Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Forged in Trust
SERIES: Bay Area Professionals series #4
AUTHOR: Mickie B. Ashling
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
Dr. Ethan Marshall is the young medical student on call the night Tessa Duran murders her husband for abusing her twelve-year-old-son, Rino. Ethan stays in the cubicle while the rape kit is performed and is surprised when the boy resorts to prayers instead of tears.
Despite compelling evidence, Tessa is sent to jail for life. To avoid placing Rino in foster care, their parish priest agrees to raise him. Ethan is touched by Rino’s plight and visits whenever possible, but the connection is broken when the priest and young boy leave the area months later.
Raised by the Dominicans in California, Rino considers joining the order until a romance blossoms with a fellow student. After much soul-searching, he turns his back on everything familiar, and chooses his orientation over his perceived vocation. Upon graduating dental hygiene school, Rino takes a job at the office of Scott Gregory and Robin Kennedy.
Seventeen years have passed since that horrible night in the emergency room. Forty-three-year-old Ethan is now a Dominant in search of a full-time submissive. Twenty-nine-year-old Rino is adrift, longing for someone or something to help him find the serenity he’s lost along the way. As they rekindle their friendship, they realize they might be perfect for each other.
REVIEW:
Forged in Trust is the newest in the Bay Area Professionals series and Ms. Ashling has done it again. She has a way of making me fall in love with her characters through great character development and plot twists.
I was thrilled with the return of my two favorites, Robin and Scott! I really missed these men. This story is another two years later. Susie is the office manager only now and Scott and Robin have meshed well with having Lance as part of their practice and is now a partner. Robin wants to cut back his time and is looking for another dental hygienist to help lighten his load. Enter Rino Duran, a 30-year-old gay man, who is in need of a new job after his last practice he was in was going under. While Robin and Rino have an instant bond, Scott is not so convinced. Scott is currently dealing with major stress in the form of a health scare and is awful to Rino. You can trust that Robin sees the way to turn around his erring sub! His health scare helps introduce Ethan Marshall, Scott’s urologist, back into Rino’s life after a 17-year lapse.
Although she has had an underlying religious story line in most of her series, it comes to the forefront in this book. Rino’s fall from grace, in the eyes of the Catholic Church, because of his sexuality, has been rough on him. His desire to not only become a priest, but to teach religion as well, has been dashed. He is out of the church, and its leadership and directional compass in his life, and had to find a totally different path to follow.
I found the endearing story of both Rino and Ethan touching and poignant. How their lives have been crossed and its profound affect on each was amazing. I have heard that this is not the end of their story or the series and I am looking forward to the next in this wonderful series. I am giving this book an enthusiastic 4.5 stars and a giant thumbs up!
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: