Guest Reviewed by Sadonna
Title: Love and the Real Boy
Author: J.K. Hogan
Series: Coming About #2
Heroes: Rich Langston/Patrick O’Dowd
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 196 Pages
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Release Date: September 17, 2014
Available at: Wilde City Press, Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: How much heartache can one man take before he breaks? Rich Langston asks himself that question every day.
A Seattle advertising exec who uses his designer suit and showy car like a suit of armor, Rich refuses to let the world get to him. His traumatic childhood has ruined any faith he had in people, friendship, and love. After a meltdown that led to him alienating everyone in his life, Rich agrees to help with the restoration of an antique sailboat as a form of penance.
Roped into heading up with the boat repair by his mother, marine restorer Patrick O’Dowd finds himself having to babysit a moody, spoiled rich boy with absolutely no carpentry experience. His easy-going nature is sorely tested, but he quickly realizes that things are not always what they seem; sometimes a fancy suit is nothing but an elaborate deflection from what’s real.
Through unavoidable personality clashes and fierce attraction, both Rich and Patrick explore their hidden pain and inner demons, and they end up finding with what really matters—love.
Review: I read J.K. Hogan’s first book in this series, I Survived Seattle ,and liked it, so I was quite interested to see how the author would write an entire book featuring the most loathsome character in the story – Rich. He is truly despicable and does the unforgivable. If ever a character needed redeeming, this was the guy. That being said, I’d recommend reading the first book before this one, as it will give context to a lot of what is revealed in this second book and to avoid spoilers of Nick and Justice’s story.
The events of this story run a bit concurrently with some of the action of the first book. However, this story is told in a series of flashbacks that go a long way in filling in the blanks and explaining how the Rich Langston we met in I Survived Seattle came to be. We learn how Rich and Rory meet (under rather unusual circumstances) and how they came to be roommates and friends. As their friendship grows, Rich becomes more attached to Rory and even though he knows it’s a huge mistake, he falls in love with his straight roommate. When Rory decides to get married and then calls his friend Justice Crawford to be his best man after Rich has spent a long time taking care of him, well it’s not really so hard to understand why he’s really pissed off. Not that it excuses what he did, but at least we know where he’s coming from, and it seems like Rory might not be the most sensitive guy in the world.
In addition to the Rory/Rich story, there is a much darker story of the former Ricky Dalton. Rory is one of the few people who has any knowledge of Rich’s traumatic and horrifying childhood. Rich agrees to talk about it exactly once, and through that conversation and additional flashback scenes, we begin to see the reasons why Rich is in the closet and why he doesn’t trust anyone and keeps to himself.
As penance for his fuck-ups in I Survived Seattle, Rich has agreed to help restore a beautiful sailboat that belongs to Nic Valentine, Justice’s finance. Patrick O’Dowd, whose mother is a friend of Rory’s mother, is assigned the project from his family’s business of shipbuilders. Part of the deal is that Rich is going to be part of the restoration project. Patrick is in the dark as to why someone like Rich – who has obviously never been around tools or has any idea what he’s doing – is participating. He and Rich don’t exactly get along, but Patrick is intrigued by the mysterious Rich Langston. After giving Rich a ride home when his car refuses to start, Patrick is more intrigued, and when Rich invites him into his house, he decides to see what he can do to push more of Rich’s buttons. And he does get Rich to at least let down his walls for an evening – both physically and emotionally. He tells Patrick something that he’s never told anyone – and it’s probably the biggest secret and driver of Rich’s behavior. It really gets to the root of why his career is everything to him, why he is in the closet, why he pushes everyone away, etc. Patrick’s reaction is to continue to push Rich. He begins to understand what has affected Rich and why he has gone down this solitary path.
As Patrick and Rich get closer, Patrick attempts to help Rich deal with the issues of his past that come intruding into his life. Patrick really wants to help Rich get past all of his issues and try to enjoy his life rather than keep all his fears and anxieties bottled up. We also find out that Patrick has his own demons. Who ever heard of a shipbuilder who refused to go out on the water??
Unlike Rich’s solitary existence, there are a literal boatload of O’Dowds, and we get to meet Patrick’s huge Irish family. They are quite a cast of characters, and Rich is initially scared to death to meet them. To say they are not shy and reserved is the understatement of the year. They pull Rich into their shenanigans and the results are beyond what anyone expects.
Another aspect of Rich’s life – his advertising career – ends up getting a surprising boost from his relationship with Patrick. A unique take on an advertising campaign could be the big break Rich needs – or it could be the biggest disaster and cost him everything he’s worked for.
Finally, the biggest and scariest test of all comes in the form of Rich’s past that he’s been terrified to face. He’s afraid that the decisions that he made as a terrified kid didn’t have the impact that he hoped for the person that he spent his childhood life loving and protecting. Once again, Patrick is there to support Rich and help him land in a soft place. There is a lot of baggage and crap to wade through but between Patrick and his friends, Rich is up to the task.
I really liked this redemption of sorts for Rich. I hoped that he just wasn’t a complete douchecanoe as his behavior in the first book seemed to indicate. Not that there is any excuse for his behavior toward Justice, but it’s obvious that Rich was really hurt, Rory was a bit clueless and Justice got caught in the crosshairs. It takes the strength of a man like Patrick who hasn’t had a life that’s a bed of roses either to be able to shake Rich to his core and get him to really deal with his past and his issues so that they can both move forward.
Overall Impression: I really liked it
*I received a copy of this book from the publisher in return for a fair and honest review.*
The Blogger Girls 