Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: I Survived Seattle

SERIES: Coming About #1

AUTHOR: J.K. Hogan

PUBLISHER: Wilde City Press

LENGTH: 161 Pages

BLURB:

As if being a deeply closeted gay man living in the South isn’t enough, Justice Crawford also suffers from a crippling anxiety disorder. Flying cross country to be the best man in his best friend’s wedding probably isn’t the best idea, right? Forced back into the closet after being rejected by his family, Justice has given up on the idea of finding acceptance and love. He has allowed his disorder and his troubled past to keep him from taking a chance, but love might just find him where he least expects it… in Seattle.

Sailor and charter boat captain Nic Valentine is still reeling from the unexpected death of his father, when the man of his dreams—literally—falls into his lap. He thinks he’ll never see the man again, but fate has other plans. Nic tries to resist the charms of adorably quirky, nervous Justice, because he has no desire to get tangled up with another closet case. But when life keeps throwing them together, will Nic decide that Justice might be a keeper after all?

REVIEW:

I ended up reviewing this book by accident, and what good fortune that turned out to be. The blog received a request for a review and I somewhat hesitantly agreed to read it, having only a vague recollection of reading the blurb and not being too interested. I have no idea which book I may have been remembering but as luck would have it, it was not I Survived Seattle. This blurb was much more to my taste, it sounded exactly like a book I’d want to read whether I was reviewing it or not.

Firstly, the cover. I absolutely adore it, kudos to whoever came up with the design. It’s one of the best I’ve seen recently.

The story kicks off with the first of several coincidental meetings that continue to throw our MCs together until they finally manage to stick. Justice Crawford is crammed in his tiny plane seat trying hard not to freak the hell out. Well, he’s not trying not to freak, he knows there’s no stopping it, he just needs to delay the freak out long enough to make it to the bathroom where he can lose it in private. Once he finally has the panic under control enough to return to his seat, some serendipitous turbulence sees him tumbling into the lap of fellow passenger, Nic Valentine. And so begins their rather difficult romance.

Why difficult you may ask? Well, Justice has some issues, the least of which is that he has a name that should really only belong to a tough alpha werewolf. Or maybe it was just me that had a problem with his name. His biggest hurdle is that he suffers from severe anxiety and has just agreed to be best man at a friend’s wedding. He doesn’t make things any easier for himself as he secretly starts dating Nic, while too scared to let his friends know that he’s gay.

From Nic’s perspective, dating a closeted man is something he never intended to do again. He’s been there, done that and has the scars to prove it. Nic is almost too good to be true, patient and understanding when faced with Justice’s fears and anxiety. I just kept waiting for Nic to snap and give up on Justice but when he finally does it is at a most inopportune moment.

What happened to the Steampunk themed wedding? I was really looking forward to reading about it. Yes, we get descriptions of what Justice and Nic are wearing but what about the rest of the wedding party? The bride and groom? Is it just the costumes or the decorations too? I just wanted to hear all about it, but I realize that is probably just a personal preference.

My only real negative is the unexpected dramatic events toward the end of the story, beginning with Justice’s trip home to visit his parents. It seemed to me that every event from that point became a touch over the top.

Overall though I really enjoyed this book, which is, if I’m not mistaken, the debut m/m novel for this author. I was rather surprised to find this very mainstream gay romance published through Wilde City, a publisher I tend to associate with everything other than mainstream. No complaint from me though, mainstream is my comfort zone so I devoured this book like a favorite meal.

This is book number one in the series and while I can probably hazard a guess at who one of the main characters in book two will be, I would absolutely squeal with evil joy to discover both MCs were actually introduced in this first book.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Wilde City Press

Amazon

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