Blurb – Healey Holly is battered, depressed, and looking to go to ground in his childhood home. He wants to rent the garage apartment, but it’s Diego Luz’s place now, and the last thing Diego wants is to share it.

Diego is recovering too — from the accident that put him in a wheelchair and the death of his mother shortly after. The garage apartment is where he’s keeping his mother’s things, and as long as they’re up those stairs and he’s down on the ground, there’s no way he can deal with his loss. And that’s just how he likes it.

Healey believes in science. Diego believes in luck. It will take a blend of both, and some prayer thrown in besides, for these two to learn that it’s the journey and the destination that matters.

Thoughts on writing – One of the things I really wanted to show when it came to Healey and Diego is how easy it is for Healey to throw himself at the experience, how he simply looks at Diego, sees something he likes, and then acts on that impulse. This is not the case for Diego, who has to weigh how much any experience will be worth against how much work it will be.

On the other hand – part of the delight of this novel was letting Diego be terse and say everything my husband tells me most people wouldn’t say out of politeness, while Healey flings himself at Diego in more and more straightforward ways until he wears Diego down.

This story has an HFN ending. I don’t doubt that Healey and Diego have a shot at making their ending an HEA. But I couldn’t in all conscience give them that at the end of what–three weeks? The book is about taking chances, about trying new things. About experimentation, and finding out what you like and doing more of that. It’s about using charm and honesty and love to break down the walls a guy puts up around himself to protect himself, about building trust, and recapturing hope.

Plus, there’s a big glimpse of Nash and Ace and more of the Hell on Wheels gang, so give AWD a spin today!