Reviewed by Tammy

TITLE: Embrace the Fire

SERIES: Through Hell and Back #3

AUTHOR: Felice Stevens    

PUBLISHER: Loose Id                    

LENGTH: 243 pages

BLURB:

Brandon Gilbert has spent years in hiding, but finally he’s accomplished his dream of working as a public school teacher. When offered the chance to help bullied children, there was no way he could say no. Not to mention that meeting Dr. Tash Weber, the psychiatrist who helps them, a sad yet sexy older man, ignited a spark inside Brandon he’d never had before.

Though five years have passed since the death of his lover, Dr. Sebastian “Tash” Weber has no interest in relationships or love. But young, enigmatic Brandon awakens his heart and his desire. Despite Tash’s best efforts to push him away, Brandon unlocks the passion for life Tash thought he’d lost forever.

Falling in love wasn’t part of the plan for either Brandon or Tash, but neither family disapproval nor self-doubts can stop them from embracing the fire that burns between them. And when Brandon returns home to fight for a future he never imagined possible, he and Tash discover that the one thing worth fighting for has been with them all along.

REVIEW:

Embrace the Fire is the last book in Felice Stevens’ Through Hell and Back Series and you couldn’t ask for a better finish! Embrace the Fire is about Brandon Gilbert, Ash and Lucas’s youngest brother who has been missing for years.

Brandon has had enough of watching his foster father beat up his foster mother and when he’s seventeen years old he beats the bully at his own game, only he believes he has killed him so he runs away to New York to find Lucas. He never realised just how big New York was until he tried to find the one person who meant the most to him. After Brandon gives up trying to find Lucas he focuses on keeping himself safe and if possible fed. One night he is found by his very own guardian angel Gabriel, who has made it his life’s mission to save as many homeless youth as he can.

Seven years later and Brandon has fulfilled his dream of becoming a teacher thanks to his late mentor Gabriel. Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to find Lucas, he still runs Lucas’s name through the computer regularly. Brandon is too afraid to even approach Ash, well he left them and never came back! One of Brandon’s fellow teachers invites him to a meeting about mentoring the neighbourhood kids at a clinic a group of his friends have set up. It’s at this meeting that Brandon meets Dr Sebastian “Tash” Weber.

Tash is twelve years older than Brandon and what he considers to be broken. His heart is still encased in a solid block of guilt because his previous boyfriend preferred to lie about his drug use and his infidelities. He even disappeared for a year when nobody, not even his family knew where he was, when Tash found out he was in hospital he stayed by his side until he passed from AIDS! Tash can’t believe he can actually feel an attraction to Brandon, he thought he was passed all that! Every time they seem to get a bit closer Tash’s guilt kicks in and he pushes Brandon away.

Brandon has his own issues to deal with, finally after so many years apart he has found both Lucas and Ash! When he finds out that Lucas changed his last name he can’t believe he didn’t think of it before. He is absolutely devastated when he learns exactly why Ash disappeared, he can’t believe their foster father raped Ash and none of them knew. It’s a struggle but they do manage to come together as brothers once more and this time they know it’ll truly be forever! They even reunite with their foster mother, the poor woman has been all alone waiting for her boys to come back to her. The three men realise that the abuse they suffered was bad but what their mother suffered was horrific!!

With so much going on it’s a true wonder that Brandon and Tash get their act together and discover that although there is an age difference it doesn’t make any difference to the way they feel about each other. This book is an emotional rollercoaster from the first page to the last one!! I wholeheartedly recommend this book to all serious m/m romance lovers. If you haven’t read the first two books in this series, do yourself a huge favour and buy them so you can read the series in order!!

RATING:  

BUY LINKS: 

Loose Id

Amazon

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