Reviewed by Vicki

 

TITLE: Recovery

SERIES: Salvage Stories #2

AUTHOR: Con Riley

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 220

 

BLURB:

Salvage Stories: Book Two

San Diego is a city of second chances for Jamie Carlson. His new career as a photographer is taking off, and with the support of a loving surrogate family, he’s finally putting his party years behind him. The Bailey family helped him solve his drinking problem, but there’s no easy solution to staying sober now that Belle Bailey’s dying. Her last wish is a challenge Jamie can’t overcome without help.

Solving problems is Daniel Priest’s specialty. More than twenty years older than Jamie, he’s successful and experienced. He makes his living resolving corporate crises—but his personal life has been far from perfect. Now that his marriage is over, Daniel’s determined to make up for lost time. One night with Jamie isn’t nearly enough for him.

Daniel’s honest offer of help is more than Jamie expects from a one-time hookup. Even so, fulfilling Belle’s last wish is a tall order. Repairing her damaged family as she requests proves difficult when Jamie has to face his own past as well. Jamie could risk his hard-won recovery by admitting why he hit rock bottom in the first place. If he wants a future with Daniel, he’ll have to address those reasons head-on.

 

REVIEW:

Wow. I tend to write my review as I’m going, I read a couple of chapters, write a bit, read some more, write, etc., then go over and over my review multiple times before I send it in. I just realized I’m 41% in to this book and I haven’t stopped to write at all! It is that good.

 

So here is my review!

 

If you have read Salvage, you’ll remember Jamie. He was the unwitting cause of a mess of trouble for Gabe Cooper and his family. It really wasn’t his fault, but he took the blame on himself and hauled Gabe off to San Diego. Where he proceeded to drink himself in to a mess. He was unofficially adopted and rescued by Alec Bailey and his family. Alec and Belle take Jaime in, sober him up, hook him up with a sponsor, help him get a place to live, and help get his photography career started. It all goes well until Belle develops cancer.  Jamie puts his life on hold to help care for Belle, ostracizing Alec and Belle’s son Owen, whose kind of a jackass. As this book really gets going, Belle is dying, Alec is panicking, Owen is a grumpy bastard, and Grace, (Alec and Belle’s daughter) is hospital bound in LA. Jamie is daily struggling to stay sober. He meets Daniel at a party for Alec’s magazine, and falls purely in lust.

 

Daniel is twenty years Jamie’s senior, a wealthy, successful business man, in the business of crisis management. He deals with an issue at Alec’s party, hangs out for some drinks and meets Jamie. He is immediately attracted to the younger man, but has no clue what a mess he is walking in to. He’s hoping for a night of passion, but realizes quickly that Jamie is different. He sees there’s some drama going on and being a fixer, he wants to help.  Which this family needs is such a bad way. Daniel tries to get close to Jamie in San Diego, but it just a bad time. He keeps in touch, but out of the way, until the Bailey family, including Jamie, end up in LA when Belle asks to be transferred to the same hospital her daughter is in. Jamie reaches out to Daniel, and he responds. As Daniel learns what is happening he steps in, in a way that they all need, not just Jamie. He is so smooth and subtle, helping when needed, backing off when needed. He’s just perfect.

 

I need to talk a little about the plot, but I’ll try not to give too much away. This is a story of redemption. These people all have some issues. Alec is an alcoholic. Jamie is a victim of a crime, and an alcoholic. Grace is pregnant, has no man, and a high risk pregnancy. Owen is a bitter man, angry with his father. Belle is dying. Daniel has an exwife, a daughter, and a bit of drama in his past, but he is the most stable of the bunch. Belle’s wish is for her family to work out their problems, thrive and survive. Jamie and Daniel make that happen. It takes a lot of work, some pushing, some luck, and some loss, but they do all get themselves together. It is an amazing story to watch. I kept forgetting how young Jamie was. His struggle is so hard, his emotions so raw. He wants and needs love, both from the Bailey family and Daniel. But it’s so hard to trust and let it happen. Daniel is just perfect for him. I wanted to be concerned about the twenty year age difference, but I really think Jamie needs someone more mature. I loved Daniel’s patience and steadiness. Just what Jamie, and the others as well, needed.

 

This was a very emotional book for me to read. Not because I could relate to any of it, but it was just so well written I was in there completely. Con Riley MADE me relate to these people. I felt Jamie’s pain and frustration, his desperate desire for a drink. And his stubbornness that he wasn’t going to have one. I cried when he told his story to Daniel, I cried over the Bailey family issues. I cried for Owen and Alec in a good way. I cried at the end cause it was so damn sweet!

 

Read Salvage, then read Recovery. They are both amazing stories. You won’t regret it!

 

RATING:

 

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon