Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: A Wounded Promise
SERIES: Sam’s Cafe Romances #2
AUTHOR: Ashavan Doyon
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 99 Pages
BLURB:
Having survived one nightmare of a relationship, Justin Tesh thought he’d left the worst behind when he put his ex Peter behind bars. But when his new lover, Russell Pine, explodes in a fit of alcohol-fueled rage, Justin finds himself frozen with a fear he thought he’d long since worked through. While older, more experienced Russ is anxious to put the incident behind them, avoiding personal issues never works, and for Justin, his fear is an open doorway to demons both he and Russ need to confront.
Despite their histories of loss and pain, Russ has faith in the promise of their relationship. But if he can’t heal the wound he’s inflicted on his lover’s heart, he risks losing Justin forever to Peter’s legacy of brutality.
REVIEW:
A Wounded Promise is the third book I’ve read by Ashavan Doyon and so far I’ve loved every one. All of them have had a certain sweetness to them, and I hesitate to use that word because I know it makes a lot of readers turn up their noses, but I really think that it’s the word I need to use. They aren’t syrupy or flowery but I find that, for me at least, the characters have almost an aura of purity about them, even when they’re messed up and falling apart.
Our characters in this story are Justin and Russell, two men who, despite their many issues, became a couple in the first book of this series, The King’s Mate. Justin is a twenty two year old barista. He works at his father’s café, and he shows his interest in Russell, their best customer, by leaving little sketches and notes for him to find. But not only is Russell a customer, he’s also Sam’s (the father’s) best friend and he’s about fifteen years older than Justin. You really do need to read that first book before reading this one. It is the story of how they got together after all, but as well as that we learn a little about both of their exs, and how those men are still affecting their lives.
Book two begins with Russell waking up with one hell of a hangover to find Justin gone. He tries to convince himself that Justin has just left for work for the day but he has vague memories of directing a nasty, drunken tantrum at his boyfriend after Justin accidently damaged a photo of Russell’s deceased husband, Brian. He’s aware that Justin was abused by his former boyfriend, but because Justin doesn’t want to speak about it, Russell doesn’t understand exactly what will trigger bad memories for the younger man.
While nothing about that storyline sounds all that new, the new boyfriend trying to overcome the sins of the ex, there were a few things about this story that made it stand out for me. Firstly, I really felt for both main characters. Usually I find that I’ll identify more with one of them or maybe just choose a favourite and whether I mean to or not I throw my support behind that character. Which means whenever the MCs argue, if my guy doesn’t come out on top, I end up frustrated and, yes unfairly, annoyed with the author. However with this book that didn’t happen. I adored both of these characters and I loved the way they interacted with each other. And strangely enough I loved the acts of domination that just came out of nowhere and became a part of their relationship in a most unexpected way. Ordinarily, that really bugs me. If the story isn’t about that sort of thing, why just toss it in? I think that this is the first book where that has happened and it actually made perfect sense to me. I think that the author explained the reason behind it really well.
But what I really appreciated about this story was the fact that Russell doesn’t suddenly realize that he never really loved Brian. Or that Brian was secretly a bad guy who was cheating on him. There’s no epiphany of – “Justin is really the first man that I’ve ever loved”. Russell loved Brian, and he always will. So often the deceased spouse, who one MC has mourned for years, will be shown to be somehow less than the new love. In this story Russell loves both men equally, but still differently, if that makes sense.
But I do have one complaint. Each time I read one of these Sam’s Cafe Romances books I get a mad craving for a “glazed donut-y thing”. What are these glazed donut-y things and where can I find one? Or even a dozen?
RATING: 
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