Sometimes the walls we build to save ourselves have to come tumbling down.
For the last ten years, Huey has built his life around his sobriety. If that means he doesn’t give a damn about finding love or companionship for himself, well, it’s probably better that way. After all, the last thing he wants is to hurt anyone else. Until Felix Rainey walks into his bar, fresh-faced, unbearably sweet–and, for some reason Huey can’t fathom, interested in him.
As the eldest of five kids, Felix Rainey spent his childhood cooking dinner, checking homework, and working after-school jobs. Now in his twenties, he’s still scrambling to make ends meet and wondering what the hell he’s doing with his life. When he meets Huey, he’s intimidated . . . and enamored. Huey’s strong and confident, he owns his own business–hell, he’s friends with rock stars. What could he ever see in Felix?
As Huey and Felix get closer, the spark catches and soon they can’t get enough of each other. But Huey’s worked hard to avoid intimacy, and Felix threatens his carefully constructed defenses. Huey realizes he needs to change if he wants to truly put his past behind him–and build a future with Felix.
Roan Parrish‘s pitch-perfect Riven novels can be read together or separately:
RIVEN * REND * RAZE
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I am a big, big fan of Roan Parrish. Her books are just so well written. That being said, this is my least favorite of them all. But take that with a grain of salt. Which is your least favorite color of M&M? Exactly.
Huey has been around since book 1, Riven. He’s gruff and grouchy, but he has a heart of gold. Getting more of his back story helped us understand him more and why he is the way he is.
Enter Felix, the guy who DOESN’T want to be a rock star. But what he needs is someone to take care of him. He’s acted like the head of household for his siblings for far too many years.
So Felix and Huey begin to navigate a relationship together. But kind of for the wrong reasons. I mean, they were totally into each other, but Huey entered the relationship as a duty and Felix entered it when he was lonely.
So it took a long time for each of them to realize that they do really care for each other and they needed to let go of their hangs ups. Most of that was on Huey, but Felix really did have some issues as well. Those absolutely could have been addressed more thoroughly.
Usually the prose in her books is almost lyrical to me. I just sink right in. This one wasn’t quite that way for me. Now, it totally could have been the mood I was in when I read it. Because I was definitely a bit stabby.
I wanted more. I wanted Huey to be grouchier before he melted into the teddy bear underneath. I wanted him to be more protective of Felix. More bossy. I get why he wasn’t- he was almost treating Felix like one of his sponsees. Which was part of the issue with their relationship. And we circle back. So you see, it could totally just be me.
Don’t think for one second I didn’t like this book. I did. Quite a bit. I just didn’t totally fall in love with it like I usually do. But I am absolutely going to go back for a re-read when I am less stabby. It almost pains me to not love this book as much as I was expecting. So let’s totally chalk it up to me and my bad attitude, shall we?
4 Pieces of Eye Candy
