Reviewed by Susan65
Title: Split
Author: Mel Bossa
Series: Nick & Derek #1
Heroes: Nick/Derek
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 288 pages
Publisher: Bold Stroke Books
Release Date: April 19, 2011
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: Quiet and imaginative, Derek O’Reilly spends a lot of time watching a movie in his head. His fiancé Nathan, aka “Mr. Alpha”, wonders why Derek hasn’t taken any interest in their wedding planning. Aunt Fran—his spiritual guru—would like to know when her guilt-tripping nephew became some kind of kept boy. One evening, she drops Derek’s childhood journal on his lap, forcing him to remember the name he’s been trying to forget since he was eleven years old. Nicolai Lund.
Nick was Derek’s neighbor—and first love.
Weeks before Derek’s engagement party, a chance meeting with Nick catapults Derek into the past. Nick could flood Derek’s stale existence like a blond tidal wave, but Nick isn’t that sixteen-year-old rebel anymore. He’s a man hardened by invisible scars.
As Derek reads through his diary, Nick and Derek’s powerful relationship sways between past and present, sweeping over their emotional landscape, revealing what they were, still are, and might yet be to each other.
Review: Nick and Derek took the entire book to finally get to where they were a true couple. It was tedious, but the background was necessary to understand where they came from and how they got to this point. Nick was a heartbreaker…his story, though appearing easier than Derek’s, was actually much harder to read. Derek is just a young kid with a crush on the bad boy, Nick, and had no idea what to do about it. Until Nick left…for good.
I struggle with flashbacks, normally, but these were written as journal entries as opposed to thoughts. It was hard at first, just because I prefer to move forward in my stories, but I got used to it quickly, and I couldn’t wait to find out what actually happened to these two guys when they were so much younger. The trip was long, but worth it.
Derek is now an adult, engaged, but not in love. He just exists. Nick has moved on as well, but he has secrets that aren’t exposed until the very end…and once revealed, will determine if there is a place in Derek’s life for Nick. There is no real cheating, and once you meet the real Nathan, you don’t care that he is about to get dumped for Nick.
This is book one of three, and I am looking forward to seeing how they grow as a couple, as a family….but after looking at the blurb of the next book, I am kind of afraid. Something tells me life gets harder before it gets easier for our two heroes. Am I up for the challenge? I guess we’ll see.
Overall Impression: I really liked it
*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*
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