Reviewed by: Lily
TITLE: Living Again
AUTHOR: Brynn Stein
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
Daniel Larson has walled himself off from any possibility of romance since his lover died violently five years ago in Afghanistan. The same bomb that ended his partner’s life took the lower part of Daniel’s left leg. The only support Daniel has, his Uncle Lawrence, is dead-set against anything homosexual, including Daniel.
Now, a popular language teacher at the local university, Daniel’s suffering from a car accident that broke his one good leg. His uncle, who is much better at throwing money at things than offering emotional support, provides a rented power chair and a private in-home nurse. Unbeknownst to his uncle, the nurse comes in the form of a man named Jonah Thacker.
Instantly attracted, Daniel and Jonah fight their mutual feelings in favor of professionalism. They become friends anyway, and Jonah shares his life with Daniel, including his handicapped son, Ethan. As Jonah and Daniel grow closer, Daniel becomes more involved in Jonah and his son’s lives, even being there for Ethan when his medical conditions worsen. But when Daniel’s uncle finds out the nurse he’s hired is male, he uses all of his resources to keep Jonah and Daniel apart.
REVIEW:
A well-loved language teacher, Daniel had a significant car accident and is now in need of home help. He already lost one leg five years ago in Afghanistan and the other one now is broken on top of the other injuries he sustained. As a result his only living relative who is his uncle hires a private nurse to care for Daniel. Although Daniel and his wealthy uncle are not close to each other, his uncle seems to be ready to help him financially but that is it, nothing more. This seems partly because Daniel’s uncle is homophobic and Daniel is gay. The trouble is Daniel’s private nurse is a gay male, Jonah Thacker.
There is an instant attraction between Jonah and Daniel but Jonah is very mindful of the professional patient/nurse boundaries and also is very focused on looking after his disabled son with significant health issues.
As Jonah and Daniel grow closer to each other, Daniel’s uncle feels more threatened by their closeness, and at the same time Jonah’s son starts to become unwell. As you would suspect, Daniel’s uncle does his best to keep Daniel and Jonah apart but does he succeed? Well you need to read the story to know what happens next.
Let me tell you one thing about this book, I was absolutely captivated by the way this story started! I was instantly caught up in Daniel’s awakening. Wow! What a start! I found myself directly in the story beside Daniel and I even got tearful.
I love how the romance gently developed between Daniel and Jonah. I absolutely loved Jonah’s son who is in fact his nephew. The way he behaved was atypical of his age group, which made him so sweet.
Jonah is a loyal man who works very hard to care for his son and loves what he’s doing as a profession. Is he perfect? Not at all and that is one of the things that I loved about him. This man is fallible and is not afraid of apologising and trying to correct his mistakes. He is no quitter and he’s not an arrogant person. His insecurities are justifiable but he is willing to work on his issues with the right man beside him.
Daniel is just wonderful. He also has insecurities and is still missing his long-term partner who passed away during his army service. He is a kind-hearted man who is loved by his students and also by Jonah and his son. The way he comes out of the closet at his work place was cautious which made so much sense to me.
I thought the writer created believable and lovable characters for the story. The dialogue between Jonah, his son and Daniel was appropriate and complementing the story.
I guess my issue was with the dialogue between Daniel and his uncle. Some parts of the dialogue did not feel realistic enough to complement everything I wrote above. The uncle’s threats at times were too exaggerated for me to see it as believable. I know that I am reading fiction but when a writer creates main characters that are believable and awesome, a character like this uncle stands out too much. It was not so much the actions of the uncle that did not sit well with me but the way he spoke to Daniel. It was a bit too “Hollywoody” or daytime drama to match this story. Saying that, I would still reread this story because I loved the plot, Daniel, Jonah and little Ethan.
RATING: 
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