Blake Barnes and Thane Dalton seem to be extremely different at first glance. Blake is an assistant high school principal who helps advise the school's drama club. Thane is a rancher, through and through. But when an incident with Thane's nephews at school puts the two of them in the same room, they quickly find out the passion they share for people they care about might be more than enough in common to bring them together. This is definitely one of those books where you'll want to reach in and shake some sense into the characters at times, but it is a lovely read overall. ( )

From the setup to the characters, the description of this story sounded good to me. On one hand, there is Blake: an assistant high school principal worried about two of his students, the need to find a way to protect them against the bullies they’ve been facing, and the boys’ irate guardian, Thane, to deal with. A guardian who just happens to be the bad boy Blake crushed on in high school. On the other hand, there is Thane: the tough owner of a construction company in charge of his two nephews now that their parents are deceased. Blake remembers Thane, but not the other way around. Thane doesn’t think much of Blake – on any level – and the sparks between these very different men fly from the beginning.

Blake and Thane are opposite in many ways, but they share quite a few important interests. Above all, they want to protect two vulnerable boys from bullies. The fact that their methods are very different doesn’t help, but since Blake is in charge, Thane has to grudgingly accept to try thing his way. Blake’s plan of involving the boys in the theater set-building group, which will integrate them into the new school more quickly and hopefully give them friends and some protection, is a good one even if it takes Thane a while to see the benefits. Thane’s ability to help with the construction side of things should be an asset, except he has a tendency to take over, where Blake just wants to teach…

There are many areas of friction and conflict between Blake and Thane, and they both have to learn to accept their differences if they want to achieve the one goal they share: protect the boys from more bullying. It was fascinating to watch two grown men deal with parenting issues, as they slowly realize that there is more to the tension between them than differing ideas about how to handle any given crisis. The fact that they met before when they were in high school gives this the additional dimension of a reunion, a do-over in a way, and this added a dimension to their romance I really liked – especially since it took Thane a while to even remember their past.

If you like love stories where opposites come together in an occasionally explosive way, if you think taking care of two teenagers is a tough job, and if you’re looking for a read full of snark, interpersonal tension, humor, the occasional moment of comic relief, and a slow-burn romance that explodes into fiery passion once it gets going, then you will probably like this novel as much as I do. It’s clever, entertaining, and full of true-to-life moments that made me smile more than once.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews. ( )

I struggled between giving this book three and four stars, and I ended up going with three, mainly because it was a good book but it fell apart for me a bit in the last third.

Oh Dreamspun Desires, how I love them when I'm in the mood for them. They're tropey as hell, but that is kind of the whole point. And considering that my formative romance-loving (and -reading) years were spent with Harlequins (I didn't know of any other publishers, just what were available on the racks at the local library and in the grocery store - much less anything that wasn't rigidly straight, at least until I was seventeen), I still get that itch once in a while that just needs to be scratched with tropey goodness. In fact, I have the monthly Dreamspun Desires subscription just so I can binge read the ever loving shit out of them when the urge strikes. Haha.

The tropes in this offering include: second chances, the "making a family" trope, the high school crush that still burns, the construction worker, and the principal who sticks up for your kids. ;)

I didn't think that I would like Blake, to be honest, because wasn't he the one who was set up with Nav in "A Matchless Man" (book 2 in this series, but all can be read as standalones)? I keep thinking that he was, and he was kind of an ass to Nav. But maybe it wasn't him. Or maybe he's grown up a bit since that book. ;) Whatever. Anyway, I liked Blake in this book, because I think most of us can relate to the "one who got away" or having an unrequited crush in high school. Thane had some anger management issues, which were clearly evident towards the end of the book when he completely blew up at Blake for reasons out of Blake's control and then acted butthurt about it for a while. Maybe I should have added "man with anger issues" in the above list of tropes.

But a lot of things worked for me in this book. I liked Ariel Tachna's writing style; she is one of my go-to writers when it comes to m/m romance. And it may have been because I was high while reading this book (Colorado yeahhhhhh baby!!), but I found myself giggling out loud quite a few times. There were some great funny parts. And I really did like the two nephews, Philip and Kit, who really blossomed over the course of the book. And Thane giving Philip a sex talk was all sorts of YES (enthusiastic consent for the win) and LOL (because it was just so awkward).

There's not much sex to be had in this book (keeping with the Dreamspun Desires line), which I didn't mind, especially since the exact mechanics of m/m sex leave me rather indifferent (lesbian here haha - gay male sex is great, but it doesn't get my engine revving, so to speak). But I read these books for the relationships, and there's a good one here, if you can get over the anger issues on Thane's part.

I read this book in one sitting, so it was definitely entertaining. I will definitely read more from this author in the future, but I already knew that, because I really liked "The Path" (I believe that was the first book of hers that I have read) and the other books by Tachna that I have read so far. If you are expecting a trope-fest with mostly off-the-page sex, then I would recommend this book for sure. ( )