Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: The Bucket List
AUTHOR: R. J. Scott
PUBLISHER: Love Lane Books
LENGTH: 42,000 words
BLURB:
When Andrew Craig dies, he leaves his brother Jason a list of places that he wanted to visit but couldn’t. Attending a school reunion, London, Stonehenge, these are all on the list and Jason is determined to cross everything off and work through his grief at the same time.
Closeted soap actor Mark Wesley is shocked when a blast from the past looks him up, and devastated when he realizes he will never have a chance to make things right.
Together Jason and Mark agree to work on the list. But what happens when Jason and Mark grow closer, when passion and even love begins to grow?
Was this what Andrew wanted to happen all along between his brother and his friend?
NB: Originally a short unfinished blog story, readers of RJ’s blog insisted the story be expanded and finished and she listened to them. With twenty five thousand words added, expansion of the story line, and more scenes set in the UK, this story is very different to how it began.
REVIEW:
What a sweet story of healing and love….
Jason Craig’s brother Andrew dies, and leaves Jason with a to-do list. First on that list is to find Andrew’s childhood friend, Mark Wesley, now a soap opera actor living in LA, a days drive away from the podunk town they lived in as kids. Jason finds Mark, tells him about Andrew and his wish that Mark attends their high school reunion, which Mark reluctantly agrees to attend. High school was not a happy place for Mark, mostly due to the bullying of Ted (the asshole!). Going back to the town of his teenage drama and trauma is not high on Marks list of things to do, but he feels he owes it to Andrew’s memory, so he goes…
Returning to Cooper’s Yard starts off bad for Mark, the reunion goes about as he expected it to, a confrontation with Ted (the ASSHOLE!) occurs almost immediately. But he also gets to meet Andrew’s wife and child, and spend time with Jason. This actually starts off a nice little journey for the two men, as you can guess, Andrew left a bucket list of things he wanted to do, asking Jason and Mark to do them instead. I won’t say anymore than that, this is a short story and a contained plot, so I don’t want to give more away than I have to. I will say the ending was wonderful, for Jason and Mark, as well as some other people who I can’t mention!
So the two men spend time together, travel, and mark off a couple of the things on Andrew’s list. Mark eventually explains why he left Cooper’s Yard so fast, Jason grieves Andrew, and we get a nice, gentle love story. The plot is simple but very well done, the characters have a lot too them for it being a relatively short story. There is history here, of love and pain during the rough teen years for both of these men. I got a little teary eyed now and then, as they go through this process. RJ packed a lot in to a small space and I liked it all. A little plot, a little sex, a little travel, a little grief, and a little healing. She uses a delicate touch, giving us just enough drama from the past to keep in interesting, and some grief over Andrew’s death, but it didn’t get mopy. I liked it very much!
Oh yes… That cover? Hello! So pretty!
RATING: 
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