Release Day Review: Safe and Sound by Caitlin Ricci

Title: Safe and Sound
Author: Caitlin Ricci
Release Date: October 18, 2017
Category: Contemporary
Pages: 84

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Twenty-one-year-old Mason has to get out of his mother’s house, where her boyfriend subjects him to unwanted advances—and won’t take no for an answer. Since she didn’t believe Mason when he told her about his uncle’s sexual abuse, Mason knows he’s on his own, and it’s up to him to raise the money he needs. He thinks he’s in luck when he takes a modeling job.

Oliver is a photographer, and getting guys and sex has always been easy for him. His current open relationship is no exception: more friendship and fun than anything. But when Oliver meets Mason, he can see the younger man is fragile and desperately in need of help. Before anything can develop between them, Mason needs to free himself of his terrible living situation and start on the road to healing. Oliver wants to stand beside him as he does. What surprises him is the discovery that he might need Mason as much as Mason needs him.

3.5 Stars

Mason has been trying to save up to be able to move out of his mother's house, which they share with his mother's boyfriend, who has been making passes at Mason. While Mason feels uncomfortable by his attention, he can't bring himself to tell his mother, since telling her before when his uncle molested him didn't really make much of a difference. He replies to an ad asking for a model and meets Oliver, who is willing to help Mason in any way he can. 

Oliver is in an open relationship when he meets Mason, and while he's attracted to the younger man, Mason sets up limits when he learns Oliver has a boyfriend. This doesn't mean that Oliver isn't going to be there for Mason, though, as he tries to come up with a way to help Mason out of the awful situation he finds himself in before there's something to regret. 

Safe and Sound is part of the Thornwood series, but can be read as a standalone. However, I do suspect it might be best to read at least Somewhere to Belong first, seeing as Eli, the main character in that book, is Oliver's best friend and features prominently in Safe and Sound. 

I really liked Mason and felt so bad that he had to deal both with his uncle and then with his mother's boyfriend, especially since he was only 7 when his uncle's abuse started and he did try to tell his mother about it and she didn't believe him, which made it perfectly understandable that he thought it'd be the same with her boyfriend. He was sweet and very centered, I liked that even if he was attracted to Oliver, he refused to start something with him because he was in a relationship, open as it was. I liked Oliver, however, I'm not sure how well-suited him and Mason were, as we only see him as Mason's knight in shining armor and not really as part of a couple. The chemistry was there, but it all ended rather abruptly and with just the hint of a HFN. 

Overall, this was a good read, not truly a romance, but it does have some romantic undertones to it, it's still enjoyable, though, even if the ending was a bit rushed. 

*** Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by Dreamspinner Press for my reading pleasure, a review wasn't a requirement. ***