Sandra

Offered for FREE from the M/M Romance Group's Love Has No Boundaries event. Thank you too all the amazing authors who participated!

What can I say? I'm just a big grouch and too much gushing doesn't work for me. There were definitely moments that had me tearing up (Nigel's 'swing low, sweet chariot' solo), but for the most part the emotional aspect was too constant with non-stop reassurances and stating what each others lovable qualities were. I also have a thing about the written word coming across naturally as if spoken and, for me, some of their professions of love were too formal. For example: "I, too, love you." I know the author was trying to mix it up so it wasn't always "I love you, too" but people just don't talk like that.

I think that the past/present framework was a good idea, but some of the scenes could have been chosen better. There were several of the 'past' parts that I didn't feel brought anything to the story, and a past/present sex scene that were stacked so I ended up being confused and not knowing which it was (thinking: wait, they just fell asleep after sex, how are they now just starting sex?)

Perhaps a better use of the past/present structure would have been for the fight with Ronald and then the subsequent drama over the next year to all be the present (so we all hate Ronald, as we should), but then the flash-backs to be of Ronald saving Dare as a teen. I think this would have created a greater dichotomy between the past and the present and really torn the reader emotionally between wanting to hate the way Ronald is acting but really seeing how much of a wonderful impact he had on Dare. This also would have prevented the little info-dump we had in the third chapter where Nigel asked a string of questions so that Dare could regale us with a few stories in a row of his life, which became a little repetitive and felt forced.