Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: The Way Things Are
AUTHOR: A.J. Thomas
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 266 pages
BLURB:
A night of drunken confusion at nineteen resulted in Patrick Connelly fathering a child. Determined to be there for his son, Patrick walked away from a sport he loved and forever hid his sexuality. After Patrick’s brutal divorce and a vicious hate crime, his son, Jay, has become obsessed with graffiti. Hoping for a fresh start, Patrick moves Jay to his childhood home in Seattle. Within two weeks, Jay is arrested again. On his way to pick Jay up, Patrick stops an assault, then finds himself in handcuffs too. Thinking things can’t get any worse, he’s confronted by the sexiest man he’s ever seen—his son’s new probation officer, Ken Atkins.
The hardest part of Ken’s job is working with difficult parents, and the undeniably handsome Patrick Connelly is going to be a difficult parent. A chance encounter and steamy hookup with Patrick leave Ken blindsided. As they work together to try to keep Jay on the right path, the passion between them proves impossible to resist. When the assault Patrick prevented comes back to haunt them and Jay gets into trouble again, Ken must convince Patrick that ensuring his son’s happiness doesn’t have to mean sacrificing his own.
REVIEW:
“Thinking about you is like that. It’s like falling all the time, but never having to worry about hitting the ground.”
This book was not what I expected, at all. I wasn’t prepared for what an amazing father Patrick turned out to be. I wasn’t prepared for how damaged Jay is and the fact that he isn’t a juvenile delinquent who just likes to damage other people’s things. He has problems and a heart the size of Texas. I wasn’t prepared for how much I loved these two men together and how much I really wanted them to find happiness.
Patrick Connelly could tell you a thing or two about mistakes. He’s known he was gay for most of his life and while he’s not ashamed of it he hasn’t shouted it from the rooftops either. One night in his teens he got drunk made a huge mistake and got a girl pregnant. Never one to shy away from his responsibilities, Pat chooses to do the right thing and marrying his baby’s mother. Unfortunately he feels in order to be a good father he needs to give up his passion for boxing and get a steady job. Unable to curb his desires for men he cheats and lies to his wife constantly. When it all comes to a head they end up divorcing, resentment and anger turn his wife into a monster and she ends up allowing her son to be beaten by her new boyfriend. In the aftermath, Pat gets full custody of his son Jay and they move to Washington State, for a new start.
Jay, however, has internal scars from what happened to him years ago by his mother’s boyfriend. His therapy, his medication is art. It calms him and in his mind, it’s healing him, allowing him to get out some of the bad stuff that is stuck inside. Unfortunately Jay uses walls and other people’s property as his canvases and has had his share of trouble with the law.
Ken Atkins is assigned as Jay’s new juvenile parole officer in Washington. Ken knows a thing or two about hard knocks. He and his brothers were viciously abused by their biological father when they were kids so he takes his job very seriously. He’s good at working with juveniles so when he gets assigned to Jay’s case he isn’t prepared for the undeniable pull he has towards Jay’s dad, Pat.
One drunken night Ken gives into his fierce attraction and sleeps with Pat, but he immediately regrets it because it’s unethical to have a relationship with one of his kid’s parents. Ken backs way off but the attraction, the pull is still very strong between them.
I absolutely loved these two together. They were smoking hot, caring, sweet, and just good…damn good. I also loved A.J. Thomas’s writing style. It flowed so well and had me invested from just the first few pages.
There’s also some murder mystery, human trafficking, family drama, and youthful angst thrown in for good measure.
Overall, this book is friggin GREAT! Absolutely recommend!
RATING: 
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