—awkwardness ensues. Max wants more, but has he misread Tyler’s signals?
As a single father raising a six-year-old daughter, Tyler doesn’t have much time to date. He’s ignored his attraction to men for years, but he can’t stop thinking about the kiss he shared with Max. If he can handle the complications of dating in a small town and the possible consequences to his career, this romance could blossom with all the colors of summer.
This was an enjoyable story, however, if you are looking at it to be a best friend’s brother story, it isn’t. We only see Tyler’s brother for a short bit and one scene about their relationship. I felt these two took the time to build a pretty good relationship though I got the feeling there were parts of the story that I was missing.
Max moves back to his hometown to be closer to his mother who recently had a stroke and though he had been there for a few weeks following said stroke everyone acted like he hadn’t been to town for years which I thought a bit strange. Tyler has basically dedicated his life to his daughter but never really thought about finding another romantic relationship.
This story felt almost too smooth. Yes there was the one night Max kissed Tyler and Tyler rebuffed him but there wasn’t even 24 hours of worry before that was fixed. The only other conflict was when Max was going to move in with Tyler and his mom basically talked him out of it and made him doubt his feelings, which I still can’t believe happened, but the following weekend he is suddenly sure. Those and some time jumps and inconsistencies were the main things that had me at 3 stars instead of 5.
I love the cover art by Reese Dante and the visual it gives of Max.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | Amazon | B&N
Book Details:
ebook, 223 pages
Published: May 28, 2019 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN-13: 978-1-64405-140-5
Edition Language: English
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Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 