Addiction can destroy your life. But if you destroy addiction, can you get your life back?
At twenty-eight, Owen Fredrikson is homeless, unemployed, and grappling with drug addiction. Before he let drugs take over his life, he had a pretty sweet job working the front desk of a fancy hotel, his boss was his best friend, and he had a loving fiancé.
After three years together, thirty-three-year-old middle school math teacher Dex Atterbury could no longer ignore Owen’s demons. Dex made the tough decision to part ways, leaving Owen destitute and Dex heartbroken.
When tragedy befalls Owen and Dex is called to his side, Owen has some tough decisions to make. Both men must determine how far they are willing to go to rebuild the life they once shared.
Can Owen conquer his addiction while facing his demons? And can Dex open his heart and trust Owen again?
Content Warnings:
1. Depictions of drug addiction, drug use and abuse, and drug withdrawal
2. Scenes of violence
Length: 44,000 words approx.
Amazon US
Amazon UK
Owen and Dex.
This is a first for me with this author and I knew going in that it was bound to be a “taboo” subject. I knew though, from personal experience loving an addict is something more people need to talk about. It’s affecting more and more people by the day, and you can point fingers and blame whoever you want, until you’ve experienced it… you have no idea.
With this one, like so many people who get addicted to opioids, Owen had suffered a broken ankle and was prescribed pain pills. He had a great job, a wonderful fiancé and great friends. In less than a year, he lost it all.
Dex had tried everything to get his fiancé the help he needed. At first, he ignored the signs and took his word for it, that everything was under control. And then he lied and he stole from the people that meant the most to him, and continued to let them down and too much was too much and he eventual burned all of his bridges and lost everything he’d ever worked for.
That’s the way it is with addiction. People say, you love the drugs more than me, or, are the drugs more important than me? …. The short answer… yes… yes, they are. Yes, they do…. They may not want to, they may hate themselves for it… but until they’re ready to stop.. there is no low that’s too low for an addict. Ugly truth.
I love how realistic it was from Dex’s perspective. I love how much he loved Owen and cared about him and wanted to help him, even after he’d left him. Here he was, ready to pledge in sickness and in health, and that doesn’t go away just because he had to. Sometimes you have to force folks into getting help. Sometimes you have to lose everything in order to be ready to fight to get it back.
I thought it was a little bit too easy for Owen. I mean, it glossed over some pretty important parts of losing everything and feeling the shame of it…. But, real addiction… real rehab… real relapses, especially an addict that didn’t want to get help, doing it for someone else, just isn’t realistic. Going through physical therapy without pain management and only over the counter ibuprofen or something, without withdraws, detoxing, the physical illnesses and ugly symptoms and he just did it like no problem? That isn’t realistic in the slightest…. But for the sake of the story… I was glad it worked out so well for the both of them. It doesn’t always.
Overall though, I did enjoy these two together and I loved the people willing to help, especially the officer and his wife. I loved that Owen had such a good friend in Sammy, even if he was a touch overly dramatic lol I’m kind of hoping we see something good for him, so I hope there’ll be a book 2 with this. And I enjoyed reading something that wasn’t all fairytales and rainbow fluff, though I’m glad it worked out for them in the end.
4 Pieces of Eye Candy
Roberta Blablanski hails from The Big Easy: New Orleans, Louisiana. She draws inspiration from her colorful hometown and her former life as a college radio DJ. When she isn’t writing, she spends her days searching for the world’s best Bloody Mary and avoiding people she went to high school with. Her normal habitat is curled up in bed with a good book and a cup of coffee.
Roberta developed a love of books at an early age, spending her summers at the library. Years later, after watching the American version of the television show Queer as Folk, she began searching for books featuring queer characters finding love. Most recently, she began writing queer love stories of her own, drawing from her own personal experiences and creating characters and story lines as vibrant as her ever-changing hair color.
