Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: A Spirit Without Borders 
SERIES: Without Borders #2
AUTHOR: Andrew Grey
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
Dillon McDowell, an infectious disease specialist, jumps at the opportunity to work with Doctors Without Borders in Liberia. But when he arrives, things are very different than he expected, and he’s out of his depth. Will Scarlet takes him under his wing and helps him adjust. A hint of normalcy comes when a group of local boys invite Dillon to play soccer.
Will’s family rejected him for being gay, and he’s closed off his heart. Even though meeting Dillon opens him to the possibility of love, he’s wary. They come from different worlds, and Will plans to volunteer for another stint overseas. But Will realizes what Dillon means to him when Dillon becomes ill, and they can no longer deny their feelings.
When Dillon’s soccer friends lose their parents and aunt to disease, Will and Dillon must work together to ensure that the boys aren’t cast adrift in a society that’s afraid they might be contagious. They must also decide if their feelings are real or just the result of proximity and hardship.
*Sequel to A Heart Without Borders
REVIEW:
This story is about contrasts for me. The contrasts between the lives of Dillon and Will as far as their family backgrounds and financial backgrounds. The contrast between Dillon’s perfect life at home and his temporary life in Liberia. Then the contrast between the lives of the people Dillon and Will are there to help, and the lives of the average American.
Dillon is the son of a wealthy family, it seems he has everything he needs. Two parents, a great education, and a job doing what he loves at a hospital he likes. But he has issues. No boyfriend, his parents are cold and distant and aren’t thrilled about his sexuality, and he’s kind of a jerk at work. He doesn’t seem to have any friends or connections. His boss strongly suggests he take a job offer from Doctor’s Without Borders and off poor little rich boy Dillon goes to Liberia.
Will has some differences, he comes from a poor family, was totally not accepted for his sexuality, but did manage to get an education and is a doctor. He has no connections to family, and like Dillon appears to have no friends, he’s also a bit of a jerk. But he’s spent many years traveling to countries that need medical help. He’s been in Liberia for some time, he managed to get Ebola and recovered, making him the perfect doctor to work with patients since he can’t contract it again.
So Dillon meets Will when he arrives at the hospital he’ll be working at, and ends up rooming with him. The two do NOT hit it off immediately, Will is an ass to Dillon and Dillon responds in kind. It’s a rough start for Dillon, hot and no air conditioning, lousy accommodations, boring food, and his roommate is a jerk. But he is helping people. Maybe not as he had thought he would be, but he is helping. He’s also making connections to humans. He meets some local boys and befriends them, helping as they lose their parents. He seems more hands on with the patients and staff than he may have been in his home hospital. And he does figure out how to work with and live with Will. Will becomes less of a jerk as the story progresses, and the two do develop feelings and eventually a relationship.
I bonded with Dillon pretty quickly and I liked him just fine. I liked him coming from a rich background and ending up working in such poor conditions. He does go through a nice transition in this story, and I liked where his character ended up. Will was a hard for me to get in to. He’s not nice for a long time, eventually he gets there, but it was too late for me by that point. I didn’t like him, and I became a bit defensive on Dillon’s behalf! It was probably 75% in to the book before I decided maybe he was ok. I’m also a big fan of drama, and I think this story could have used a little more drama. There is some, in the boys that Dillon befriends, and a health scare, but even with those issues it felt a little too easy for me. I liked the local boys, they added a lot to the story. At one point I thought something was going to happen with them that was VERY similar to a plot point in the first Without Borders book and was quite happy to see it didn’t go that way.
This was a good, basic story. I liked the contrasts between characters and lives. There wasn’t anything wrong with it, I liked it, but….. Andrew Grey has written lots of books like this one. Decent plots, good characters, and a happy ending. I’ve said before that his books are like watching a favorite comfort movie. Easy to watch, predictable, but enjoyable. Every once in a while he writes a book that really catches me, that grabs my heart, gets my attention. This wasn’t one of those for me, good certainly, but not great.
If you are a fan of Andrew Grey, you’ll probably like this one just fine. If you are looking for a light read (yes, I know, it has EBOLA in it) with a happy ending, give this one a try. If you are looking for angst, drama, or lots of action, this may not be your best choice.
RATING: 
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