Review: Knowing Caleb by Cameron Dane

Caleb Hawkins has watched his brothers fall in love, all the while knowing that for him, it can never be. Caleb has terrible secrets locked in his soul, events in his past for which he can never atone or be forgiven. Someone discovering that he is a demon is the least of what leaves Caleb trembling with nightmares.

Jake Chase lost his wife six years ago and has never recovered. He doesn’t want to fall in love again and has shunned even a simple date, let alone something more with a woman.

Caleb needs a foreman, and Jake needs a job that will get him off the rodeo circuit. Caleb hires Jake. Problem solved. Only Caleb starts noticing little things about Jake he never has in a man before…things like hard lips and a honed, muscular body. For Jake, six years of celibacy have pushed him to a place of sexual need and he finds his gaze straying Caleb’s way…and watching, hungrily.

Can two straight men overcome their pasts to find love with each other? Even if they can, Caleb will be risking his soul for a chance at their forever.

I’ve read and enjoyed m/m romance in the past, but this blurb really caught my eye. I mean, two straight guys falling for each other? Sounds epic.

I have this bad when I’m bored at work. I hop on Fictionwise and start browsing the erotica section. I read blurbs until I find one or more that I’m interested in. This blurb caught my eye b/c it’s two previously straight guys falling for each other.

Two things I didn’t realize when I started the book. First, it’s paranormal. I dealt w/ it b/c the paranormal aspect is pretty small and it didn’t overtake the plot of the book. Second, it’s like the 3rd in a series. So I missed a few books. I figured the case as I was reading it, but I didn’t want to go back and find the previous books.

Caleb Hawkins likes helping people that are in trouble. When he sees Jake Chase in a bar about to get in a fight w/ a bouncer, he intercedes. When Chase gets Jake in a motel room for the night, he finds that he can’t leave such a morose, even suicidal person alone. Jake can’t stop talking about his dead wife, nor can he stop saying that he has no reason to live. For that reason, Caleb can’t leave him alone.

Caleb doesn’t consciously realize he’s attracted to Jake until after he convinces Jake to return to his ranch as the foreman. It’s only when he realizes that he looks forward to seeing Jake every day, that he’s actually attracted to another man. He has no idea how he can be attracted to a man, physically or otherwise. And it’s not like Jake is the best man to fall for. The guy carries a major torch for his wife and Caleb knows Jake will not let anyone in (figuratively speaking, of course).

Even after Caleb and Jake admit that they have feelings for each other, they don’t consider themselves gay. They’re not attracted to men, only to each other. I kind of got that, but I kind of didn’t. I guess it was supposed to be that their souls were drawn to each other and it didn’t matter what kind of body that soul was in.

If I had a problem with anything in this book, it was Jake. His guilt over his “betrayal” just annoyed me. I understand that his wife died unexpectedly and he loved her deeply, but the fact that he really thought she would deny his happiness after her death really didn’t jive for me. Other than that, I thought the book was great.

4 out of 5.

This book is available from Loose Id, LLC. You can buy it here in e-format.

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