Love can grow in even the harshest conditions.
Life has been a struggle for Lachlan Buttar ever since his mother passed away and left him unprepared to take care of himself. He’s gone from homeless to staying with a local minister, but it soon becomes clear he will be better off, and safer, on his own. Fortunately Foster and Javi agree to take Lachlan in and offer him a real home on their dairy farm.
It’s there that Lachlan meets another of the workers, local farmer Abe Armitage. Though the attraction between them is instant, Abe refuses to act on it until Lachlan returns his interest. By then, strong feelings have taken root, and a passionate romance quickly blossoms. But both men carry baggage that could crush any chance of happiness together, particularly since Lachlan witnessed a crime, and there are those who will do anything to make sure he cannot reveal what he’s seen.
Buy links: Dreamspinner | Amazon
Tams gives this one 5 Stars...
At just seventeen years old, Lachlan Buttar has experienced more grief and tragedy than most grown men. Raised by a single mother that recently died of cancer. He was evicted from their home with nothing but the clothes on his back. The local minister and his family take Lachlan in, but the minister's perfect angel son's halo is held up by his horns. Broken, exhausted and at the end of his rope, Lachlan winds up at a local Dairy farm run by an openly gay couple (Foster and Javi from book 1) and is more than skeptical when everyone offers him a helping hand.
Abe Armitage can relate with Lachlan in more ways than one. He too lost his mother and he too is looked at like he's wrong because he's gay by his own father. There's only a few years between them, Abe is 22 and Lachlan is literally weeks away from being 18, but the two men bond quickly. More than anything else, Abe just wants Lachlan to feel safe, enjoy and embrace the opportunities he's being offered by Foster and his family, and he wants to love him. Unfortunately, someone is hiding just out of sight, waiting and willing to do whatever it takes to silence Lachlan.
This was such a great book. I was captivated by Lachlan from the first page and loved the way Grey slowly unfolded his story instead of hitting the reader with everything in the beginning. Much like the steady explanation of what brought Lachlan to this particular place and time, the romance between him and Abe is slow, steady and beautiful as well. If you've read book 1, you'll already be familiar with the majority of the secondary characters in this book. I can't even tell you how much I love Grandma Katie, that women is a hot mess, but God love her! The threat in this story is relatable and believable as well, something many people have to deal with in their life unfortunately. My heart broke for Lachlan, to be so young and so lost, Abe was a lighthouse in the storm for him, strong and steady.
Definitely a must read. If you haven't read book 1, no worries, this book does stand alone very well. You will have a better appreciation of the world surrounding Lachlan and Abe if you've read that book though.
Excerpt...
LACHLAN BUTTAR’S feet hurt already. He’d been walking for an hour and was getting short of breath. His shoes pinched the side of his foot with each step unless he tilted it a little, but after a while, that made his ankle ache.
On either side of the road, empty fields with the stubs of last year’s corn crop sticking out of the ground provided very little in the way of a view. Stopping at a country intersection, he looked ahead, as well as left and right, trying to figure out which way he should go. Not that it mattered very much.
His goal was to try to make it to Grand Rapids. Maybe there he could find work and try to figure out what he was going to do now. He knew the city was east, which was the way he was heading.
April could be a great time of year, but today wasn’t one of those days. He crossed the intersection and kept going. Standing in one place wasn’t going to get him any closer to his destination, despite how much his feet hurt. They didn’t matter; nothing mattered. It wasn’t like he had better shoes he could wear. These were the only ones he had, and they hadn’t even been new when he’d gotten them. To take his mind off the pain as he trudged along, the asphalt stretching as far as he could see, Lachlan tried to think of better Aprils, something to raise his spirits and occupy his mind.
Two years earlier, in what seemed like a completely different era, his mother had taken him on a vacation. She’d won some sort of contest, at least that’s what she’d told him. So she’d taken him out of school and they’d gotten on a plane and flown to Orlando, where they had spent four days in the parks. Somewhere in his backpack, he’d stuffed the dusky blue hat with Mickey on it that she’d bought him while they were there. He’d gotten to do everything imaginable while on that trip and was the happiest he could remember being. Well, at least it was the last happy time he could remember. After they’d gotten home, she’d told him the truth. There was no contest and the trip had been a charade of sorts, a last happy interlude before she gave him the news that would change his life forever and ultimately lead to him walking down a country road with the clouds overhead getting lower and heavier. It wasn’t going to be long before he’d need to haul out the small pink umbrella he’d stuffed in his pack. It had been his mother’s, and he hadn’t wanted to leave it behind.
Lachlan’s steps grew more torturous as he continued, the pain he’d been trying to ignore becoming impossible. He sat on an old stump and breathed a sigh of relief as the sharp pain became a dull ache and slowly receded. He didn’t dare take his right shoe off to rub his foot and make it feel better. It was likely swollen, and putting his shoe back on would be agony. Normally his feet were fine, but these shoes were… well, maybe he’d be better off barefoot. Lachlan got back up and continued on, one step at a time, and after a while, the secondhand shoes that were probably one size too small didn’t hurt so much anymore.
Knowing he had miles left to go, he picked up his pace, since walking faster would mean he’d get where he needed to go all that much sooner. Of course, that was when the rain started. Not just a mist, but a spring rain, full-on. Lachlan got out the umbrella, opened it, and held the small amount of cover right over him, walking on. The umbrella did a good job of keeping his upper body dry, but his lower pant legs were soon wet and his shoes and socks soaked through.
The pain in his foot came back with a vengeance a few minutes later, and Lachlan looked around for some sort of shelter. There were a few buildings ahead, and he single-mindedly headed for them.
He approached a farmhouse that, with its peeling white paint, looked as aching and miserable in this rain as Lachlan felt, but he was becoming desperate and turned off the road to walk up the drive. He took three steps, and a dog—big, black, and barking up a storm—raced around the side of the house, coming right for him. Lachlan turned back around and walked as fast as he could to the road, thankful the dog stopped at the end of the driveway, barking its fool head off, snarling, and watching after him. So Lachlan trudged on.
He crossed another intersection, the moisture seeming to climb his body, seeping deeper under his clothes, sapping away the heat. Misery joined his pain, but he had no other choice—he had to keep going. On the corner he passed what looked like a small stand of some sort, and Lachlan wondered if it was unlocked. He tried the door but it didn’t open. God, if he could only crawl inside, he’d have some shelter from the rain and would be able to rest for a while. No such luck.
At the next driveway, he stopped, wondering if there was another dog set to come at him. He didn’t see one. All he saw were cows huddled together, black-and-white beasts under an overhang, waiting out the rain.
Andrew Grey is the author of nearly 100 works of Contemporary Gay Romantic fiction. After 27 years in corporate America, he has now settled down in Central Pennsylvania with his husband Dominic and his laptop. An interesting ménage. Andrew grew up in western Michigan with a father who loved to tell stories and a mother who loved to read them. Since then he has lived throughout the country and traveled throughout the world. He has a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and now writes full time. Andrew’s hobbies include collecting antiques, gardening, and leaving his dirty dishes anywhere but in the sink (particularly when writing) He considers himself blessed with an accepting family, fantastic friends, and the world’s most supportive and loving partner. Andrew currently lives in beautiful, historic Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
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Congratulations on the new book release! It sounds wonderful. Thank you for the review.
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