AotM ~ Finding Home & Finding Trust by Sloane Kennedy ~ (Reviews + Giveaway)

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“I’ve done everything wrong, Finn. From day one. It was the only way I knew how to be with you and still be worthy of you. But I see now that I never really was.” --Callan

Vengeance. It’s the one thing on ex-cop Rhys Tellar’s mind and he’s spent every day of his two year prison sentence planning how he’ll bring down the former lover and partner who sold him out and cost four people their lives. A six month parole stint working at the CB Bar Ranch in Southwestern Montana should be the easiest thing he’s ever done. But the last thing he expects is to feel something for both the charismatic ranch hand who befriends him and the enigmatic foreman who’s pretending to be something he’s not.

A future. That’s what Finn Stewart wants, but to have it he must leave behind the man he wants above all others, his very straight boss and best friend, Callan Bale. As the only openly gay man in a small, homophobic community, Finn has to fight every day to be who he is and walking away is starting to seem like the easier path. Until Rhys Tellar shows up and changes everything.

A Lie. Callan Bale’s entire life has been about hiding the man he really is and it’s about to cost him the one person who’s managed to worm his way past the walls he’s spent years putting up. But choosing Finn would mean giving up everything he’s worked for and breaking the promises he’s made. At least losing the younger man to Rhys means Finn can have the life he deserves.

Three men. Three choices. One chance at finding home.

Note: This book contains M/M/M sexual content and is intended for mature audiences

***This is Book 1 in the series, but can be read as a stand-alone story - no cliffhangers.***

4 Stars! 

I'm pretty sure (IMHO), Sloane Kennedy is the Queen of MMM at this point. The way she is able to create such sweet romances between three men who are completely different yet perfect for one another, is amazing. Finding Home might be a little different than her other MMM works but I still enjoyed it very much. I only wish it could be longer.

Rhys is new to CB ranch but it doesn't take long for him to smoothly find a place for himself. He was actually very lucky because while he's an ex-con on parole, both Finn and Callan don't hold it against him. They are able to see past his recent past and can tell what type of man he is.

Finn is sweet, young and loyal. He puts up with the horrible things people say and do to him but he fears the consequences for Callan. He's not worried for himself but more for the man he secretly loves and it shows how much he wants to do what he thinks is right. I did sometimes feel like his age made him a bit naive (even though he wasn't) so there were some times in which I actually wanted him to experience life outside of Dare more.

Callan is the character we got the most as far as background and I actually felt as if I knew him better than the others. I'm not sure if that was intentional or not, maybe I'm the only one who feels like that but I definitely connected more with him than with Finn or Rhys. I would've liked to see more of his relationship with the town, however, because I feel like the town was an important aspect of the story.

Together these three men were hot and I loved their relationship. It's definitely a bit instalove when it comes to Rhys since he was new but with a little suspension of disbelief, it didn't really matter. I'm very excited to see how their relationship progresses and evolves as the series goes on and they get better known around town.

Fans of Sloane's will most likely enjoy Finding Home and I recommend it to those fans of MMM.

GoodReads ~ Amazon

He wanted a new beginning. What he got was a glimpse of a life he could never have...

Widower Dane Winters just wanted a new beginning for himself and his six month old daughter after his estranged husband's cold-blooded murder and moving to a small town in Southwest Montana seemed like a good place to start. But he never expected a favor for a friend to turn into a deadly encounter that puts him on a collision course with a mysterious stranger passing through town.

Former FBI agent Jaxon Reid stopped in Dare, Montana to right a wrong, not get caught up in the life of an uptight, country vet with a holier-than-thou attitude. But he soon finds himself drawn to the quiet, insecure single father who's trying to leave behind a life of pain and heartbreak.

Dane can't deny his attraction to Jax, but he knows that pursuing a relationship with the gorgeous, younger man will only end in heartbreak and turn him into someone he swore he would never be again. But when danger looms, he's forced to accept Jax into his life and home, along with the emotional vulnerability that being around Jax brings to the surface.

As their connection deepens, can Dane find the trust Jax needs from him in order to build a life together or will he let his past destroy his one chance at a real future?

4.5 Stars!

Dane and Jax are very very yummy!

This is the first book in the Finding series that I read and I loved it. Both Jax and Dane were so easy to fall in love with and although there is a ton of angst surrounding these men and a whole lot of back and forth, I couldn't help rooting for them. There's nothing better than seeing a big bad Alpha male being brought to his knees by an adorable baby or child and that added a lot to this story.

Jax is probably my favorite character in The Finding series books. I love how he was so protective and loyal to Dane and Emma and even when he was being pushed away or thought he was unwanted he never fully ran away. He may have stepped back but he was always making sure that Dane and his daughter were safe. I also really loved the fact that he fit so smoothly with the other characters in the story because it makes it more natural to have a connection with other characters throughout the series.

Dane was sweet and I loved him, too, although there were more than a few times I wanted to shake some sense into him. He really puts Jax through the ringer and he's lucky Jax put up with all the walls Dane had built. There are a few things going on with Dane that I feel were kind of left open and I wished we would've gotten more answers about. I almost feel like there was a point where his mental health should've been called into question but things were basically glossed over and forgotten.

Other than that, I really enjoyed Finding Trust, Dane and Jax. I think they work well together and I highly recommend this book.

3.5 Stars! 

Good enough that I'll re-read this again, but though it had the elements for a great tale, it lacked a little depth.

This book can be read as a standalone, though the author warns that there are some spoilers for book 1 in it. I enjoyed it without reading the first, which is a MMM tale, and it's good enough to make me want to read the third.

This tale has a strong alpha male lead in Jax, a very likeable but slightly damaged older lead in Dane, father of baby Emma, and it has a storyline that brings Jax into their lives and gives him a reason to stay...however, the danger that there supposedly was in the tale never really panned out to anything, despite the rather shocking opening scene that prepped me for more of the same violence.

That opening scene wasn't really explained in sufficient detail, and the supposed cold-bloodedness of one of the faceless baddies did not fit in with the reveal in the ending, so I think that the author and her editor missed something here.

Overall, it has decent guys, doesn't make enough of the baby whose age we don't get to know and who doesn't do anything but cry a tiny bit before being pacified by a bottle and falling asleep. We don't even really see Dane having a life other than feeding his daughter, despite him being a vet/trying to set up his practice. Jax gets to flex his muscles and get his gun out, but overall, the tale lacked depth. It could easily have been a 5 Star read with a little...more of all of the above.

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