Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: The Book of Daniel
SERIES: St. Nacho’s #4
AUTHOR: Z.A. Maxfield
PUBLISHER: Loose-Id
LENGTH: 178 pages
BLURB:
Daniel Livingston is finally free. He’s come clean about his passionless marriage and moved to St. Nacho’s where he can spend time with his brother. Now he’s ready explore the endless sexual buffet being hot and rich and single has to offer.
The problem is a firefighter named Cameron Rooney who haunts his every waking thought and half his dreams. No doubt about it. Cam is going to require a level of honesty Dan has never before considered, and in order to achieve that, he will have to turn his life inside out. Coming clean to his ex-wife will cost him money, doing right by St. Nacho’s will anger his business partner, and exploring a painful family secret will hurt the one person Dan has sworn to protect.
Cam’s faith in Dan is tested and Dan’s belief in himself is nearly non-existent. In the end, forging a new path could cost him everything or net him the most important score of his life in The Book Of Daniel.
Publisher’s Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: male/male sexual practices.
REVIEW:
I want to start off my saying I love the idea that Amber, one of our Love Bytes reviewers came up with for the January Theme Week. A new year, a new beginning, a fresh start, a story about a chance to start over. A redemption. I thought long and hard about what book would fit that theme, I have to admit to a bit of jealousy when I saw the book another reviewer picked! I looked through my list of read books at Goodreads for ideas and came across the St. Nacho’s series by Z.A. Maxfield. I remembered the St. Nacho’s books as being about a fresh start in a new town for several of the main characters throughout the series, but particularly so for Daniel.
If I remember correctly (It’s been several years since I read this series) we met Daniel first in his brother Jake’s book. Jake is another refugee that is adopted by St. Nacho’s, and his brother is forced to spend some time there after the two men are in a car accident and nearly die. When this book starts, some time had passed since the accident, and Daniel has done some healing physically, but not necessarily emotionally. Daniel is…. well, an asshole. As this book starts, he’s in the middle of a divorce, he’s finally admitted to himself and everyone else that he’s gay, he’s still dealing with some serious damage to his hand from the accident, and he hates St. Nacho’s. But Jake is there, so Daniel is there. He is a bitter, jaded, asshole.
He knows Cameron through Jake and his partner JT, Cameron being a firefighter, JT being an EMT, both at the local fire station. Cam is a big beautiful man, Daniel is very attracted to him, but doesn’t actually like him much. Cam thinks Daniel is a big asshole who throws his money around to solve other people’s issues. Daniel does, but because he really cares and doesn’t know how else to react. This happens several times in this book, Daniel offering money to help with an issue, Cam overreacting and accusing him of throwing money around. Ironically the big drama of the story is caused by Daniel indirectly, and solved by Daniel and his money.
So Daniel and Cam bounce around and off of each other for most of this story. Daniel learns to be a decent human being, partly due to Cam’s influence, partly due to the fact he’s living his life as he should for the first time, and partly due to the folks of St. Nacho’s. They alternate between loving him and hating him, treating him like the asshole he is and trying to understand him. Several times I thought we were at the moment of committment with Daniel and Cam, only to turn the page and see Cam freak out and push Daniel away, or Daniel freak out and pull away. They do have spectacular sex though, even as they can’t seem to decide if they are together or not. There is a big thing that Daniel brings accidentally to St. Nacho’s, but he works hard to fix it, sacrificing everything he holds valuable. It’s also a fresh start family-wise for Daniel and Jake. They come from an abusive family and there is some resolution for them in this story. Oh, and a wedding, also another new start! Daniel is redeemed, Cam is forced to see this evolution and accept Daniel for who he is. Even Bree, Daniels horrid ex-wife goes through a redemption in this story. I still didn’t like her, but she does get better. St. Nacho’s saves another soul.
My only issue with this story, and the reason I didn’t make it a five star rating, is for me personally, I didn’t get to know Cam as well as I wished and I wasn’t as invested in them as a couple as I could have been. It was very much about Daniel and his redemption, with a side story of a romance between Daniel and Cam. There is nothing wrong with that at all, I liked to see Daniel grow, and the love does develop between the two, and I really am not complaining, this is nothing more than an observation of something I missed just a little bit!
I love ZA Maxfield’s writing, she always gives us great characters. I loved the contrast between the damaged Daniel and the loving Cameron. I love the town of St. Nacho and the quirky people that inhabit it. If you haven’t read any of the St. Nacho’s books you really need to, they are all wonderful. Rereading this one make me want to go back and read the others! Her books are always fantastic, and I look forward to more!
RATING: 
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