Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: Crocus 
SERIES: Bonfires #2
AUTHOR: Amy Lane
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 244 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 17th, 2018
BLURB:
Saying “I love you” doesn’t guarantee peace or a happy ending.
High School Principal “Larx” Larkin was pretty sure he’d hit the jackpot when Deputy Sherriff Aaron George moved in with him, merging their two families as seamlessly as the chaos around them could possibly allow.
But when Larx’s pregnant daughter comes home unexpectedly and two of Larx’s students are put in danger, their tentative beginning comes crashing down around their ears.
Larx thought he was okay with the dangers of Aaron’s job, and Aaron thought he was okay with Larx’s daughter—who is not okay—but when their worst fears are almost realized, it puts their hearts and their lives to the test. Larx and Aaron have never wanted anything as badly as they want a life together. Will they be able to make it work when the world is working hard to keep them apart?
REVIEW:
Oh wow, that was one busy book!
Crocus follows the story of Larx and Aaron as they settle in to life as a couple. Larx is the principal of the local high school, Aaron a Sheriff’s Deputy. Much drama brought them together in the last book, party due to their past relationships and unwillingness to come out and be open about their sexuality. Aaron was married but his wife died, leaving him with three kids. His son is still in high school, and was accepting of his dad’s relationship with Larx. Both daughters are out of the house, one is a royal bitch and was nasty, the other was ok. Larx was also married, but his wife had some serious issues and they divorced. Larx eventually got custody of their two girls. Both of which were fine with their father’s love life, one is home and in high school, the other at college. Part of the drama of the last book ended with the two men moving in together, and taking in another high school boy after his parents kicked him out. Sooooo… at the start of this book, the two men, three teenagers, a big dog, several cats, and an assortment of chickens live in Larx’s house. It sounds totally chaotic!
Since Larx and Aaron are an established couple going in to this book, there isn’t a lot of internal couple drama this time around. They are out and in love. The real issue is over Aaron’s job. Larx thinks he’s ok with being in a relationship with a cop, but the reality of it is totally different when Aaron is injured in the line of duty, and Larx is left keeping the family together. And gets drawn in to the situation that lead to Aaron’s injury. As the mom (in-law) of a Sheriff’s Deputy, I was happy to see this whole story line unfold. People not related to an LEO have no idea what it is like to face this issue on a daily basis. Luckily we haven’t faced it in the way Larx had to, our LEO hasn’t been injured, and I can only imagine the fear and chaos Larx is faced with. Especially considering he was dealing with a pregnant depressed daughter, her baby daddy, the three kids at home, one of whom is Aaron’s son dealing with his father’s injury, Aaron’s two daughters, and the whole mess with the girl and boys that lead to Aaron’s injury. Plus his own anger at Aaron for getting hurt, and anguish over the realization that he could lose the man he loves in literally a moment. Larx finally gets it. He sees it play out in a way that no family member should.
One of the other things I love about this book, and about Bonfires, is that Aaron is a good man, and a good cop. I do understand not all cops behave in the way they should, but it really bothers me to see them portrayed in a bad way in books or on TV. There is enough negativity surrounding law enforcement in real life, I truly feel we need to see what the vast majority of them do, and that is do their jobs to the best of their abilities in small ways and in large. In both of these books we see Aaron do just that. Help kids, help people, save lives. I also loved that this small town has a black Sheriff, and he has been a great role model for Aaron, wanting Aaron to run for Sheriff when his term is up. Yes! Another excellent portrayal!
So I loved this book, but when an author writes a sequel about the same couple, it’s sometimes harder for me to love the second book quite as much as the first book. Part of what I love about first books is the drama surrounding the beginning of a relationship. The flush of love, the discovering about each other, the learning of bodies, the merging of lives. By the second book, most of the time anyway, that has all passed. So there is no internal drama, no real risk of the couple not being together at the end of the book. Then the second book becomes all about the external drama. That is what happened for me with this book. At no time was I concerned for the relationship between Larx and Aaron. Yes, I know, the first book was a romance novel and obviously they were going to end up together, but I was able to imagine that maybe they wouldn’t. I didn’t think that this time around, so that internal drama wasn’t there for me. Nothing Amy Lane did wrong, it’s just they way I see sequels that follow the same couple. Also….there were a ton of kids in this book! Really it was all about the kids. And occasionally Aaron and Larx got to spend some time together.
The individual kid stories were fine, the pregnant daughter dealing with depression was handled well, and I loved her boyfriend, although his parents weren’t my favorite addition. The kids that joined the “family” were also good, one has PTSD, the other needed some settling and a dog! We needed to see Aaron’s kids deal with their father’s injury. Even the story line with girl who lead to Aaron’s injury added some drama, not just the injury, but her story was something we needed to see dealt with. Bad things done by bad people, stopped by good people…. but there was just so much going on! I lost track of Larx and Aaron in the bigger picture of all of the kid drama. Again, nothing wrong with that, just a lot to take in and not as much Larx and Aaron time as I would have liked. Which lead to my four heart rating, where Bonfires got an easy five hearts from me. But of course I gobble up anything Amy Lane writes, and love it! I’m sure I haven’t said this before, ever, but I am a devoted Amy Lane Fan!
This is a sequel to Bonfires, so you need to have read that one first. If you have, you need to read this one to get the continuation of the story! If you haven’t, you really need to, Bonfires was an excellent book! And I did love Crocus, I promise, just a little bit less than Bonfires.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS: