Synopsis:
Sometimes to reach the surface you have to fall to the bottom first…
For the past ten years, Riley Davis’ life has been overshadowed by the tragic death of his partner. Fluctuating between alcohol induced daze, clinical depression and throwing all his time and effort into his business, Riley doesn’t believe, or even hope, that his life will ever be worth living again.
Until Sonnie Frye drops by his haberdashery shop, changing his life forever.
Sonnie is a man who likes getting what he wants, when he wants it. He’s worked hard to establish himself as Queen Victoria theatre’s chief costume designer, collecting multiple awards – and high-profile clients – along the way. Sonnie is used to putting his needs, goals and desires first, unwilling to compromise his own happiness for anybody else.
Until he meets a handsome shop owner whose eyes are so sad that they immediately tug at Sonnie’s heartstrings.
Seeing something he wants, Sonnie is determined to get under Riley’s skin and, preferably, into his bed. But he soon discovers the task is not that easy. For the first time in his life, Sonnie may need to put someone else’s needs before his own, and re-evaluate what really matters in life.
Will the two men stand side by side to overcome their differences, and everything else life throws at them? Or will it all become too much to bear, shaking them to their very core, destroying everything they’ve worked so hard to achieve?
***Sexual content, 18+ only***
***Piece by Piece is a standalone novel. It’s the full story of Sonnie and Riley***
Where to buy
Denise’s Review:
I “read” the audio book to Dance, and am now waiting for the audio for Mask (because I LOVED the narrator), but didn’t want to wait for Piece by Piece. It is a stand-alone, so you should have no problems with the fact that you see all the characters in their relationships.
This story is about Sonnie, the head costumer designer at the Queen Victoria theater, and Riley, a man who is still so caught up in his grief, 10 years after his partner’s death, that it is incredibly hard to fathom that pain.
I won’t pretend that Riley’s ongoing grief, and failure to find a way past it was easy for me to understand, because it wasn’t. I found myself, several times in the book, getting frustrated with Riley, despite the fact that all the experts say that healing from grief happens in its own time. Sonnie was the epitome of patience, which was really fascinating to read, because it is obvious from the beginning of the book that he is a man who previously had been rather self-absorbed, and was used to being at the top of the pile. He only showed his frustration once during the book, and it was entirely warranted.
The relationship between these two was described as very co-dependent by Riley’s therapist, and it shows. Although they are loving and caring, they really have a hard time being separate people for most of the book. When Riley finally realizes that he needs to find himself, it is late in the book and they separate. I really loved how they were able to show their love for one another, but could see that being apart would be devastating to both.
The last few chapters in the book were the toughest for me, and I found myself wishing they had been longer, and more detailed. So much of this book focused on Riley’s grief and how it expressed itself. Yet when it came time to actually deal with that, it was almost entirely dealt with “off-screen”, and at the very end. I would have really liked to have had the chance to see how these two would be able to handle the separation with more than a handful of emails between them. Many months pass in only a chapter or two, which is the intent of the author. However, as a reader, I would have liked to see a bit of how they each handled that separation.
It is obvious that these two learn to love each other, limitations at all. One of the things I appreciated the most was that they became friends long before they became lovers. A true necessary for a story such as this, with a man stuck in his grief for ten long years.
And the epilogue, that made it all better! So much changed by that point, and it was so nice to see where these two beautiful men landed.
My final determination on this book is 4 pieces of eye candy. Definitely a touching addition to this series.
**One blog commenter will win an e-book copy of Piece by Piece.
Hi, my name is Teodora and I live in London with my husband and my son. I’ve been writing ever since I can remember, but it became my full time job in 2010 when I decided that everything else I’ve tried bores me to death and I have to do what I’ve always wanted to do, but never had to guts to fully embrace. I’ve been a journalist, an editor, a personal assistant and an interior designer among other things, but as soon as the novelty of the new, exciting job wears off, I always go back to writing. Being twitchy, impatient, loud and hasty are not qualities that help a writer, because I have to sit alone, preferably still, and write for most of the day, but I absolutely love it. It’s the only time that I’m truly at peace and the only thing I can do for more than ten minutes at a time – my son has a bigger attention span than me.
When I’m procrastinating, I like to go to the gym, cook Italian meals (and eat them), read, listen to rock music, watch indie movies and True Blood re-runs. Or, in the worst case scenario, get beaten at every Nintendo Wii game by a very inventive kid.
When I’m procrastinating, I like to go to the gym, cook Italian meals (and eat them), read, listen to rock music, watch indie movies and True Blood re-runs. Or, in the worst case scenario, get beaten at every Nintendo Wii game by a very inventive kid.
