Reviewed by Tori (Vicki)
TITLE: Unforgivable 
SERIES: Accidental Roots #6
AUTHOR: Elle Keaton
PUBLISHER: Dirty Dog Press
LENGTH: 235 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 18th, 2018
BLURB:
No one ever claimed it would be easy.
Running away from a messy divorce did not bring Ira Fragale the peace he sought. If he’s going to get his life together he needs to pull up his big boy pants and take care of business. He’s been hiding out, licking his wounds in Skagit for two years now, keeping his head down (aside from the trail of twink hearts he’s left behind), something’s gotta to give.
Bartending at the Loft is easy, Cam likes the community he’s found since his family’s rejection, but he craves more. He wants Ira Fragale but first Cam needs to take Ira off the pedestal he’s placed him on. Ira’s older but that doesn’t mean he has any clearer idea about life and the universe than Cam. Cam needs to focus on his own needs and forget about Ira, but he can’t.
Ira didn’t chose Skagit at random, events over twenty years ago set him on the path his is on today. The mystery of his father’s murder may never be solved but Ira would like to lay his spirit to rest.
None of this explains the upswing of hate crimes in Skagit. The small town has its share of trouble but someone, or someones, are on the prowl harassing the LGBTQ community, and Cameron is directly in their crosshairs.
REVIEW:
We’ve seen glimpses of Cam and Ira in past books, now it’s their turn!
Cam is a young bartender at the Loft, with some family drama…. his parents loved him and prayed over him when he was sick, but when they found out he was gay? Not so much. He’s been on his own ever since. He’s bartending and living in the apartment over the Loft, and still struggling to pay off some hospital bills, so school isn’t an option at this time. He avoids his parents, visiting the old neighborhood to visit an elderly neighbor fairly often, but tries to keep his head down otherwise. Unfortunately he draws the attention of a neighborhood bully, which brings up some bad shit from his past.
Ira also has some family issues. He’s moved to Skagit, the town his father was murdered in, to run away from a broken marriage and a pissed off son. He’s an artist, but hasn’t been inspired to paint, so he’s making coffee at The Booking Room, He lives in a cabin in the woods, and after two years, has no car, no friends, and no idea who killed his father. He’s also a man slut, working his way through the twinks at the Loft. He had his night with Cam, but wasn’t interesting in pursuing anything with him, and has been flaunting his slutty ways in front of Cam ever since. He’s kind of an asshole. Actually, he is a total asshole!
The two keep swirling around one another, Cam goes for coffee and Ira is a jerk. Ira goes for a drink at the Loft and is a jerk. Cam almost runs Ira over, and Ira is a jerk. They go back and forth a bit, never really getting their shit together, until they finally need each other. But even still, Ira is a jerk.
So I had a hard time with this one…. I am all for a good redemption story, and Ira needed some redemption in a bad way. And he does eventually get that, both with his family and with Cam. But for some reason I still didn’t like him. I can’t even really say why. I guess I didn’t see the emotional connection between Cam and Ira enough to settle in to liking them together. They spend time together but a lot of that time was in dealing with their various issues. Ira was sick, Cam helped care for him a bit. Ira had some drama with his ex-wife and son, Cam was there for that. Cam was attacked and pretty jumpy afterward, then had some other drama surrounding that, Ira was super involved. They did have sex, and it was passionate and all, but I didn’t get passionate love, just passionate fucking. And friendship certainly. I think if I had seen them together more doing couple things it would have given me the chance to see their emotional connection, not just their friendship connection. I did love Cam though, he was a total sweetheart! I also liked the ending, and was able to get past my dislike of Ira to see Cam happy.
I liked the suspense part of this book, trying to avoid spoilers here, but their individual histories ended up coming together in a dramatic way. With the help of a couple of the law enforcement characters from past books, a big exciting thing goes down, and…. you’ll have to read it! Anyway, I liked that part of the book, and I liked seeing some familiar characters come and go.
As always, I love that this book is set in my corner of the world, and it entertains me to try to figure out exactly where the fictional town of Skagit is located. In the first couple of books I thought it was more inland, near I-5 in the middle of the Skagit valley, but this one had lots of things happening near water, which shifted my location a ways. I love reading a book by an author who is a local, even though the town is made up, she has all of the feeling and details just right.
Even though I didn’t love Ira, I still enjoyed this book! I am a fan of Elle Keaton, and although this one wasn’t my favorite, it’s still part of a great overall series. You could probably read it as a stand-alone book, other characters come in and out, but you don’t have to know who they are to get this story. It’s a well-written book, with lots of things I do like. The redemption of an asshole character, a sweetheart of a character with some family issues, an age gap, an interesting plot, some hot and sweaty sex, and a happy ending! Works for me!
Oh yes…. then there is the cover. Holy crap. Gorgeous man, gorgeous cover! I want a paperback copy so I can pet and admire it…
RATING: 
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