On 9/11, firefighter Nick Fletcher’s world changed forever. He’s unable to rid himself of survivor’s guilt, made worse by the secret he hides from his family and co-workers. Nick’s life is centered around helping burn victims, until he is reunited with the man he’d once loved but pushed away. Now he has a second chance at a love he thought lost forever.
For fashion designer Julian Cornell, … Cornell, appearances mean everything. His love affairs are strictly casual, and the only thing he cares about is making his clothing line a success. A chance encounter with the man he loved long ago has Julian thinking for the first time in years there may be more to life than being seen at the best parties and what designer labels to wear.
When Julian’s world takes an unexpected turn, it’s Nick who helps him regain perspective on what matters most in life. Julian, in turn, helps Nick accept who he is and understand he isn’t responsible for tragedies he couldn’t prevent. Lost love found can be even sweeter the second time around and after all the years apart, both men learn to look beyond the surface to find the men they are inside.
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All the feels
Book 1 in the Breakfast Club series, I read this as part of the Breakfast Club Collection, which includes the three main books of the Breakfast Club series, plus four extras (novellas or short stories) that are wonderful follow-ups.
Nick and Julian’s story, first responder stories are some of my favorites, so I was already hooked on this second chances story just reading the blurb—and second chances stories aren’t even usually my favorite—while the dedication had me in tears, remembering that horrible day. The author had my heart breaking for both of these two people, and there was beautiful character growth as Julian re-evaluates his life while Nick finally accepts who he is. There were laughs, too, and great secondary characters like Marcus and Zach I want more from.
A lovely story, with all the feels and a beautiful ending, I’m glad I didn’t have to wait for the next book. 5+ stars
Audible Review
Overal 4*
Performance 4*
Story 4.5*
I love second chance romances, especially when it’s a story that reunites 2 long lost loves who should have been together all along. Sadly, Nick and Julien spent way too many years apart due to Nick’s insecurities. But luckily, an unexpected encounter brought them back together and all was right in the world!
Well okay, it wasn’t quite that easy! Before they could even think of having any kind of relationship, Nick had to take a good hard look in the mirror and decide what he wanted out of life, what he wanted his life to look like, what he wanted to have with Julien. He’d been hiding his true self for so long that his whole world was going to be upended once he started living his truth.
Both Nick and Julien grew a lot in this book. For Nick it was mostly personal, which overflowed into his professional life. For Julien, it was professionally. I really liked the change Julien went through. I think any of us, having the opportunity he had, would have done the same thing. He didn’t give up his life’s dream, he just expanded on it and made it into something that had more meaning than what he had been doing.
I always enjoy books that feature a group of friends, and those friends play a significant part in each story. Julien has a couple of terrific people in his corner, in Marcus and Zach, although Marcus is quite the handful! You can tell how important they are to each other and I just loved that. It was nice to see how much they worried about Julien, but were more than willing to give Nick a chance.
Julien and Nick’s love story was one a long time in the making, but so worth it!
TRAGEDY AND EYE-OPENING AWAKENINGS CAN BE HEALED
I received this audio book for free and am giving my honest and voluntary review
Nick and Julian were lovers when they were teens. Because of Nick’s upbringing, he stayed in the closet. They meet again years later and Nick is still in the closet and keeping his mouth shut when homophobic statements are being made. In his presence. Julian has become self- obsessed and it takes something devastating for these two to come to terms as to what they want to do with their lives and possible relationship.
The narration is good and the story is reflected well.
I’m not a believer of love at second chance, been there, and well, I had failed miserably.LOL.My bad luck I guess.
But definitely loved the idea of love at second chance in my books, especially, this is written by one of my favorite author Felice Stevens.
Nick and Julian both were still ‘kids’ (both 16), in love, but Nick was scare about his sexuality, so he denied ‘them’, he denied that he was gay, and it hurt Julian and made him leaving.
Long story short, 18 years later, the boys, not boys anymore, met and the spark (say, love?) was still there.
“Whatever it was, seeing Nick again had ignited something inside Julian that had been dead for years. He’d had many lovers, some he’d been fond of and, maybe if he’d allowed himself, he might have loved one of them. But no one had led him to that place where he might miss them when they were gone.”
I’m glad they’re both not jumping into bed and declared their undying love right away after the first met. I liked the process to find what they’re missing all this years.
“Dried leaves, picked up by the wind, swirled around their feet, coming to rest and lie strewn upon the sidewalk, like the little broken pieces of his heart, scattered along the ground.”
With all Nick’s struggling about his sexuality and his traumatic past, mingled with Julian’s problem in his world of fashion, the two lovers faced life hand in hand.
““We’ve been given a second chance. Some people never even get a first. Do you know how lucky we are?””
It was sweet, and low angst, but that’s what I like in Felice’s books, the sweetness not giving me diabetes. It was just a good portion. *wink*
I loved Julian’s best friends, Marcus and Zach (both has opposite personality), and I’m eager to read about them in the future.
Glad that Felice in our earlier chat,told me that Zach story will be next. Just, loved Zach already, with his sweetness and shyness.
It’s better be this good or more even, Felice! I’m counting on you !
I love this series and when the narration became available I had to listen too! I loved Nick and Julian’s story at a second chance for their happy ever after. At one point childhood sweethearts, Nick broke Julian’s heart by being determined to do what was expected of him – meet a woman and raise a family. While Nick followed in his Dad’s footsteps of becoming an NYC Firefighter, Julian pursued his dream of becoming a fashion designer. When Nick and Julian found each other again, the same feelings and old hurts resurfaced. I loved the complexity of their story and Nick trying to navigate the familial expectations as well as those of his Firefighting family. I loved Julian’s patience with Nick as he found himself and his support of the new Nick post 9/11. Their story gave me all the feels – laughter, smiles, sadness, tears and happiness. I loved their journey together.
Loved this story ~
What a beautifully written story of finding a second chance at life and learning to love for the first time … and getting to do this with the one and only person you never knew you loved. Or did you?
This story set in NY, post 9/11, revolves around the lives of Nick Fletcher, one of New York’s Bravest, and Julian Cornell, a hard-working men’s fashion designer.
Fate has brought the past into the present and put these two back in each other’s lives for a reason; the consequences that result from this are astounding.
“All I can tell you is when I’m with you, it all makes sense. People used to tell me half a life is better than none, but you’ve made me see everything I’ve been missing. Loving you has made me whole again.” ~ Nick
This isn’t just a love story ~ this goes much deeper into the heart and soul of a cast of perfectly flawed characters that Felice Stevens has brilliantly created. A battle between ignorance, stigma, cowardliness, and fear takes on tolerance, acceptance, strength, self-worth, bravery, pride and love. The road isn’t easy, but the destination makes it worth the trek ~ Love wins. In the end, love always wins.
Brilliant storytelling, impeccable grammar and sentence structure, along with a cast to fall in love with, have made this a five star read for me ~
Very entertaining.
loved it