Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Giving Chase

SERIES:  Havenwood

AUTHOR:  Riley Hart

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  222 pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 9, 2020

BLURB:

KELLAN
I wasn’t supposed to fall for my older brother’s best friend. Unfortunately, that ship sailed when I was a teenager, even though Chase Hawthorne always treated me like nothing more than a younger sibling. Things were worse after my parents died. Chase was sweet and supportive, which only strengthened my feelings for him. But then he’d act like I couldn’t take care of myself, and that part didn’t go over well with me. Yeah, I had a habit of screwing up. I’d always been the weird boy in our small town, but just like my big brother, he took overprotective to a new level. Until one night when I was eighteen and Chase and I hooked up. It was a ding to the ego that he left town right afterward. Ridiculously, I’m still not over him.

CHASE
I betrayed my best friend, Griffin, the night I messed around with Kellan. So I ran–first to the Marines, then into law enforcement. Ten years later, I’m back home, this time as a patrol officer rather than a troublemaker’s son. Oh, and unable to keep my hands off Kellan Caine. There’s always been something about him…the way he stands strong in who he is, even when he’s standing alone. I’m trapped between someone I want more than anything and Griff, the guy who’s like family to me. Yet the more time I spend with Kellan, the harder it becomes to deny there’s something real between us.

With my dad stirring up trouble, and me going behind my best friend’s back, everything’s a mess. The more tangled the web gets, the more I realize I need Kellan. And that there might be something in the Hawthorne family history that’ll make me lose both Kellan and Griffin for good.

REVIEW:

Giving Chase is the story of a man in love with his childhood crush, who is also his older brother’s best friend – a trope I know appeals to many. Add in a secret relationship with a bisexual police officer and author Riley Hart is hitting a lot of hot buttons.  

When he was a young teenager, Kellan Caine fell in love with Chase Hawthorne and never fell out.  Then when he was just fourteen and his brother Griff nineteen, their parents were murdered in an apparent mugging. Griff left school, assumed a parental role, and took on the responsibility of raising Kell. He had the help of his bestie, Chase, who spent most of his time with the Caine family to escape his abusive, alcoholic father. Chase treated Kell like a kid and called him Twerp. When Griff went away and left Chase in charge of eighteen-year-old Kellan (a babysitter at eighteen… overprotective much?), bisexual Chase succumbed to Kellan’s insistence and charm and they hooked up briefly. Afterward, Chase was horrified and took off to enlist in the Marines. He didn’t return for ten years. 

Kellan is still hung up on Chase when he returns to town. Chase has so many mixed memories and emotions: joy to be with Griff again; the anguish associated with the deaths of his surrogate parents, Mr. and Mrs. Caine; the disgust his abusive father causes; and the attraction he has toward Kell. Kell still loves Chase after a decade apart, and now Chase falls in love with Kell, but it’s complicated because he doesn’t want to hurt Griff, nor does he want to suffer Griff’s wrath over being involved with his little brother. Chase comes to believe he had loved Kell for all along time and just didn’t recognize it. 

It was always meant to the me and him. There wasn’t a doubt in my mind about that, even though it had taken me too long to see it.

Intertwined with the romance is a little bit of mystery tied into the story, involving two crimes and a misdemeanor. It’s integral to the plot but not the focus. The pace of the novel is maintained nicely with the addition of the mystery element. 

The sex is yummy, but I would be remiss not to mention Chase calling Kellan his “baby boy”. I’m all for pet names and terms of endearment, especially in bed, but baby boy is cringe-worthy given the plot centers around Kell’s distaste of being treated like a child by Griff, and in the past, Chase as well.  

There are lots of likable characters here, starting with Kellan’s BFFs, Josh and Natalie, who are as supportive as they come and tell it like it is. There’s Griff, of course, as the overly protective (ie. smothering) older brother/best friend/bar owner. Lawson and Knox are Griff’s friends who replaced Chase after he took off. Together with Kell and Chase, the friends comprise a found family, which is a theme I always enjoy and I hope is built upon in subsequent books. The Havenwood series continues in May 2020 with Lawson as its star. Yes, Lawson, whom everyone believes is straight. I look forward to Josh’s book, as he’s such a colorful character who has no desire to settle down. And someday I hope Hart explores Griff’s story. He’s struggling with his sexuality and after talking to Kell, thinks he might identify as demisexual and/or aromantic. It would be gratifying to see a thoughtful and accurate representative of either in print.  

Hart has quite successfully kicked off the Havenwood series with Giving Chase. Kellan and Chase are a great couple, and reading about them tackling their obstacles together makes for pleasant reading on these stay at home days. 

RATING:

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