Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Coming Home
SERIES: Rock Bay #1
AUTHOR: M.J. O’Shea
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 230 Pages
BLURB:
Tallis Carrington ruled Rock Bay with his gang of jocks and an iron fist-until a scandal destroyed his family’s name. Ten years later Tallis is dead broke, newly homeless, and on the walk of shame to end all walks of shame. He needs money and needs it fast, and Rock Bay is the only home he knows. But the people of Rock Bay haven’t forgotten him-or the spoiled brat he used to be. The only person in town willing to overlook his past is Lex, the new coffee shop owner, who offers Tally a job even though he appears to despise Tally based on his reputation alone. When Tally discovers his gorgeous boss is the kid he tortured back in high school, Lex’s hot and cold routine finally makes sense. Now Tally has to pull out all the stops to prove he was never really the jerk he seemed to be. After all, if he can win Lex’s heart, the rest of the town should be a piece of coffee cake.
REVIEW:
M.J. O’Shea is one of those authors whose books I just know I’m going to enjoy even before I start reading them and the Rock Bay books are right up there as one of my favourite m/m series. When we chose to spotlight books with a restaurant/café theme this month I figured I could sneakily stretch that to include coffee shops because according to some people, coffee is more important than food anyway.
So, welcome to Rock Bay home to Lex Barry, owner of The Rock Bay Coffee and Sandwich Company. Lex has lived there all his life and is kind of viewed as the town’s token gay man. Although most people are friendly and he doesn’t lack for business he is also the target of homophobic bullies and has trouble finding staff. Apparently, as a gay man, he’s not to be trusted with teenagers. When Tallis Carrington, who was the worst of Lex’s bullies back in high school, wanders into the coffee shop looking for a job, Lex shocks himself by hiring the man.
Tally never wanted to return to Rock Bay but when he finds himself jobless and homeless the only person he has to turn to is his Grandmother. He figures he only needs to stay in town long enough to save up some money and then he can head back into the city where nobody knows about his embarrassing past. But nobody is willing to forgive and forget his assholish teenage behavior, nobody is willing to believe that he’s not that person anymore and maybe never really was. The coffee shop is his last hope and luckily he manages to convince Lex to give him a job. What he can’t understand is why the gorgeous shop owner seems to dislike him so much. Because as far as Tally knows, they’ve never even met before.
This book is my favourite from the three book series. I love both Lex and Tally as the former bully and his victim find themselves falling for each other. And okay, their names don’t hurt either. I’m pretty sure they’re the cutest names I’ve ever come across that haven’t been used as “cutesy twink names”. The way Lex behaves around Tally I thought was really believable. He finds himself attracted to Tally but then gets annoyed and angry with himself and Tally when he remembers the things that Tally use to say and do to him at school. Actually even I found it hard to forgive Tally when Lex recalls some of the worst things the bullies did to him.
The sex scenes are written into the story just the way I like them. Not too many but what is included is hot hot hot. Considering the number of sex scenes I’ve read my way through, that this book has two scenes that have stuck in my head since the first time I read it says to me that the author did a fab job. The first time that the two men go bare is definitely one of my favourites and I also love it when Lex and Tally get their sexy on surrounded by a mess of red velvet cupcakes and cream cheese frosting. Although I can’t promise my fondness for that chapter isn’t due to my love of cupcakes.
What I love most about rereading this series from the beginning is actually something rather random. At the beginning of this first book Lex and his best friend Amy get together for their usual Saturday night dinner. By the end of this book they’ve added Tally and his friend Drew to their dinners and as the series continues more friends are discovered, more relationships form and by the end of the last book there is quite a crowd of good friends who gather for their Saturday night dinners and get-togethers. Looking at it from beginning to end I love that they have grown from just one pair of lonely friends to a close friend circle of closer to ten people.
This sounds like it’s a book that focuses on forgiveness but it’s more about being brave enough to be who you really are and standing up for the people who are important.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Just got this recently, so looking forward even more now!
I love Lex and Tally. Hopefully you enjoy them too! 🙂