Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Trusting Love

AUTHOR: Mari Evans

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 200 Pages

BLURB:

Laurie Stallon isn’t like other high schoolers. After suffering years of abuse at his father’s hands, he now lives in a foster care facility and finds solace volunteering at the local animal shelter. Laurie’s had to grow up fast, and even though his eighteenth birthday is still weeks away, he’s more adult than most adults he knows. When he meets Dr. Sam Davies, the new shelter veterinarian, the attraction is instant. They become friends at work, but Laurie knows Sam will never go for someone like him. No matter how Laurie tries to prove his maturity to Sam, Sam continues to reject him as too young.

Needing a distraction, Laurie goes out dancing for his birthday and finds his life in danger yet again. When Sam is called to the hospital, he realizes Laurie needs someone to care for him. Sam takes him home, and they slowly build a relationship. But more than their age difference works against them. Facing the disapproval of friends and the scars from Laurie’s past, they’ll need to put all their trust in love for a chance at a future together.

REVIEW:

Anyone need to grab a drink before I start this, because I warn you now, I feel a lengthy review coming on. I should probably begin with these 5 honest facts.

1)   I may have indulged in a good old fashioned swoon when I read the blurb for Trusting Love

2)   (And I swear to god this is not an exaggeration.) While waiting to receive my review copy, if I woke up in the middle of the night I would check my emails and was fully prepared to start reading at 3am if that was when I received it.

3)   Upon receiving my copy, at the convenient time of 7am, I happy danced around the living room, which looked a little like I was doing the “running man” while thrusting my iPad backwards and forwards singing “Everything is Awesome” from the Lego Movie.

4)   Having read the book I feel pretty confident in predicting that not everybody is going to like it (but isn’t that true of every book?)

5)   If I was an author, this book is what I’d write.

The story evolves exactly as the blurb says. Laurie and Sam first meet when Sam takes over as the vet at an animal shelter Laurie volunteers at. Laurie is instantly attracted to the tall, gorgeous blond but believes the man is way out of his league and probably straight. Of course, Sam is most definitely gay, but while he acknowledges to himself that he finds Laurie very attractive, he has absolutely no intention of starting anything with someone he considers a “kid”. However once Sam and Laurie start working together and Sam gets to know Laurie, he realizes that although Laurie is only seventeen, he is most definitely not a child. When Laurie winds up in hospital after he’s sexually assaulted at a club, Sam loses the will to keep saying “no” and takes Laurie home with him.

The character of Laurie was, I’m fairly certain, created just for me. A young, pierced, make-up wearing, snarky beauty. I have a weakness for them and I’m not ashamed to admit it. I think Laurie is equal only to Jay (Renae Kaye’s Loving Jay) when it comes to beautiful twinky perfection and just to add some extra icing to that cake Laurie has been bullied his whole life and desperately needs someone to love him. Well, that sounds awful doesn’t it? I’m not excited over someone having been bullied but Laurie’s attitude about it all is what I found rather intriguing. Aside from the fact he lives in a group foster home and has done since he was sixteen, he doesn’t seem all that different from any other teenager. He goes to school, he works part time and he uses his fake ID to go clubbing with his friends. But because most of the story is told from Laurie’s point of view it becomes clear that Laurie seems to see himself as inferior or abnormal somehow. And he doesn’t even realize it. It’s though he’s been told by people so often that there’s something wrong with him he just unconsciously accepts it as true and gets on with his life, not letting it bother him. Obviously, this huge inferiority complex does not make for an easy relationship.

Which is a great segue into – why I think a number of people won’t like this story. Laurie is a crier. Sam also gives it a good go but Laurie is definitely the main water feature in this story. Myself, I don’t have a problem with it, hell, if anyone has earned the right to cry it’s probably Laurie but I’ve read a huge number of reviews (about other books) where readers had major issues with the amount of crying going on. So be warned, there is a flood of biblical proportions contained within these pages. Laurie needs constant reassurance from Sam about how Sam feels about him and about their relationship and at times I thought his character skated the edge of being too needy and was going to start annoying me but that never actually happened.

The relationship itself, well I guess some readers might not be too keen on that either. There’s a ten year age gap between the two main characters, Laurie is seventeen and Sam is twenty seven and for all intents and purposes, Sam is also Laurie’s boss at the animal shelter. Now that dynamic made little ol’ me happier than a pig in shit (I’m sorry but I adore that saying) but I’m aware that again, some readers will likely cry foul. To each his own, I guess. But I will assure everybody that Laurie is never portrayed as a child, Laurie is very clear with Sam about what he wants and Sam doesn’t even kiss Laurie until he’s eighteen.

Once they do start becoming more intimate, both men agree that they want to take things slow, Laurie because of his history and Sam because he’s understandably cautious about how invested an eighteen year old could really be in their relationship. The huge plus side to that is each time the men experience a “first” together, the first time they kiss, the first blow job, everything seems extra special. Extra hot. Extra intense.

The only quibble I had with the story was one of the scenes towards the end, and don’t you hate it when reviewers get all vague like that. Basically some pretty harsh things are said by one of the main characters to the other in what was a totally uncharacteristic blowup. It just seemed to come out of nowhere and combined with the reaction of other MC I was left rather bewildered and wondering what the hell had just happened. It felt awkward and out of place in the story. But eventually the MC who loses his shit explains what was going on in his head and suddenly it was completely understandable. Stupid move, but understandable. The story is actually written in the joint point of views of Sam and Laurie and I just think that if that scene had perhaps been written in the other characters point of view it wouldn’t have seemed so…wrong, for want of a better word. But honestly, that might be getting a bit nit-picky.

The epilogue, well I do love me a perfect HEA and I can assure you that this one is one great big gooey lovefest.

I felt the need to make mention of the barely legal MC and the copious amounts of tears because there’s nothing I hate more than being blindsided by one of my pet hates in a book I’m in the middle of and, like I said, I’m aware that many readers would list those two things amongst their pet hates. They’re not issues that I have but I like to be fair, even though this book has lead me straight to the house of Mari Evans worship. I really hope this new author has another story up her sleeve because I’ll be first in line to read it and as for this book, I’m throwing every possible star right at it.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon