Reviewed by Carissa

 

TITLE:  Walk With Me

 

SERIES:  Home #7

 

AUTHOR:  Cardeno C.

 

PUBLISHER:  Dreamspinner Press

 

LENGTH:  224 pages

 

BLURB:  

 

When Eli Block steps into his parents’ living room and sees his childhood crush sitting on the couch, he starts a shameless campaign to seduce the young rabbi. Unfortunately, Seth Cohen barely remembers Eli and he resolutely shuts down all his advances. As a tenuous and then binding friendship forms between the two men, Eli must find a way to move past his unrequited love while still keeping his best friend in his life. Not an easy feat when the same person occupies both roles.

 

Professional, proper Seth is shocked by Eli’s brashness, overt sexuality, and easy defiance of societal norms. But he’s also drawn to the happy, funny, light-filled man. As their friendship deepens over the years, Seth watches Eli mature into a man he admires and respects. But when Seth finds himself longing for what Eli had so easily offered, he has to decide whether he’s willing to veer from his safe life-plan to build a future with Eli.

 

REVIEW:  

 

“The ability to marry brought with it legal rights and responsibilities, emotional relief and joy, and the potential to start an interfamily battle so profound the destruction of the Temple would seem small in comparison.”

 

Eli Block has been infatuated, mesmerized, and focused on Seth Cohen since he first laid eyes on him at age eleven.  Years later, when Eli’s father hires Seth as an assistant Rabbi, Eli figures it is his chance to snag his man.  But Seth is totally (sort-of) and completely (maybe?) straight and  doesn’t know what to do with the brash and enthusiastic advances of the 18 year old man.  Seth likes Eli, sure, but then most people do.  He figures the best he has to offer the young man is his friendship.  And when Eli sees that it will probably come down to friends or nothing, he chooses to be in Seth’s life however, and as whomever, he can.

 

Seth may see all of Eli’s beauty, but he does not know if he can give the man what he needs.  Eli may want Seth, but he may have to cope with never having the love he desires.  When friendship is flavored with want and need, is it possible that they can both find the love they crave?

 

Things I shall now never have within five miles of my (highly unlikely) wedding:

 

1. Animals.      Especially ones prone to defecating, chasing, bleeding, and/or dying      horribly gruesome deaths.
2. Fire.       A room full of pyromaniacs does not mix well with all things hot and      sparky.
3. Tents.      These are dangerous, gravity prone accidents waiting to happen.
4. Children.       Mostly because I find them smelly and annoying.

 

If there is one thing that Walk With Me has taught me, it is that weddings are dangerous and combustible.  They are also only one day in a whole life of love, learning, and scrambling your way through with the person who means the most to you in the world.

 

This story is told (mostly) through a series of weddings that Seth officiates, over the course of several years (um…think it is more than five years, and less than ten…maybe.  I can’t really be asked to do math right now).  The weddings themselves are not the focal point, but more a comical stage to play out the lives of Eli, Seth, and their family and friends.  And everything that can go wrong will go wrong–for the celebration itself, anyways.

 

For Seth and Eli, it is not so much a story of missed connections or wrong choices, but years of growing up and growing in love.  Eli has always been half in love with Seth, but it is not a kind of love that lasts through thick and thin–at least not in the beginning.  And Seth, even when he is no longer sure he’s entirely straight, doesn’t know if his love for his friend is enough of a love for the man.  I really liked how, despite the connection forged early on in their relationship, it takes year for them to reach the point where they are together as a real couple.  And I am not just saying that as a total slow-burn junkie.  And when they finally both fall…well who knew straight-laced, responsible Seth was so playful in bed?  No to mention all his lovely toys…

 

While this book kinda reads like a “what not to do at a wedding if you treasure your life” guidance manual, it was a lot of fun to see all the crazy weddings.  From the gruesome (oh, those poor squirrels) to the wacky (zombies!) to the downright morbidly competitive:

 

“I’m saving it and this entire wedding from pain and horror and screaming. It’s merciful. Like euthanasia for fish.” I caught the fish and started pulling my hand out. “Think of it like fishanasia.”

I dropped the fish into his hands. “How many is that? Do we have more than fifteen?”

“Eli!” Seth hissed. “Dr. Kevorkian didn’t count his kills.”

“That’s only because he didn’t have any competition.”

Seth opened his mouth to respond but was interrupted by Donny’s shout from across the room. “Done! How many did you get?”

 

The only real complaint I have is the three-year time jump, after Eli and Seth finally get together.  I get that is was important to get to the last few weddings (and I wouldn’t have missed the deadfished wedding for anything) but it felt like there was a lot we missed out on in those three years of learning to be a couple.  Would also have loved to see a bit more of hot-and-frisky Seth–but that is probably just my libido speaking.  The switching 1^st person pov, was occasionally confusing as well, but it did not distract me too much.

 

Walk With Me is the last book in Cordeno C.’s Home Series, and I have to say it was a very nice cap on an already great cast of characters, stories, and romances.  While I will miss getting the chance to see more of all these guys, I’ll take comfort in the fact that all I need to do to see them again is click a few buttons on my Kindle.  I really enjoyed this story, and while I fully intend to force my bridesmaids to dress up as Daleks and my groomsmen as Cybermen, I think I’ve learned that it is probably best to leave all non-essential living creatures out of the ceremony.  This book was fun, romantic, and a nice ending to 3 years in the lovely Emile City.

 

RATING:  

 

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