Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Arik Bosler receives a call from Ken Brighton offering him a two week fellowship to study art with him in Northern Michigan. Normally Arik would be ecstatic about this opportunity. However, he was injured six months ago, severely burning his hand, making it impossible to paint. Arik agrees but decides that he would go say hello to the renowned artist and thank him for the opportunity then take off. What good is studying with one of the modern greats if you cannot actually apply the lessons learned?
On his way, Arik stops at a gas station close to his destination. A huge intimidating man comes to fill up his gas tank. Being five foot nothing, Arik has always been scared of men who had some considerable height. However, this man also intrigues Arik despite his fear.
Reg Thompson is this man. He is a biker who belongs to the local motorcycle club. While he looks intimidating, he really is a giant teddy bear. He doesn’t mean to scare the cute man and tries to draw him out. He even puts his mechanic into place after the mechanic teases Arik about his height, or lack thereof.
After the two meet at a dinner arranged by Ken, the two men begin to talk and find out they have a lot in common. Both are artists who have had to deal with basically absentee parents. Arik grew up with drug addicted parents. Reg’s mother became distant after the death of Reg’s sister and the onset of mental illness. While Reg has dealt with the trouble of his parents, Arik has allowed the problems of his parents to fester.
As the two grow closer, Arik meets the rest of the members of Reg’s motorcycle club. While only there for ten minutes, Arik is convinced that Reg is no better than his parents and begins to distance himself from Reg. To make matters worse, Arik’s mother shows up wanting to talk with him. Arik must deal with his past if he wants a future that is happy instead of bitter.
This is the sixth book in Andrew Grey’s Senses series. These books can be read individually but having read the past books brings context to parts of the storyline. I absolutely love this series. Usually one of the major characters, if not several of the supporting characters has a handicap of one kind or another. However, this handicap does not define the character. It is a part of the character like being gay or blond. The most powerful character throughout the series, Patrick the opera singer who lost his voice, speaks the most powerfully. He, along with Ken his partner, help show Arik that he might not be able to paint like he used to, he still could develop other methods of expressing his creativity.
The other characters that helps Arik is Bobby Jo, a young girl in the county children’s home who is facing another surgery to fix her malformed hand and Jerry, a young boy from a previous story who is stricken with a muscular disease that has curled his hands. I look forward, as always, to the next book in this series.
The cover art is perfect for the book. L.C. Chase has our young blond Arik standing a few feet away from Reg, who is wearing jeans and a leather jacket without a shirt. Reg looks like he is coming out of the bay to the garage of his service/gas station. They are what I thought they might look like.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon
Book Details
EBook, 206 pages
Published: March 18, 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN: 978-1-63477-128-3
Edition Language: English
Series: Senses
Love Comes Silently (Senses #1)
Love Comes in Darkness (Senses #2)
Love Comes Home (Senses #3)
Love Comes Around (Senses #4)
Love Comes Unheard (Senses #5)
Love Comes To Light (Senses #6)
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 