Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
In the acknowledgments of the book, the author mentions that she was writing for Dreamspinner’s Dreamspun Desires line. So if you’re a fan, this book is exactly what you want to read. It’s sweet, fairly low angst, with a very happy ending. I hope it does end up as a Dreamspun Desires book!
Jonathan Vallen is the second son of a business tycoon. His older brother was the one being groomed to take over the empire, so Jonathan had some freedom to follow his own desires: music, gardening, and staying out of the limelight. When his brother and his mother die, Jonathan feels obligated to take his brother’s place, to please his father even though his personality is not the forceful and cutthroat type necessary in the corporate world. He tries, he fails, he feels guilty, but still his father pushes and Jonathan keeps trying. Until the day his father hires Marco Pellegrini as CEO of Vallen Industries, to save the company from what Jonathan feels is his own mismanagement, and to teach Jonathan how to do it right. For Jonathan, this is the ideal opportunity to quit, and leave not only the company, but Boston as well. He retreats to his mother’s house on Cape Cod, and starts building a new life.
One year later, Jonathan has made a lot of changes, and a lot of improvements. He’s leading a physically healthy life with good diet and exercise, has lost 40 pounds, adopted a dog, got into therapy, and now he’s happy. Even his wardrobe is different, and he looks and acts like an entirely new man. His cousin Anthony talks him into a gay cruise to celebrate, and Jonathan is ready for a little shipboard romance to end his very long dry spell.
Less than 24 hours into the cruise, Tony and Jonathan run into Marco Pellegrini. Rather than let this encounter turn Jonathan back into the insecure mess he used to be, Tony creates a new identity for him on the spot, and pushes him into a flirtation with Marco. Jonathan decides to embrace his new confidence and becomes Jonah Rutledge, and though he’s uncomfortable with lying, he intends this thing with Marco to be just a fling, so keeps the fantasy going.
And that’s a summary of the first 20% of the book – I guess I’m a little wordier than the blurb! We have the set up for the classic trope of mistaken identity, and it all follows the formula from there. Marco and Jonathan end up falling in love, so when Jonathan’s true identity is revealed, the standard betrayal and break up occur. Happily, this is where the book becomes less formulaic – instead of another manufactured circumstance throwing them back together, both men take this time apart to re-evaluate everything they felt on the cruise, and both realize that there is no reason they can’t make a true relationship a reality. However, both men have some work to do on themselves, some changes they need to make in their own lives before they can come together for their happy ever after. It took some time, but the outcome was so much more satisfying because of it, both for these two men, and for the reader! I especially loved the thoughtful “anonymous” gifts that they sent each other, to make sure they kept in contact while they worked out their issues. And in the end, everything is golden.
The book is written in third person omniscient throughout, but with an emphasis on Jonathan’s side of the story. Marco’s inner world is revealed through his journal entries, where he not only speaks about his day, but details things he is grateful for. It showed a kinder and more intimate side of him, and made me connect with him even more than I did with Jonathan. The secondary characters, Jonathan’s cousin Anthony and Marco’s sister Sophia, and the perfect foils to keep the story moving and kept it from feeling artificial. Only Jonathan’s father was a caricature – I would have preferred him to have a more three dimensional and sympathetic rendering rather than being the villain – but he plays a relatively minor part of the story so it doesn’t detract too much. Overall, I really enjoyed the story, and probably will consider a reread when I’m looking for something light and fluffy.
Cover art by L. C. Chase is lovely, incorporates several elements from the story, and so I don’t even mind the headless (mostly) torso.
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Book Details:
ebook, 181 pages
Expected publication: November 23rd 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN 1634778197 (ISBN13: 9781634778190)
Edition LanguageEnglish
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 