REVIEWED BY CINDY
TITLE: Damaged
AUTHOR: Noah Willoughby
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 81 Pages
RELEASE DATE: June 26, 2016
Blurb:
On a seemingly ordinary night, Tom Otso’s life changes forever when he is ambushed, attacked and left for dead. Though he survives the ordeal, Tom finds out at the hospital that the gravity of his injuries has left him permanently disabled.
Eric Kontio is a physical therapist who is assigned to Tom’s case to help rehabilitate and adapt Tom to his new way of living. In helping people for over 20 years, Eric has never met anyone with such an incredible spirit and positive attitude as Tom. Eric becomes infatuated with him and marvels at his incredible progress.
Being together every day, the two men grow closer as friends, but things become complicated by Tom’s jealous and moody boyfriend, Adrian, and Eric’s professionalism being doubted by his superior. When the true feelings of both men come to the surface, so do their painful pasts which could make or break their relationship
Review:
When I first started this book, I had a hard time getting into it, but once I did, I had to see how it finished.
Tom is a sweet man who may not have always been the perfect human being, but he doesn’t deserve what fate has handed to him. But, he finds a way to overcome the obstacles in his life with a great showing of spirit.
Eric just wants to help people. Inspired by a friend who didn’t get the help he needed, he does everything in his power to make sure that no one he meets gets lost by the wayside again.
These two men are kindred souls who realise that life isn’t always perfect, but there are perfect moments.
I liked this story a lot. I’m not a doctor so I can’t testify as to how medically accurate it is, but if you just go with it, it works in all the right places.
I would have liked a little more fleshing out of the “coming together” part of the story though. A little more waiting, a little more angst when Tom disappears. I shed a few tears over this man, and how he sees himself because I think we all can be a little self-depreciating at times.
And Eric’s struggle to be true to himself and find his way to Tom is wonderfully written and it made me appreciate how hard it must be sometimes to be a caregiver and try to maintain that professional distance at all times.
The side characters in this story are totally just plot devices. Tom’s “boyfriend” is the typical, self-involved douchebag who doesn’t really want Tom for himself once he’s not physically perfect, but becomes a jealous ass when he thinks someone else might want him. I wanted to punch him on more than one occasion as I read.
All in all, the book is good. Characters I like, a premise that’s interesting and decent writing. My only real complaint is probably a personal one but I like to be teased a little more. I knew they’d have their happily-ever-after, but I wanted them to have to work at it a little more. I enjoy this author’s writing style and I hope I get to read more from him soon.
Rating: 
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