Reviewed by Roberta
TITLE: Mending Him
AUTHOR: Summer Devon & Bonnie Dee
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
As his world collapses, love opens his heart.
Robbie Grayson has always felt like a bit of an outsider in the Chester family, though he’s related by blood. An orphan taken in at a young age, he is further set apart by a limp inflicted by a childhood illness.
Nevertheless, he’s content enough with his quiet country life—until a mercurial wastrel named Charles Worthington explodes into it. And Robbie is assigned to play nursemaid to an invalid with an attitude.
Injured in a carriage accident, Charles arrives at the Chester estate drunk as a lord and with empty pockets. Despair consumes him as his broken body slowly heals, but the kindness of quiet, thoughtful Robbie saves him from drowning in self-pity.
Over chess matches and conversation, these polar opposites challenge each other to break out of old patterns, until desire burns through the thin veneer of pure friendship. Yet their passion could destroy the family bonds they value so highly. Especially when someone catches wind of their relationship—and threatens blackmail.
REVIEW:
This story is a sweet, tender love story that made my heart smile while I read it. Two young men in 1884 County Durham, England.
Robbie Grayson is this really sweet, kind, giving man who was orphaned as a youngster and was sent to live with his Aunt Lenore and her family. He’s always been welcomed and yet he has always felt not quite family. They depend on him as famiy-ish and yet, as he lives there and works there, they have no qualms about using him for any and everything. Robbie has known that he’s attracted to men, but knowing his family and the time in which he lives in, Robbie knows that there is no way to have that happen. He wishes he was “normal” in order to have the life that everyone else has without fear. Robbie is just this wonderful character who wants to be free and yet, when he left before, he was sent back after getting the flu and decides that he’s not qualified to leave home. When Robbie was younger, he got polio and he now walks with a limp and doesn’t feel that he’s good enough for anything but working behind the scenes and doing the jobs that are thrown his way.
Charles Worthington on the other hand is this guy who has had this wonderfully fun-filled, extravagant life that he’s sad to see go away. Charles has a bit of a gambling problem that has left him homeless and in need of help from his family. Charles had been experiencing dizziness and weakness and was in a carriage accident that put him in a wheelchair. Charles is about to embark on the journey of his life. Charles has had the life of leisure and now he’s penniless and homeless and broken. He’s in the need of reevaluating his life. He has the chance to meet Robbie and see something he really wants. Something that will help him become a better man.
The secondary characters in this story are actually really well researched in the way that they behave. Gemma and Bertie, the youngest children of Phillip and Lenore. Lenore is related to Robbie as his Aunt. Phillip is related to Charles via being cousins. Lenore and Phillip have an older son, Samuel who has gone off to university and a tour of Europe before he comes home to be the heir-apparent to the family. Samuel is the typical graduate from university that believes that he’s better than his beginnings and wants more out of life. He wants to have the life that his university friends have and is upset that he has to come home to the country to live and work.
There was a bit of sex in this story, however, I will say that the intimate scenes were really tastefully done. Every time that our MC’s got together, is was so sweet and tender and it was beautiful to see them fall more in love with each other. The way that they expressed their growing feelings for each other was really sweet to watch.
This was such a great story. I loved seeing these two men who both have come a long way in the own ways, to find the one who loves and accepts them for the wonderful person that they are. It was such a wonderful love story. These two guys made falling in love a tender thing. Filled with lots of emotions and beauty.
Overall, this was a really wonderful story. I’m not a fan of historical stories, however, I will say that this book was so sweet and wonderful that I fell in love with it. This book was such a great story and I really fell into the story and the love affair between the Robbie and Charles. So, sit back and enjoy watching two young men fall in love with each other.
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