Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Rescued

AUTHOR: Felice Stevens

PUBLISHER: Loose ID

LENGTH: 212 Pages

BLURB:

Ryder Daniels has spent the last year recovering from rejection: his parents couldn’t accept his sexuality and his lover chose drugs over his love. The only bright lights in his life are his younger brother and his rescued pit bull. But now his mother’s punishment for his lifestyle has cut him off from his brother he loves so deeply. Devastated, he throws himself into the work of the Pit Bull Foundation he and his friends started.

Jason Mallory can no longer hide the dissatisfaction of his relationship with his longtime girlfriend. When her marriage ultimatum pushes him to break things off, he’s determined not to jump into the dating scene. But when a group of injured pit bulls are found on his construction site, he can’t forget the guy who shows up to help.

After Jason adopts one of the dogs, he and Ryder become fast friends—until one night, Ryder lets down his guard and Jason recognizes his desire. Soon, they can’t deny the passion between them but will family differences and ugly prejudices keep them apart, or can they fight to prove that love is precious, no matter the flavor?

REVIEW:

I’m going to start my review the same way the author starts the book and that’s with the dedication.

To all the fur babies in rescues and shelters…hang on. Your forever home is out there.

Seriously? Getting me all emotional before I’ve even begun reading the book? Even for me, the queen of tearing up and sobbing it out, I think that must be some kind of record.

Rescue Me is a canine shelter that specializes in the rescue of abused pit bulls that have been used for fighting or as bait dogs. Ryder Daniels gave up his job at a prestigious law firm in order to volunteer at the shelter fulltime and now the only law he practices is on behalf of the abused dogs that they save. But although he finds satisfaction in his work and despite the love he receives from his best friends and his dog, Pearl, Ryder is a little bit lonely and exceedingly sad. He has a history of rather disastrous relationships and his parents want nothing to do with him unless he’s prepared to renounce his “gay ways”. At least his best friends and younger brother have always been there to support him but now his homophobic parents have taken his brother away from him too. From the instant he meets Jason, while rescuing dogs from Jason’s construction site, Ryder is insanely attracted to the man but lusting after a straight guy would just lead to further heartbreak so instead he happily accepts Jason’s offer of friendship.

Jason Mallory has just come out of a pretty shitty relationship (with a woman) and isn’t interested in finding someone to fill that space. The construction company he started with his brother is just taking off and he intends on focusing his energy into work. However, when he meets Ryder he finds himself questioning if the trouble with his rather lackluster sex life could be that he’s been pursuing the wrong gender? Handily for Jason one of the dogs that Ryder saves from his work site is an adorable puppy that Jason instantly falls in love with. Adopting Trouper and becoming friends with Ryder allows Jason the opportunity to think through his attraction before making a move on the other man.

Oh how much did I love this story! Honestly, it isn’t perfect, but my only real criticism is that it wasn’t always clear to me which character was speaking. Although seriously, considering this is the first published book by Felice Stevens I think she did an absolutely brilliant job.

I enjoyed all of the characters, especially the four-legged stars of the book. While I loved Ryder and Jason together, and trust me there are some scorchingly sexy moments between them, my favourite relationship in this book is between Ryder and his brother Landon. The way the two brothers battle to see each other despite the wicked attempts of their mother to keep the apart is just humbling really because in my case, I kind of take for granted that my family is just there if I want to see them. And I guess it’s good to be reminded every now and again that not everyone has that option.

I also like that, for once, we have a character who isn’t scared to say that he’s gay once he comes to that realization. Usually a closeted character will agonize over telling his family that he’s gay, no matter how they end up taking the news in the end. But from the moment Jason decides that a relationship with Ryder is what he wants, he doesn’t doubt for a moment that his family will support him.

The ending is just perfect. A little too perfect? Well, maybe, I know some readers complain about things being wrapped up too neatly but I can’t say that I have a problem with it. As long as it’s not completely improbable I love it when the ending is slapped with a big glittery bow. And this story has a HEA to leave a Happily-Ever-After junkie like me exceedingly satisfied.

I can’t wait for Felice Stevens to publish another book because if this is what she produced on her first go, the next one should be at least just as good, right? (Sorry. No pressure Felice!)

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Loose ID

Amazon

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