Reviewed by Nikyta

TITLE: Malachi’s Word
SERIES: The Bar Next Door #1
AUTHOR: Lissa Matthews
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 50 pages
BLURB: Drunken confessions. Sobering friendship. And two cowboys gambling on love…

Could he love me? Malachi has wanted to know the answer since his best friend, Daniel, confessed to being gay. He has never forgotten that long-ago conversation, or the secret hope that another confession would follow: that Daniel is in love with him.

Daniel is—and always has been—in love with Malachi. But how is he supposed to share that information without risking the only friendship that has ever mattered to him? He couldn’t handle it if he were kicked out of Malachi’s life. The best Daniel could do was move home to Texas, buy a little rundown ranch to work outside Austin, and visit the watering hole where Malachi tends bar.

Malachi knows that something heavy is riding his friend and he’s tired of watching Daniel’s downward spiral of too much beer and too many meaningless flings. Enough is enough.

Except, when he gets Daniel home and some strong coffee down his gullet, the truth comes pouring out. A truth that nearly knocks Malachi out of his boots.

Courage like that doesn’t come easy…and Malachi can only pray his answer is enough to turn lifelong friends into forever lovers.

REVIEW:

Danny and Malachi have been best friends ever since they can remember. From growing up to coming out, they’ve always been each other’s rock. But best friends is all they’ve ever been even though their feelings have gotten more intense, they’re afraid to lose one another if they confess their true desires. When Danny starts to spiral out of control with booze and twinks, Malachi’s had enough. He might not want to lose Danny over confessing his love but he won’t lose Danny to alcohol either. So when Malachi pushes Danny too hard will he be able to embrace what Danny has to tell him or will he screw everything up before he even has a chance to fully love Danny?

This story kind of made me sad. Danny is trying to cope with his growing feelings for Malachi through mistakes while Malachi is standing on the sidelines watching it all happen. I found Malachi to be a quiet presence. He didn’t really have much to say but he’s supportive of Danny and takes care of him. He’s also very stubborn and he doesn’t have issues stating his opinions. His love for Danny is very obvious even if Danny can’t see it himself. Danny is kind of pitiful. He doesn’t want Malachi to know his feelings so he drinks himself drunk every night and takes men home even when they aren’t satisfying. I found both men needed a good smacking and I’m glad that Eli, Malachi’s best friend, finally did it (more or less) but I won’t deny that I still enjoyed their struggles to confessing their feelings.

I actually really liked this book but because of its length, there’s not a lot of depth to the story. You briefly get background on both Malachi and Danny but by the end, I still felt like I didn’t know either character. Their love is more told than shown so I didn’t feel this connection they had. One of my biggest problems, though, was that I wanted to smack Malachi upside the head. He pushed and pushed and pushed Danny to pull his head out of his ass and tell Malachi why he was so depressed but when Danny finally does, Malachi’s actions made it seem like what Danny tells him almost disgusts him, which I found really sad because poor Danny thought he was losing his best friend! I just found Malachi’s actions contradictory to how Malachi acts in the rest of the book.

In the end, I liked the story because it is a quick, cute read and I have a weakness for best friends yearning for each other. I would have really liked to have this expanded and fleshed out more because I think with a little more meat and character depth, it could be a really good story.

Nikyta rates it –

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