We've actually sort of met Gavin Richie before as "Wedge" in a few of Garrett's previous novels but honestly I don't remember much about him. He is ex-military, special forces, and after two years of being out and dealing with breaking his neck (!) he is managing a shelter for the homeless. It's hard yet satisfying work if only they could have enough volunteers for their shifts, especially for the kitchen..
Yani Nicolaou have had enough of working for other people, he now works for himself. He has a food cart and he manages quite well actually. His days are busy but he is happy for the new life he has built for himself. Having his best friend Bex around is also a bonus. A chance meeting with a real hunk in a coffee shop doesn't promise much until his best friend begs him to take a shift at the shelter as a cook and he realizes said hunk work at the shelter as well..
Both men aren't looking for a relationship and mostly not something too complicated considering they keep bumping into each other when ever Yani comes to help out but truth being told there is something about these two that simply WORKS and so keeping it "casual" doesn't work as they planned. For a while they try friendship (mostly) but it doesn't take long for them to just throw the cards on the table as they are. They DO want more because what they have now - either the sexual relation or/and the friendship simply isn't enough.
There is more to this little story actually. There is a lot of talk about "getting better" about taking care of oneself of being there for one another judgment free. Both men dealt with difficult stuff in their lives. For Yani it's OCD Disorder he mostly manages well and for Gavin it's his demons from his past and his struggle of fitting into civilian life. Yani loves to talk and asking questions and while Gavin can't answer some, the ones he does answer brings them closer together. It was really endearing the way Yani kept mildly interrogating Gavin and he mostly humored him. It allowed Gavin to have something real and though similar quite different than what he used to have with his military friends. Gavin from his part was the most understanding and compassionate guy! I ADORED him. He was simply being REAL. He accepted Yani the way he is, even when he was asking questions there is NO WAY he could answer or when he was in a total melt down screaming at him. Gavin just took things in prospective which allowed them not to have meaningless fights, on the contrary actually DEAL with stuff head on in a sober kind of a way. I'll sign up for a Gavin any day of the week!
As I've mentioned we've already met Gavin as "Wedge" in previous novels by Garrett, she drops a few names from these novels like Nat and Conner from "Between Ghosts" and Marc and Jamie from "Soul to Keep" who actually come for a short visit. Also if you wonder why there is something familiar about Yani's previous work in London it refers to the "Urban Soul" universe.
I really enjoyed this one though something was a bit missing. Maybe I just needed more of these two as this one is fairly short. Gavin and Yani fell for one another in a rather short period but I guess considering the way they spent their time I was able to believe them so I don't really know what my issue is. Maybe I'm just being needy and greedy hehe
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Rating:
★★★★ |
E-Book
Edition |
165
pages
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Read on:
21-22 November 2019
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