Ultra Meital Reviews: Resist: Gavin (Sphere of Irony #3) [Gavin & Mitch] by Heather C. Leigh

A very enjoyable read :) I didn't know what to expect from this one, and frankly it's not usually my "thing" to read the third book in a series, even though these are stand alone ones (also the two couples from the previous books don't show up that much). I really liked both MC and the fact they were two strong willed men, yet they somehow completed each other, both having a more sensitive compassionate side as well as being able to defend the other (mentally and physically). I gulped this one in two days after a WHOLE week of not reading a WORD (moving and studying t-o-g-e-t-h-e-r tend to do that..) so I was really happy I was sucked right into Gavin and Mitch's story and didn't want to let them go.

Gavin struggled with being gay his whole life (mostly his father's disapproval), and even though now he has occasional hook ups, he is unable to truly act upon his desires since the label his band is under doesn't want the fact he is gay to surface. Not very helping is the fact he has a stalker who KNOWS he is gay and recently started to escalate his behavior to more than mere threatening notes.

The label hires Mitch, a former FBI agent who specializes in profiling, to help find the stalker without involving the authorities. Mitch and Gavin DON'T get along right from the start. Gavin had enough of people trying to control his life, especially the stalker putting a break on the things he enjoys, so more restrictions are NOT welcome. Mitch just sees a spoiled brat who should be smarter than that and realize he NEEDS to listen to him in order to lower the risks of being hurt by the stalker.

That's on the surface. Under the surface both Mitch and Gavin are VERY attracted to one another. For Gavin it's mostly frustrating because Mitch isn't just an employee he is also straight, or so he thinks.. Mitch isn't straight but he is unable to even admit this fact to himself. He was never truly attracted to women and struggled to maintain relationship with them only to fail each and every time. Also his only semi sexual experience with a guy was a total and absolute disaster who quite frankly shattered him. Yet he can't hold off the desire he feels for Gavin, and so after a while and a whole lot of Gavin all around him, he comes to accept his true feelings and desires, and as these grow and they start to act on those desires, the friendship and affection starts to bloom as well.

I"m not sure what I feel about the buildup of their relationship (which is why I can't give this one a solid 5 star rating). I thought the attraction was a bit OTT and also I"m not a fan of attraction winning over total dislike. Yeah it worked in the end beautifully, and when they came to realize how much they mean for each other, I was totally in love with the both of them and how sweet they were together, the sacrifices they had to make with the stalker starting to ump his game big time.

There were hints along the way to who the stalker might be, but in the end I had it all wrong. Though I'm not sure if I liked how it played. Something in the final confrontation scene didn't "click" for me. But I liked how the story ended not just the HEA, the whole ordeal they went through helped both of them find closure and acceptance of themselves which was beautiful to read.

This one was quite an emotional ride. Mitch had a lot in his past to deal with, not only that specific bad (gay) experience, but also the whole concept of being gay and what it means to him, to the people around him (like his parents). Gavin also had a horrible up bringing with his father trying to make a "man" out of him forcefully. It was truly heart breaking.

I gotta say, with this being such an enjoyable emotional as well as very sweet ride I'm curious to try more books by Heather. Yet, since I"m quite swamped with books and VERY little time to read at the moment it would sadly have to wait a while.

I kindly received this ARC from "The Rock Stars of Romance" in exchange for my honest review.