Reviewed by Susan65
Title: Locked in Silence
Author: Sloane Kennedy
Series: Pelican Bay #1
Heroes: Nolan Grainger/Dallas Kent
Genre: MM Contemporary
Length: 284 Pages
Publisher: Self-Published
Release Date: September 3, 2017
Available at: Amazon and Barnes & Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads
Blurb: I’ve spent years hoping someone would finally hear me. It’s easier not to try anymore…
Ten years after leaving his small Minnesota hometown in his rearview mirror for what Nolan Grainger was sure would be the last time, life has decided to throw the talented musician a curveball and send him back to the town he lived in but was never really home.
At twenty-eight, Nolan has traveled the world as a successful concert violinist with some of the best symphonies in the country. But success breeds envy, and when Nolan’s benefactor and lover decides Nolan has flown high enough, he cruelly clips Nolan’s wings. The betrayal and ensuing scandal leaves the violinist’s career in shambles and with barely enough money to start fresh somewhere beyond his vindictive ex’s powerful reach. But just as he’s ready to get his life back on track, Nolan gets the call he’s been dreading.
After a stroke leaves his father a partial invalid, duty-bound Nolan returns to Pelican Bay and a life he’s spent years trying to forget. When he’s forced to use the last of his own money to keep from losing the family home, desperation has him turning to the one man he’d hoped never to see again…
Even if I could speak, there wouldn’t be anyone there to listen…
Pelican Bay’s golden boy, Dallas Kent, had the quintessential perfect life. Smart, gorgeous, and popular, the baseball phenom was well on his way to a life filled with fame and fortune. But more importantly, he had a one-way ticket out of Pelican Bay and far away from the family who used love as currency and whose high expectations were the law of the land. But a stormy night, sharp highway curve and one bad decision changed everything, leaving Dallas with nothing.
Because the accident that took his parents, his future and his crown as the boy who could do no wrong, also stole his voice.
Despised for the horrific wreck that ended the lives of two of Pelican Bay’s most respected residents, Dallas has retreated to a secluded stretch of land where he’s found refuge in a menagerie of unwanted animals that don’t care that he once had the world at his feet or that he’ll never speak again.
But when the quiet, bookish boy he wasn’t allowed to notice in school suddenly reappears ten years later at Dallas’s wildlife rehab center in desperate need of a job, Dallas is thrust back into a world he’s worked hard to escape.
Dallas’s silence was supposed to send Nolan scurrying, but what if Nolan ends up being the one person who finally hears him?
Will two men who’ve been fleeing from the past finally come home to Pelican Bay for good or will the silence drive them apart forever?
Review: I loved Dallas and Nolan. They are both silently hurting and lonely. And both were dealing with heartbreaking family issues and drama. For Nolan, the only thing worth coming back to his small town is running into Dallas. What he doesn’t expect are the feelings that come with reconnecting with the golden boy from his high school days. Only Dallas is barely recognizable and not so golden, anymore.
Nolan hit the bottom of the barrel when it came to getting parents. They were unemotional, cold, and barely paid him the time a day, unless it was to complain or insult him. Dallas is the sole survivor of an accident that killed both his parents. Fortunately, his brother, Maddox, was not in the car so he’s not alone…right? Wrong, lies and deceit on the part of his father, before he died, put the cause of the accident unfairly on his shoulders. Golden boy is now an outcast and suffering from a lasting disability he received from the accident…and a brother who just took off and left him to fend for himself.
Sounds like a pretty harsh storyline and a match made in heaven, huh? But truthfully, this was quite sweet, in so many ways. It was also a very enlightening. Many truths are brought to light. Forgiveness is earned and given, but not the way you might think. And a small town narrow-minded and corrupt Sheriff gets the book thrown at him.
I really love animals, and Dallas and Nolan building a relationship together at the animal rescue and sanctuary owned by Dallas, made the story so much better. How can you not connect on something beautiful in that environment?
There is quite a bit that goes on in this story, but it was just the right amount that kept me completely captivated. I zoomed right through this book and instantly added Maddox and Isaac’s book to my to-read list. This book is typical Sloane Kennedy, meaning it will be full of substance, a well-rounded plot, and awesome (and a few not so awesome) characters. Highly recommended.
Overall Impression: I loved it!
*I received a copy of this book from the author in return for a fair and honest review.*
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