Reviewed by Amber
TITLE: Unforgiven
AUTHOR: Ruth Clampett
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 310 Pages
RELEASE DATE: March 9th, 2017
BLURB:
Would you live a lie to hold onto the one you love?
Dean and Jason are best friends, like brothers since boyhood, now architecture students and college roommates. They’ve always had each other’s back, but when one walks in on the other with another man, everything changes. How do you explain to your best friend that he’s the one you’ve always wanted, that until now your life has been a lie?
Desperation and shame are two dirty words that run through Jason’s veins. He carries the scars from a wayward priest who stole his innocence and left him shattered. Meanwhile for years he’s watched Dean pursuing woman after woman, as his own heart slowly breaks.
When their world blows apart, they learn the powerful bond between them has more fire than either understood. Can two broken souls find the light in their darkness and come together to make a whole, or will sins of the past be forever unforgiven?
This standalone is a M/M love story with graphic sex. Trigger warning.
REVIEW:
Whoa…this was super dark and incredibly angsty. I should have realized the past abuse would have played a big factor in the story but I had no idea. Just keep in mind if you pick this one up remember that it does go to some very dark places.
With that said there were certain things that really worked for me but there were also things that didn’t work for me. I really liked Jason and Dean’s friendship. It was amazing. I loved how Dean, no matter what, was there for Jason. Because Jason really needed that, I didn’t realize until well into the story just how broken Jason was.
Jason and Dean have been friends for practically their entire lives. Knowing early on that their career paths aligned they chose their college path together. Now as roommates Jason is fighting harder than ever to hide his feelings for his straight best friend Dean.
Things come to a head as Dean decides to see what can happen between him and Jason not realizing that emotionally Jason is anywhere from ok. I’m going to leave it at that because lots of things happen and it’s a crazy, emotional ride.
There were also some things in the story that just confused me. I’m not sure why the BDSM element was in this story. I didn’t really get that whole thing. I hated how much Jason would jump to the worst conclusions possible when it came to Dean. Ramon was another character who I didn’t quite get. Even knowing how Jason’s mom was I was not prepared for her reaction. But I was equally perplexed by the fact that they still communicated after it was all said and done. I didn’t get it.
Overall, this was well written but just ok for me. Really heavy and maybe I wasn’t in a frame of mind to really enjoy that sort of story.
P.S. The ending was super sweet!
RATING: 
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