2020 LAMBDA LITERARY FINALIST IN GAY ROMANCEDrake 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 … 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?
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This was so good and Drake and Caleb were absolutely amazing characters. They really had their work cut out for them, he ‘in sickness and in health’ portion of their relationship started on day one. Theirs was journey fraught with pain and miscommunication but also filled with laughter, friends, family, and a weird medicinal disaster of a floral arrangement.
Drake considered himself to be a fixer-upper money pit but Caleb…Caleb thought he was worth the effort rebuild his trust. This is most definitely going on my keeper-shelf.
*I voluntarily reviewed an Advanced Reader Copy of this book*
This is a new-to-me author.
I was blown away by the depth of emotions to these characters. Drake has had a tough life. He’s small, femme, a male midwife and a debilitating disease. Add to that that said disease makes things painfully awkward when it comes to relationships, and it’s not that hard to understand why he feels the need to don’t full battle armor and batten down the hatches to his heart on daily basis.
Caleb is a detective just going through the motions. He’s never let anyone get close enough to actually invest himself. He hasn’t got the first clue what being in a relationship entails.
When these two men meet under less than auspicious circumstances, sparks fly.
The road they have to travel is filled with laugh out loud humor, heartache, tragedy, and ultimately the realization that loving someone means accepting truths about yourself and your partner and risking being vulnerable with them.
I absolutely loved this book and look forward to reading more from this author.
Oh, my freaking ghawd This was the best crazy ride ever. It was at times heartbreaking with heavy feelings, but mostly delightful and joyful.
I laughed and snorted. It was the best witty, sarcastic and heartfelt honest read ever.
Written in an extremely captivating way, I couldn’t even try to imagine. The best!
They met in the most unusual way as Detective and the arrested man. Drake just spits on Caleb.
Caleb has a thick skin and tried more than once to connect with Drake. No chance at all!
When they do connect it isn’t easy at all. Drake has a list of complaints, he is rude and insulting.
Caleb finally gets it, he is not welcome.
When the cards are turning we get to meet them for real and hold your guns because WOWWW they are everything you can wish for. It isn’t an easy ride and it doesn’t go by itself but oh boy they are both very intense and, witty, sarcastic, heartfelt, sweet, sexy, sensual, possessive, claiming, hardheaded, stubborn, vulnerable, flawed, fucking real and down to earth!
Take a seat and prepare for an awesome story. It is widely written and has a depth you can drown in.
Thoroughly developed. Drake his condition with Crohn is very well developed, deep bow to the research. Both Drake and Caleb are amazingly worked out, both with their own characteristics, and that is standing tall throughout the whole story, it’s about both of them and really well balanced. It’s also about their work as a detective and midwife, their awesome friends, colleagues, and families.
The whole plot is just perfectly worked out. Sometimes devastating, hurtful, but their amazing emotional grow and their enchanting characters had the upper hand.
Highly recommended
This was my first book by Jay Hogan so I wasn’t sure what to expect but I enjoy it. The character development was great and nothing felt rushed as the relationship between the MCs developed. It was interesting to learn more about Crohn’s disease and all of Drake’s actions/reactions throughout the book were perfectly reasonable and never over-dramatised which I appreciated. The secondary characters were great and one of my favourite scenes featured all the characters chatting in the hospital and learning more about drag-queen extraordinaire Carmen who I adored and could read about all day.
All in all, this was a great read and it was obvious that despite the issues they had to overcome, these two characters were meant to be and Caleb’s love for Drake and understanding never waned from beginning to end.
Not only did I absolutely love this book and the characters, I also learnt a lot. Drake has Crohn’s disease and it was devastating to learn about how that affects not only the sufferer, but those around them, in every aspect of their daily life. Despite this, Drake was an absolute gem of snarkiness, optimism and confidence in the way he faces life. The only exception in this regard is when he surrenders to his Crohn’s in the romance department. Because of this, he’s understandably wary of Caleb’s attention and of letting him in. For a long portion of the book, Drake is at war with himself, clearly hating his seemingly perpetual feeling of loneliness, yet at the same time, remains very reluctant to change that status for fear of getting hurt again.
Caleb’s pursuit of Drake is both endearing and hilarious (which is obviously how Drake feels given he eventually finds himself unable to say no anymore). When they do begin a tentative relationship, it still feels a little along the lines of “will they, or won’t they” make it. Consequently, there is a tonne of angst that comes along for this ride with you. Whilst they both battle their insecurities and doubts (which are frustratingly mistimed with each other), they never let each other go. Caleb in particular, finds himself so out of his comfort zone (even just at the boyfriend label), but still diligently researches Crohn’s and is unbelievably supportive. Further, his underlying fear is not how life with Drake will affect him, but whether his being able to handle it or not will ever hurt Drake. He’s absolutely perfect for Drake in this way. The reward when Drake and Caleb finally call each other out over their fears and behaviour only has one word to describe it, hallelujah!
This book is far from fluffy and does a remarkable job of dealing with some very real and serious issues. Whilst there is a lot of angst and heartache, it does dish out plenty of sweetness and humour along the way, and delivers a hard-fought and beautiful HEA. As a sidenote, my fingers are crossed that we’ll get a story for Drake’s best friend, Aaron, soon!
[I kindly received an ARC from the author and, in exchange, am happily leaving my honest review and recommendation].
Wow this book was spectacular! This book was long, and I loved every word of it. It was so well written and so well executed, I could not put it down! It had everything, a slow and delicious build up, snarky, smart and witty banter, a cast of side characters that were integral to the story and fabulous, the BEST first kiss scene EVER, a realistic level of angst and a hard fought, well deserved HEA!
Jay Hogan can write! This book was so realistic, I felt like I lived in their lives, no detail was too small, and everything fell into place. Caleb was just….sigh…so wonderful-one of the best MCs I have read in a long while. Drake was prickly, that’s for sure, but you understood why, and you forgive him for it. The family and friends were amazing. Not only did I love watching the relationship develop between the 2 MCs, I loved the relationships between the family and friends. I loved the chapters about stresses in their respective jobs, the chapters where they weren’t even together but added so much to the story, I just loved everything about this book!
If you like relationship building that feels real, adorable wooing, intelligent MCs, hot sex, realistic family and life situations and a well-earned HEA —you need to read this book!!!
As someone who lives with a disease that can define the way you live your life, I didn’t love Drake as much as I was expecting tO. I felt as if he let this illness to define him too much.
But boy did I love Caleb. That man went well and beyond to find as much as possible to help Drake in any way in order to have him in his life.
You could feel his love for him but Drake kept him at arm’s length for most of the book. And due to this love it was so good to see when Drake finally let his guard down in order for them to have HEA.
This being my first book by this author I can say I’ll be picking up more books by her in the future.
***Review copy requested and reviewed on behalf of OMGReads Blog***