A single father receives more than he bargained for in the shape of an ex-military man in this emotional, low angst MM romance.
Can one night change their entire future?
Zak’s son means more to him than anything or anyone else. He refuses to allow another person the opportunity to hurt them. One night stands are all he can afford – emotionally and physically. When one night turns into more than he bargained for, he is blindsided in more ways than one.
Kenzo was honorably discharged from the military when he was in an accident. Adrift, he focuses on what he can do to help those in a similar situation. But hiding his roommate’s condition is taking its toll. One night with Zak turns his world upside down, and he finds he can’t go back to the way things were before.
What happens when secrets unfold and trust is tested to its limit?
Amazon – Kindle Unlimited
Okay, so I’m jumping in late here and starting at the end, but in my defense, I hadn’t come across these books until now and when I saw ‘single dad’, you know I wouldn’t pass it up.
In this one, we have Zak, who’s unhappily married with a naggy/borderline abusive wife. She’s terrible not only to him, but she doesn’t seem to care much for their child either. He’s only two and a good focal point of this story, as Zak is an amazing dad and his life revolves around his baby. As it should.
When he meets Kenzo at the gym and does a pick up kind of deal, it really starts there, though I think both men only expected to it to be a hookup, neither expected it to go further than that, even when they both wanted it to.
Kenzo is my kind of guy. Ex-military, wounded, sufferer of PTSD and all around good guy. I really liked how not only his PTSD but his roommate Miki’s PTSD was handled as well. I’ve read about it, I’ve written about it and I”ve experienced it (though very little) with a former combat veteran in my family, but everyone is different and no one experiences it the same, so I was happy to see that not only was it well written, it really let you into the dark and ugly parts of the disorder that some might not even think about. Bravo, on that…
Although I came in late to the story, I’m sure there were people that I might’ve known a little better had I started from the beginning, but it didn’t hinder the story for me in any way. I enjoyed the friends and complex side characters and though there were lots of little subplots I feel like, none of them took away from Kenzo, Zak and his baby, Dane.
Watching them kind of, navigate how to go from hookup to friends to more than that was really sweet and I adored Zak’s relationship with his son and then how Kenzo took up with him as well. They were all so cute. I can understand why Zak was so hesitant, as he didn’t seem to have the greatest upbringing, his mom wasn’t very motherly, in my opinion….and I can understand why Kenzo would be hesitant, as he suffers from this debilitating disorder and having lost a battle buddy and dealing with his own factors of PTSD… it’s tricky for both of them. Fortunately, they work it out and I was so glad to see it. I was really rooting for them!
I kind of wondered what happened to the ex-wife but I might’ve missed it. There was a bit of jumping head days or weeks from one paragraph to the next, which I do not mind, but I might’ve missed it… I also just wanted it for the satisfaction because I hate when bad people get away with being bad people and she was just blah… the worst. Okay, not the worst, but up there with just useless and a terrible mother.
Overall, it was a very angsty and emotional read and it was so worth all the strife in the end.
Going to jump back to the other ones and start from the beginning, I’m very curious to see all these guys’ stories and how they each get their HEA.
FAVORITE LINE: “Mental health is not mentioned a lot within any areas of life. People seem to believe it’s a subject that should be spoken about behind closed doors. Well, Pete wouldn’t have wanted that. he would’ve climbed to the rafters and shouted at the top of his voice if he had realized how much of an issue it was Mental health can change your perceptions of all the things around you, and every person will view things differently. No two people will have the same experience. Similar, yes, but not exactly the same.”
4 pieces of eye candy
