Believe (Skins #3) [Rhys & Jevon] by Garrett Leigh

~sigh~ I'm SO disappointed. This was nothing like I expected. Naturally, ANY of Garrett's books are a must read, and though I expect a heart breaking story, I want to feel the promise of a HEA laced in between but here I was just depressed the whole while I was reading it. The alternating POVs helped, but still, Rhys was too "broken" and Jevon was doing his best, but he wasn't so sure himself if this thing between them is even possible.

Rhys Foster used to spend his days in an anonymous sex club, it used to be his THING. Sex, generally, was his thing but he is sick of it. Going to a pub to drink his sorrows he meets Jevon Campbell and somehow finds himself inviting him over to his apartment. Jevon is nothing like Rhys expected, while he is gay, it's somehow new to him. He has dated and slept with women, realized he isn't really into them but wasn't brave enough to take the leap into dating men and here comes Rhys, openly bisexual and VERY into exploring anything and everything related to sex. Put the two of them together, and Jevon is finally able to experience what he was missing, and Rhys sleeps for the first time with a guy who can actually mean something to him.

But once the magic of this night is over, we start a sort of "cat and mouse" I was EXHAUSTED of. It takes them WEEKS to schedule anything between them. Both have demanding jobs - Rhys a flight paramedic and Jevon a sort of half clown have social worker who works with kids in hospitals and refugee camps all over the world. He's here in London at the moment, but in 8 weeks he'll be in another camp with kids from Syria.  THIS is the time line they have. Rhys isn't sure if he can invest himself with the only guy he can fall in love with only to be taken away in 2 months and Jevon feels how conflicted Rhys is, and how he shuts down whenever he even thinks about it.

It takes them long enough and with the help of the two other couples in this series - Harry (Rhys's brother) and his partner Joe as well as Dylan and Angelo both being friends with Rhys and Harry without Rhys realizing just HOW MUCH they are all connected.

If this one wasn't by Garrett I wouldn't have finished it. I was just so annoyed with how futile it all felt. I was sad and heart broken I started skimming through to get to ANY point it gets better. Yet anytime I thought it's going to finally get better it first gotten worse. Rhys was SO broken and I don't feel like we've experienced any real progress besides accepting a bit of "technical" help from his brother and friends. He has still a long way to go, but at least he has Jevon now to keep him happy when he is recovering from his past and negative beliefs about life and about himself. There are a few characters from other books by Garrett, a bit from Urban Soul series and Soul to Keep.

Rating: ★★½

E-Book Edition

229 pages

Read on: 27-30 June 2018

ABOUT THIS SERIES

 

Skins is a Contemporary MM Romance series by Garrett Leigh. There's a connection between all the characters - from co-workers to friends and family - in this series, but they only come together all 3 couples in the 3rd installment.

All three couples find themselves in the end at the same place - Whisper Farm - ran by Joe Carter. Each couple, even each character is dealing with some kind of issue - mental or physical. I liked the way Garrett deals with these kind of issues. Truthfully, these characters feel so much genuine exactly because of that. They are like "me and you". They struggle, they fall, and they rise again and in the end they find the HEA we are all hoping for.

While I enjoyed the first installment (Dyan sounds familiar? we've met him in "What Matters"), for me the 2nd installment was the best. The third kinda closed the series nicely with all of them coming together, realizing they have all known each other one way or another, and  yet it was too depressing for me. We were gifted another short novella to make a better HEA for all three couples, spending the holidays together. Sadly it too didn't grip me. We got another novella of Joe and and Harry (HURAY) taking the next step in their relationship. It was a sweet revisit.  

 

"The Sex Coach" takes place in the same farm with the appearance of all couples only a few years later. It's sold as a stand-alone but I feel like people who haven't met any of the characters might get a bit confused. It's actually my favorite out of all of them.

Books:
1. Dream [Dylan Hart & Angelo Giordano] (Published 23 January 2018) ★★★★
2. Whisper [Harry Foster & Joe Carter] (Published 1 May 2018) ★★★★★
3. Believe [Rhys Foster & Jevon Campbell] (Published 26 June 2018) ★★½

3.6 Cherish [Harry Foster & Joe Carter] (Published 1 January 2022) ★★★★½ 

4. Crossroads [Dylan Hart & Angelo Giordano] (Published 20 November 2018) ★★

- The Sex Coach [Toby & Cole Maguire] (Published 8 October 2020) ★★★★★