Reviewed by Taylor

TITLE: Northern Star
AUTHOR: Ethan Day
PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press
LENGTH: 249 Pages
BLURB: Deacon Miller never had it all—he never really believed he could. Growing up in a broken home with an alcoholic mother and a revolving door of truly pathetic father figures taught him to keep his expectations low. Now at twenty-seven, on the night before Christmas Eve, his life is turned upside down yet again; his boyfriend has dumped him, he just fled the holiday family reunion from hell, and now to top it all off, a blizzard has left him stranded in an airport hotel.

Steve Steele has spent the better part of his forty-four years living a lie, ignoring his attraction to other men in an attempt to fit into the mold of the man he thought he should be, instead of living life as the man he knew himself to be. Recently divorced after coming home from work one day and coming out to his wife, Steve has floundered over the past year, desperately attempting to wade through the guilt and find the courage to start again.

That’s when a chance meeting in a hotel bar brings two lonely men together… and what should’ve been a one night stand turns into something much more than either one ever expected.

REVIEW:

This is a story of twenty-seven year-old Deacon dealing with a recent break-up and family drama who meets forty-four year-old successful Steve Steele one night at a hotel bar.  There is instant attraction that develops into more, but real life stresses may come between the two’s happily-ever-after.

So I guess I’m in the minority again.  Let me stress, I am normally a HUGE fan of Ethan Day’s books, and his book As You Are is a constant reread for me.  But this book didn’t feel like his normal work, and his signature stamp for me was missing.  I love this author’s humor and the tension he develops between his characters, but I didn’t find this book funny at all and the tension felt like it came from outside sources, which bored me.

The start of Northern Star excited me because I initially found Deacon’s self-deprecating comments relatable and snarky funny in regards to his very recent break-up and holiday family drama.  Steve joined him at the hotel bar and he appeared friendly but sexy and mysterious.  However, from the moment after they slept together very early on in the book; I lost the majority of my interest.

Steve’s mom and ex are jerks…the reader spends much time rehashing how large of jerks they are to others and to Steve.  His sister is pretty generic and I can’t remember her name or what exactly her role in the novel was nor do I care to be honest.  The internal musings went on and on; I was desperate to skim.  I guess my biggest problem, though, is Steve.  I went and read several reviews to see if others noticed what I did and I don’t recall one review that did, so this is MY personal feelings: Steve is a temperamental asshole.  Sorry, he rubbed me the wrong way nonstop.  He was quite a bit older than Deacon and there were several times it read as if he was taking on the father-figure type role chastising Deacon repeatedly…scolding him, acting as if he was an annoying child, even seeming to be controlling/possessive towards him.  I’m not saying he was abusive, just that he didn’t endear himself to me on any level, thus I didn’t care about them as a couple and would have preferred if Deacon had found himself someone else.

But it appears most readers love this and found it sweet and charming with just the right amount of angst.  For me, it was lacking on the usual Day charm.

Taylor rates it –

BUY LINKS: Wilde City Press :: Amazon :: All Romance eBooks

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

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