Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: There’s This Guy
AUTHOR: Rhys Ford
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 220 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 17th, 2017
BLURB:
How do you save a drowning man when that drowning man is you?
Jake Moore’s world fits too tightly around him. Every penny he makes as a welder goes to care for his dying father, an abusive, controlling man who’s the only family Jake has left. Because of a promise to his dead mother, Jake resists his desire for other men, but it leaves him consumed by darkness.
It takes all of Dallas Yates’s imagination to see the possibilities in the fatigued Art Deco building on the WeHo’s outskirts, but what seals the deal is a shy smile from the handsome metal worker across the street. Their friendship deepens while Dallas peels back the hardened layers strangling Jake’s soul. It’s easy to love the artistic, sweet man hidden behind Jake’s shattered exterior, but Dallas knows Jake needs to first learn to love himself.
When Jake’s world crumbles, he reaches for Dallas, the man he’s learned to lean on. It’s only a matter of time before he’s left to drift in a life he never wanted to lead and while he wants more, Jake’s past haunts him, making him doubt he’s worth the love Dallas is so desperate to give him.
REVIEW:
It took me some time to come up with this review and also a fair rating. Without a doubt the writing in this story is amazing even though I felt like it was trying too hard at times. I liked how this author took Jake, a broken man, and focused more of the story on him growing strong lasting friendships around himself before working on romantic entanglements. In this story it was very obvious Jake needed a strong foundation and support system before he could put any emotion into loving someone else. This book really took it out of me emotionally and usually I’m good with that because usually I’ll get more back from the high-emotion books. This one took a lot out of me and just kept on taking. For me, even though the connection between Jake and Dallas was strong from basically the beginning I figured out early on as a reader I needed more from them on the romance side of things(even though I knew Jake wasn’t anywhere close to being ready for that.) My mind and heart just needed more.
Jake Moore lived his whole childhood in pain, fear, and suffering. Years of physical and emotional abuse by his father has taken its toll. Now, as an adult Jake struggles every day. One thing he knows he absolutely cannot be is gay. So he knows the emotions that Dallas Yates stirs in him must be ignored.
Business owner Dallas Yates is immediately enamored with the welder across the street from the building he’s renovating. Commissioning Jake to work in the building proves beneficial because they immediately form a strong bond and a friendship grows. One thing that quite obvious to Dallas is that Jake is hurting, he’s in pain and he’s already been at the receiving end of caring for a broken man, he doesn’t think he can do it again. But Jake seems worth it.
The majority of this story is Jake battling his demons. His father is despicable but Jake feels an obligation to be there for him during his final days. Also, Jake finally being able to accept the parts of himself he has denied for so long. This is a story of going through the worst and coming out the other end scarred, broken but hopeful.
I want to stress that even though I struggled with parts of this story, personally I do think it is a good story.
I didn’t really understand the need for the “dead guy” but it was interesting I just think this story had enough emotion without having to throw that extra layer in there as well.
Overall this was good…didn’t love it and I didn’t hate it.
RATING: 
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