Blurb:
"Thank you for giving me the chance to love you. And for giving yourself the chance to love you, too."
Agent Phelan Cole of the Global Anti Terrorist Force, one of the most respected and feared men in the classified military counter-terrorism and intelligence agency, is secretly and happily married to fellow agent Clyde Barnett. With their romantic relationship and marriage concealed from other agents, Cole and Clyde will face the greatest threat yet to their love for each other: A mission in the Eastern European country of Croenia leads to Clyde losing all his memories of Cole ... and reverting back to the gay man with severe internalized homophobia that he was before he met Cole, an openly bisexual man accepting of his own sexual orientation.
While the agency's intimidating Research & Development department races against time to reverse engineer the device that caused Clyde's amnesia, Cole is also racing against time to save his marriage and bring back his beloved best friend, lover and husband. Will Cole succeed in saving his husband? Or will he lose everything, even his own life?
The author starts this book out with several triggers and warnings, but something mentioned in the Preface caught my attention and for me, I would have wanted to know this before reading. The author shares: "The story is written in a non-linear narrative style, from Cole's and Barnett's perspectives throughout their lives. It has a guaranteed Happily Ever After ending."
Non-linear.
This story is from birth to about the age of 54. Once you get the prologue of Phelan Cole's first 42 years of life, this story is all over the place in the telling of his life. I seriously struggled and didn't enjoy this and I'm sure it's just me. I don't like linear books with a lot of flashbacks, so non-linear is definitely not for me. And, that's what is great about books, there's a reader for everything. :) But, the ending of this book where it became linear and Cole and Barnett had overcome everything, wiped away all the angst I experienced from the non-linear portion and honestly just saved this book for me!
This story starts out with Phelan as a little boy, and let me tell you, I absolutely loved and adored his parents. When I cried during this story, it was entirely because of his parents. They are absolutely perfect, beautiful people. And Phelan's dad has everything to do with the way Phelan lives his life, because he's going to be a good guy. Phelan joins the military which eventually leads him into working for a secretive government agency. While a part of this agency, he meets and secretively marries another agent. But on a mission, something happens to Barnett and he loses all memory of Phelan. Phelan spirals and is lost without the love of his life. He's reckless during missions and that eventually catches up with him. But fortunately for him, Barnett has gained back his memories and is there to rescue him. Barnett's father also has an influence into how he lives his before Phelan life, and not in a positive way.
This is a very emotional, angst-filled story which is not always something I enjoy. But I really didn't feel the emotional pull of these two men so I was able to read about everything that happened to them without my emotions being affected. Though both men work for a secretive agency, and this was an integral part of the story, the relationship and life of these two men is really the meat of this story. To me, this story had a feel of Phelan as an old man reminiscing about life with its journey through the years and the way it jumps from memory to memory.
If you're someone who has triggers, please take a moment to read all the ones the author listed. But, I strongly encourage you to give this book a chance. It looks like this is the author's debut book, and that makes it even more impressive.
Rating: 4 stars
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Bio:
G. D. Cox has been imagining, telling and writing stories for as long as they can remember. An obsessed writer by day and an avid reader by night, they discovered their passion for writing gay romance in 2012 and hasn’t stopped writing it ever since. When they’re not writing or reading or spending time with their beloved piebald French bulldog, they’re sleeping and dreaming of their next story to tell. Email G. D. at gdcoxauthor@gmail.com. You can also find G. D. on Tumblr at gdcoxauthor.tumblr.com and read excerpts, bonus chapters and previews of upcoming books.
My favourite are Josh Lanyon's Adrien English books.
ReplyDeleteSome of may favorite suspense stories are written by Rhys Ford and Nora Roberts.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite suspense books are The Protector series by Sloane Kennedy. colby69@verizon.net
ReplyDeleteThanks for the good flashback, Heather. Oh my, since I love gay mysteiies, even before m/m, there's not one but a series of authors starting with Joseph Hansen, Richard Stevenson, John Morgan Wilson, David Lennon, Greg Herren, Neil Plakcy, Anthony Bidulka, Michael Nava, Marshall Thorton, Mark Zubro ... - Purple Reader.
ReplyDeleteTheWrote [at] aol [dot] com
i enjoy Sloane kennedy
ReplyDeleteRight now it's Stranger on the Shore by Josh Lanyon
ReplyDeleteRhys Ford and Sloane Kennedy books are great
ReplyDelete