A Digging Deep Story
Drake Park has a complicated life. As a gay male midwife, he’s used to raising eyebrows. Add Crohn’s disease and things get interesting—or not, considering the sad state of his love life. Experience has taught Drake that most men are fair-weather sailors when it comes to handling his condition—gone for dust when things get rough. Staying healthy is a full-time job without adding in any heartbreak, so a little loneliness is a small price to pay. If he says it often enough he might even believe it. One thing for sure, the cop who arrested him isn’t about to change that.
Caleb Ashton does not have a complicated life. A senior detective with the Whangarei Police Department, he likes his job and is good at it. He works hard and plays hard, happy to enjoy as many men as he can while he’s still young enough—or at least he was. These days he feels adrift for the first time in his life, and the only thing sparking his interest—a certain prickly young midwife.
But can Drake find enough faith to risk opening his heart again? And does Caleb have what it takes to cope with the challenges Drake’s condition presents?
Amazon
Dreamspinner Press
This book will take you on a journey about a young man living with Chron’s disease and a playboy cop who thinks he may have found “the one.” Drake will need to decide if he can open his heart again or if the fear of rejection is too much to overcome and Caleb needs to decide if he can be by Drake’s side for the long haul or if he’ll run at the first sign of trouble.
As someone that doesn’t have Chron’s disease I can’t speak to the validity of Drake’s story. However, the disease and symptoms were well researched and presented in a way that didn’t read as a clinical encyclopedia. The characters were well developed and the story flowed so organically. The supporting cast of characters were just as charming and engaging as the main characters. I would love to see more of Carmen in a future book.
4 pieces of eye candy
This is a first for me with this author, and I saw the length of this book and was a little wary about it. It’s hard to hold my attention, but I love love love realistic reads about real-life problems and relationship hurdles. In this one, we meet Drake, who has Chron’s disease. Now, I’m not going to lie… I don’t know much about the disease, other than the generic, basic info you can look up, but it seemed to be Drake’s entire life. He literally can’t make one decision about anything without factoring in how it’s going to affect his day-to-day living with the disease.
An emergency trip to the bathroom is common, and when he has to go… it has to be
NOW… so when he enters a restricted area of a building during a protest, of course, he gets questioned by the police. His attitude was probably the reason why he was taken in… had he calmly explained, …. But then that would’ve been boring, eh? So, that’s where he meets Caleb… a detective on parole at the building during said protest.
Caleb is made to seem like a jerk, but the dude was just doing his job. If you look at how cops work here in the states, right or wrong, they wouldn’t have had as much patience as Caleb did with Drake. He tries to understand his predicament, but again, the man was just doing his job. Not only was Drake on a watch list because of the protest, he also ignored (because he had to) a direct order, several times and then gave the cop attitude for doing what he had to.
That seems to be the general goings-on in the whole book. Caleb, though not one for relationships and having never had a serious one, ever… seems to like Drake and his snarky comebacks and flair for dramatics. He tries several times to even get that first date, and I’ve gotta be honest… I dunno if I’d have bothered. I understand, at least a little bit, having been described in detail about what Chron’s does to one’s body and how living with it affects not only the person who has it but everyone else, especially a partner… but my goodness…. How many times can you tell someone no and to go away before they’re just like.. okay, see ya!
Infinity, it would seem, if you’re Caleb…
I couldn’t handle the push and pull… like, Drake pushed him away and then got upset when he went away…not even just once, but throughout the whole book. I felt for him, I really did… this story gives you a really clear picture of the disease and I couldn’t imagine it. My heart broke for him in so many ways… but romantically. I just wanted to punch him. I know he’s been hurt before in large part because his partner of two years couldn’t handle the complications of the disease, but, Jared wasn’t Caleb and he tried and tried and tried to show you that he was all in….
I also didn’t care for such meddlesome friends. Believe me, I have the most in your face, nosiest, well-meaning but annoying friends, but each of their friends were just obnoxious to me.
Annnnnnyway….it ends sweet and I’m a sucker for a happy ending, so I can’t be too hard on it, despite what it may look like. I actually fell for Caleb a bit, because the man truly had patience of a Saint and didn’t often let Drake get away with pushing him away before letting him have it right back… but, still… I’m exhausted. I need a nap now lol
3 stars from me
