REVIEWED by Jen B.

TITLE: Trust Me

AUTHOR:  J.P. Bowie

PUBLISHER:  MLR Press

LENGTH:   170 Pages

RELEASE DATE:  January 19, 2017

BLURB: 

Scott Riley is living with a terrible secret — one he dares not share with his family or friends. Who can he turn to… who can he trust?

After losing his job because of one man’s actions and lies, Scott Riley is desperately seeking employment. A rape victim, he feels shame, humiliation and a deep seated anger that he cannot bring his attacker to justice because of what he thinks it might do to his parents. Rather than have them live with the knowledge of what happened to their only son, he does everything in his power to spare them, even at a cost to his own happiness.

When Ross Nelson offers Scott a position in his software company, Scott feels that this change in his luck may prove to be the turning point where he can put his painful memories behind him. Although aware of the obstacles inherent in an office romance, Scott and Ross soon find themselves irresistibly drawn to one another. But Scott’s nemesis refuses to stop tormenting him with texts and phone messages, some obscene, others that contain threats and derision.

Can the lovers overcome the ravings of a deranged stalker, or will they be torn apart by the clear and present danger this man represents?

Scott is trying to put his life back together after he was attacked and raped by a man, Elliot, at his previous job.  When Elliot was able to turn things around against Scott, and their superior believed Elliot over Scott, Scott walked off the job.  Scott never took any action beyond that hoping to shield his parents from the knowledge.  After a month or so of recovering and trying to move on, Scott is searching for a new job when he gets an interview at Ross Nelson’s company.

Ross decides pretty much right away to hire Scott and is even more convinced he wants to help him after Scott opens up about what happened to cause the departure from his previous position.  Unfortunately, the Elliot problem has not gone away and is, in fact, intensifying.

This was a really sweet story in one sense with Scott finding a new life and love with Ross (and his Company).  It does a good job dealing with the important issue of male rape, the availability of counseling (though Scott never seeks any), and the aspect of men (and women) not reporting the crimes for various reasons.  On the other hand, the stalker issue was a bit too over the top to be believable for me, as was the issue of Scott (who had yet to confide in anyone at this point) confiding all to Ross within a day of meeting him.  Things happen very quickly for these two, though there are events that help push them in those directions.  If you’re a fan of instalove, this was a pretty classic case.

There were some aspects I wish had been a bit more detailed, such as Scott finding it difficult to handle people touching him.  Given his rape and ensuing trauma, I had expected him to have had more of a struggle with intimacy at the very least, yet he jumps right in with Ross.

But, all in all, this was a sweet afternoon delight with a side of crazy stalker.  It has a lovely HEA when they finally get the Elliot issue under control.  Scott’s family is fabulous, as are his new coworkers, and I definitely would mind seeing another story about Darren and Jack and their budding romance!