An old mystery brought them together. Solving it could tear them apart.
In the best of times, Daniel Gardner hates visiting his family. With his boyfriend pressuring him for a mortgage-serious commitment, Christmas in Easton, PA sounds, for once, like a welcome escape. His old house holds more than memories of a miserable adolescence, though. It has Trey Eriksson.
At seventeen, Trey was taken in by the wealthy Gardner family after his father was jailed for his mother’s murder. Until he left for the Army, he fought a double-edged battle—for proof of his father’s innocence and against his attraction to Daniel.
Fifteen years later, things haven’t changed. Trey is still looking for the real killer. And Daniel has never forgotten how Trey used to sneak into his room at night.
Now new clues to the murder are resurfacing—and so is Trey and Daniel’s sexual chemistry. Except this time, Trey has come to terms with his orientation.
But their connection may not be enough to overcome the mistakes of the past. Not while a murderer still walks free…
When Daniel comes home for Christmas and to close up his mom’s house the last person he thinks he’ll run into is Trey – his first love. From the blurb you understand that Trey and Daniel used to play around in Daniel’s bedroom at night but Trey was just too unsure of his sexuality to go too far with Daniel. Although Daniel asks Trey to go away with him and off to New York, Trey joins the army instead. Now they’re standing face to face and they’re not sure how they feel about each other.
Trey really treated Daniel badly when he first sees him again. I didn’t like Trey all that much when I first started reading about him. He just seemed too much like a condescending bastard and I wanted him far away from Daniel. But as the book went on I saw that Trey’s attitude was all show. He cared for Daniel deeply but once again wasn’t sure how to handle it. Daniel appeared to be, at first, the weaker of the two men – but what I discovered was that these were two very Type A personalities butting heads. They both had their ideas about how things were done – with their lives, their sexuality, their jobs, and the investigation concerning Trey’s dad – but neither of them wanted to give an inch – except in the bedroom. I was almost on edge for most of the book wondering how the hell this pair was going to find a way to be together without just having sex constantly – not that the sex wasn’t smoking hot, cuz it was, but it appeared that it was the only time they could agree on anything.
What KA Mitchell did in the end was give us, in my opinion, enough to work with so that we could use that sometimes underworked thing we all possess – our imagination. We had to figure out how Trey and Daniel could be together without making it a sappy HEA. I was definitely impressed with the way she showed us how they could be happy together – without actually handing it to us on a silver platter. My kind of book.
This is my second read by Mitchell and definitely won’t be my last.
Rating: 4 out of 5
KA Mitchell was one of the first authors I ever read and I really like her stuff. I'm not sure this was one of my faves but I did enjoy it on the whole. Glad you did too.
I don't know why I haven't read this one yet..sounds really great 🙂
What a wonderful review!
I haven't read this author yet, but your review sold me on the book. I am adding it to my TBB list.
:o)
MsM
Hmm. This is on my ereader. I wonder why I haven't read it yet. What was the other KA Mitchell you've read?
I really enjoy KA's writing. I liked this one although it's not one of my favorites. Great review!
Tam – As I said, I've only read one other and liked it as well – I'll be reading more. 🙂
Mandi – Get one that, will ya? lol
Ms. M. – Thanks! You should read it – good stuff.
Chris – Me neither. 🙂 Collision Course was the other book of hers that I read. I REALLY liked that one.
Lily – So what has been your favorite book of hers so far?
Collision Course was my first KA Mitchell read, too. I've also read Diving in Deep (which takes place before Collision Course) and Regularly Scheduled Life (which was a 5-star read for me).
Sounds interesting- I'm always looking for new M/M authors so I'll probably be giving this one a try. Thanks for the review!
One of my faves is Hot Ticket. It's shorter than the others but was one of the first books I read that holds a little special place in my heart. *snif* *sniff* Diving in Deep was good too and I read it before Collision Course. Haven't read RSL yet. I heard it's angsty. LOL
RSL is ever-so-slightly (ok, couldn't keep a straight face when I typed that) angsty.
Do you ever read a summary and think 'I have to read this ASAP'. That's exactly what I thought when I read the summary for Chasing Smoke…and your review Tracy has just made the craving worse 🙂 I wonder what I'll be hunting down this weekend *grin*
KA Mitchell is fantastic. All her characters are strong and the stories are just right. She's an auto buy for me. She has a new one out soon; Dr. Jae-sun Kim' from Collision Course, which I can hardly wait for.
Chris – I'll have to check those two out, thanks.
DL – my pleasure. 🙂
Tam – I'll check out Hot Ticket as well. And angst isn't so bad. Although Chris's comment is scaring me a little.
Orannia – I did the same thing, bought it and then it sat there. There are those times when I want to kick myself – this was one of them. 🙂
Mariana – I can't wait to read Dr. Jae-Sun's story!! He was a hottie.
Ok, so I cried. But I still rated it five stars.
Lordy Kris, you're just sobbing and blubbering all over the place. You better by shares in a tissue company. LOL
Hot Ticket and Custom Ride were the first of her books I read. My favorite is Regularly Scheduled Life. I loved that story.
Chris – Crying? Oh boy. lol
Lily – ok – it seems that RSL is a keeper. I'll check it out. 🙂
Not that it takes that much to get me to cry while reading a book. *shakes fist at Ethan Day*
Well it takes quite a bit for me to cry while reading a book so I'll let you know. 🙂
Hard-hearted. ;p
*gasp* Bite your evil tongue, Chris!!!
Not hard-hearted – I just REALLY need to be emotionally invested in the story for it to make me cry. I can find things sad and have it hurt, but still not cry. Ok, maybe I am a little hard-hearted! lol
Here's my reviewette: "Regularly Scheduled Life by K.A. Mitchell. ebook. Another really good m/m romance by Mitchell that had me crying pretty hard more than once. After becoming famous after being wounded during a school shooting, will Sean be able to return to his regular life with his partner of six years, Kyle? Recommended, but keep the tissues handy. (And does this cover have it going on or what?!)"
Crying more than once? OMG now if I DON'T cry I will just be an crazy, evil hard-hearted wench! What am I setting myself up for?
Now I have to go check out the cover!
Um, sorry, didn't mean to up the ante on you like that. 😀
If it helps your assessment about how much of a mushpot I am while reading, I cried at least three times while reading The Dark Tide today…