Reviewed by Danielle

TITLE: Reviewing Life
SERIES: A Review Story #2
AUTHOR: Lara Brukz
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 134 Pages
BLURB: Recovering alcoholic Marshall Ellerbee still grieves the loss of his best friend and lover, Eric. After a year of sobriety, Marshall accepts a new job with the Wellness Center, something else to help him continue cleaning up his life. Things are finally improving when his sponsor has a heart attack. The counselor hired to replace him is none other than Kyle Young, the lost ex’s best friend. Kyle has always hated Marshall, but now they must work together and move past their history. When Marshall saves Eric’s life, Kyle suddenly sees Marshall in a new light. But will romance unsettle Marshall’s hard-won new stability…

REVIEW:

First let me start with saying this was one of the stories I was really looking forward to coming out one day! The first book I read from this author had me absolutely captivated with her portrayal of Cade and Eric, the main characters of “Five Star Review”. So what a great thing to find out it was start of a series.

In this second part of the Review series, we meet Marshall and Kyle, both of whom we know from the first book. Kyle is Eric bests friend and and Marshall we know as Eric his nemesis.

The story will lead you through the life of Marshall. It tells us what happened to him in the past and how he started recovering from his alcohol addiction. It takes us to the point where he is now, working at the centre that helped him get back on track.

It’s at this centre is where Kyle comes back into Marshall’s life. Kyle steps in as a therapist when Seth, Marshall’s sponsor & co- worker from the centre tragically passes away.

There is no denying the immediate attraction between of them but there is a lot of background. Slowly we watch the progress of them getting together and Marshall making amends for things that happened in the past including facing Eric and Cade. The author takes us on a fascinating trip with this story.

What I particularly liked in this story was the re-acquainting with both Eric and Cade. Those two characters touched me deeply with their story and I love how the author wove parts of them into this story.

Marshall and Kyle’s union, when they finally get there, is intense and hot and a real pleasure to read but you almost feel that there is going to happen something. When it does, I noticed that I lost part of the concentration and focus. I had a hard time with how Kyle was handling the situation and although believable, it went far.

What  I do feel is that the end could have been expanded, the reunion was quick and instant and the story ended quite abruptly. Thankfully there is an epilogue but still it would have been nice to have read more.

A very nice surprise and bonus was the re-introduction there of Dane, a medic we met when Eric and Marshall ended up in the hospital in the beginning of the story.

Dane is a fantastic man and a great friend to Marshall, being there when he really needed him.

My hope is that there will be a third review story revolving around him as one of the main characters.

Although I did have some issues with this story, in the end I still give it a solid 4 stars and if you fell in love with the first story and the characters of Eric and Cade like I did, I definitely recommend you to pick up this book and give it a try.

Danielle rates it –

BUY LINKS: Dreamspinner Press

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Danielle is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.

To read all her reviews, click the link: DANIELLE’S REVIEWS
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