Some secrets are too heavy to hold on to forever. For Ethan, pretending has become second nature. After all, he’s spent the last decade pretending to be straight, pretending to be happy, and pretending he isn’t desperately in love with his best friend. But in a single moment of raw honesty, all those lies come crashing down around him and he’s left wondering what to do next.When Jase learns his … next.
When Jase learns his best friend is going through a breakup, his first instinct is to come to Ethan’s rescue, and he knows just the thing to help. The cabin where they spent summers as kids is sitting vacant, and a week there is the perfect remedy to start healing a broken heart.
In the seclusion of the mountains, long-buried fears and emotions take their friendship into unexplored territory that will either bring them closer together… or tear everything apart.
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Ethan and Jase have been best friends for years, and now Ethan has come out as gay and ended the serious relationship he had with a girlfriend. Jase has to come to grips with the knowledge that he doesn’t know his best friend as well as he’s always thought. He also has to admit that he might feel more for Ethan than he realized before. Watching the two men learn to live their new reality is sometimes frustrating, but it is ultimately satisfying. I enjoyed this sweet and sexy story.
Discovery and Revelations
What a beautiful story. A wonderful work that perfectly depicts what the truth can do for ourselves and others.
Discovery
Revelations
Growth & Healing
Neverending Happiness
Such a glorious journey!
I received an ARC from Cate.
Yes I stayed up late reading.
Yes I like the guys…a lot.
Yes I’m glad their girls were able to move on.
Yes I’m glad the firemen, for the most part, weren’t total dweebs about the whole thing.
Yes I’m so glad the two friend were able to move past friendship to something more.
Yes I’m always up for a HEA and I got it!
Aw, life is good!
All He Ever Needed is a gentle friends-to-lovers story. Ethan has known he was gay for over a decade, but didn’t say anything. Not only did he want to make it work with his long-term, high school sweetheart, but the man he loves is completely unavailable, so he thinks. However, you can only live a lie for so long, and this book starts when Ethan’s life comes crashing down.
This was very sympathetically written – you get to see how it affected ALL of the characters, and none of them were unnecessarily angsty about it either. There is some angst here, as Jase needs to figure out just how to be with Ethan when real life invades, but nothing too much.
This was an excellently written story, with no editing or grammatical errors. With low angst, charming characters, and a tender love story, I have no hesitation in recommending this book. Another winner by Cate Ashwood.
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Merissa
Archaeolibrarian – I Dig Good Books!
4 stars-
All He Ever Needed was a sweet friends-to-lovers romance that also contained shades of a gay-for-you/out-for-you theme. Although the GFY trope is one that can be hit or miss for me, I loved the idea of lifelong best friends uncovering previously unacknowledged feelings for one another. This novella ended up having a really nice blend of sweet romance, minimal angst, heat, and a lovely HEA that made for a really enjoyable weekend read.
Novellas are always tricky in that they need enough story to capture and keep me invested in a relatively short timeframe, but yet have a simple enough story to resolve quickly. Happily, this novella managed to tick all those boxes for me. I liked Jase and Ethan immediately and felt compelled to root for them as individuals and a couple. The story was interesting and their transition to more than friends was believable, as were the hiccups they faced as they tried to integrate their new relationship back into their daily lives. While there were some aspects that weren’t explored in detail, I never felt the story was incomplete and the resolution left me satisfied with a big smile on my face. I’ve read a few other works by this author and I always enjoy her smooth and inviting writing style. All He Ever Needed was no exception and that easy feeling combined with good dialogue, solid characters, and a nice balance of emotional chemistry and heat made this read hard to put down. If you are a fan of friends-to-lovers or the out-for-you trope, this sweet, low-angst novella is definitely worth downloading.
*eARC received via LesCourt Author Services.*