Reviewed by Roberta

TITLE: Destination Wedding!

SERIES: A Brandt & Donnelly Caper, Case File Six

AUTHOR: Xavier Mayne

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 400 Pages

Release Date: January 30, 2017

BLURB:

A Brandt and Donnelly Caper: Case File Six

State troopers Ethan Brandt and Gabriel Donnelly are finally going to get their storybook wedding—sailing on an ocean liner to a castle in the English countryside! But when an Icelandic volcano scrambles flights all over the world, they must find alternate routes to the altar—separately.

Donnelly meets Sandler Birkin, a globetrotting courier who specializes in carrying rare artifacts and diplomatic pouches. He pulls a few strings to get Donnelly to the ship on time and then accompanies him across the Atlantic. Donnelly returns the favor by helping to find Sandler’s long-lost first love, Trevor Hendricks. Trevor’s controlling, homophobic parents have brought him to Europe for a radical treatment to cure him of his homosexuality—and his love for Sandler.

Brandt, meanwhile, finagles his way around the globe with the help of Kerry Mercer, a sales executive whose spirit of adventure leads her to accompany him on his improvised journey. However, sharing hotel rooms with her presents a problem for Brandt who, despite being about to marry a man, still finds her attractive.

Once Brandt and Donnelly are reunited, they band together with Kerry and Sandler to plot Trevor’s rescue. But doing so might mean missing their own wedding.

REVIEW:

Wow, that’s all I have to say…Wow!! I’ve had the pleasure of reading some of Xavier’s books for a while now and I have to say that this book really put me in such a state of feelings that I’m not sure how I’m gonna come down from it. I normally give myself at least a day to marinate on the story that I just read and allow my thoughts to kind of come together in a somewhat semblance of intelligent thought, and yet, with this book…I’m just couldn’t stop myself from at least trying to put my thoughts down.

Now, I’ve read 5 of the 6 Brandt & Donnelly Capers and I’m sad that I missed one. I have to say that I’m really sad that I’ve missed the one before this one as it’s mentioned briefly in this story. However, it’s not needed in order for you to enjoy this story.

This story starts off with Brandt and Donnelly being separated before they are to start their journey to get married. Then things get bad when the boys aren’t going to be able to meet up and travel to their destination wedding together as they planned. This starts off what becomes two men who are deeply in love with one another into two men who were straight when they met lots of time to doubt themselves and what is right for the other person. I have to say that the struggles that these two go thru was absolutely heartbreaking at times and yet, there was ALWAYS the essence of the love that these two feel for each other in their thoughts.

Donnelly struggles with the fact that Brandt is straight and that one day he’ll wake up and realize that he wants to be with a woman, etc. I think that the growth that Donnelly also goes thru with realizing that he’s a gay man who never really looked at himself in the terms of how other gay men perceive him as well as how he perceives himself. To see him on this cruise with Sandler…it was nice to see him open up and truly allow himself to experience the surrounding that he was in. Yet, I love the fact that Donnelly is a good man and even having the thoughts that he had…he stayed true to himself and Brandt.

Brandt…now it was really interesting to see what he was going thru. How hard to actually is to finally stated that you are not, in fact a gay man…but that you are a straight male who has fallen in love with a man. The struggle that Brandt goes thru is actually one that I would have expected him to have had before, but I think the fact that they’ve been together pretty constantly…that he never really had to think about it. Now that he’s alone and with a woman that he likes…well those things have crept up and they need to be dealt with. Brandt as well as his sweetie, Donnelly…is such a good man…I was never worried that he’d get there in the least.

There is a wonderful cast of characters in this story. You get Bryce and Nestor…of course and these two guys…WOW…I TOTALLY LOVE THEM!! They put in a lot of laughter and sexy times. I have to say that Xavier really did a great job with their part in the story. You get Kerry who is traveling with Brandt and Sandler who is traveling with Donnelly. These two characters are really great and are exactly what our boys need in their journey. I have to say that I liked Imre as well. You get to see where he is coming from and this guy…he’s got some shit to deal with. Trevor…now this guy…my heart went out to him. All that he’s suffered from his parents…that just hurts my heart. I know that this stuff can and sometimes does happen…and yet, it just breaks my heart that some people are truly like that. It sucks because…I know that his parents think that what they are doing is right and whatnot…but they never look to see how their actions take a toll on the person that they doing these things too.

This book hit so many feels for me, I can’t even begin to tell you. There is so much going on…not just with our guys, but with the people that they are with. You get so much information and story that it really took it’s toll, like I stated earlier…I just had to start writing to get out some of the thoughts that were percolating around in my head. I like that Xavier didn’t preach, he just gave you food for thought.

Now, before I forget…the sexy times in this book…HAWT!!! They were never gratuitous, but it did move the story along…especially for Bryce and Nestor…HOLY HANNAH…Did It!!

Overall, this is the first 5 Heart book for me for the year…and I’m pretty sure for the last little while…This Book Is So Damn Worth Taking The Time To Read. You Won’t Regret A Single Moment!!

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon