Reviewed by Sadonna 

TITLE:  This Time Around

SERIES:  Road to Blissville

AUTHOR:  Aimee Nicole Walker

NARRATOR:  Joel Leslie

PUBLISHER: Tantor Audio

LENGTH:  7 hours and 18 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  March 3, 2020

BLURB:  

At the cafe Milo Miracle co-owns with his twin sister, coffee and pastries are served up along with his unique blend of sass and snark. Milo knows that small-town life often means that every day is the same as the one before, and excitement can only be found in the gossip that travels faster than the speed of light. When the Adonis who broke his heart returns home after a 12-year absence, Milo unhappily finds himself at the center of Blissville’s favorite pastime.

Andy Mason was practically a kid when he left home to pursue big-league ambitions, but the man who returns to Blissville is humbled by shattered dreams and secrets. Andy’s no stranger to grit and determination, and he’ll need both to win back Milo’s cynical heart.

Strong wills clash with stubborn hearts, triggering combustible passion once Andy starts renovations at the cafe. Milo would like to keep Andy’s hands busy doing something other than construction. Andy would like to suggest what Milo can do with his wicked tongue besides trade barbs with him. Neither man is willing to budge until they get a little shove from an outside force. Will Andy and Milo learn that trust is a two-way street?

REVIEW:

Note:  While this is book 4 in the series, it can be read as a standalone with some minor spoilers for the first three books.

Milo Miracle runs his coffee shop with his twin Meghan.  When he was in high school, he had a boyfriend who was a bit older and who was a jock. Said boyfriend, Andy Mason (who we’ve met in previous books) got a baseball scholarship, left Blissville and hasn’t been back.  There are many reasons – good and bad ones -why that is the case.  But his return brings back all of Milo’s anger, hurt and frustration around never hearing from Andy once he’d left.  Never mind that Milo had broken up with him after a fateful visit to the college.

Andy Mason’s return to Blissville is a bit of a surprise to everyone.  He has been in touch with his family, but he’s not been back.  But he’s ready to take his place again his hometown.  He’s getting his construction business off the ground and he wants Milo back in the worst way.  He’s never met anybody who could take Milo’s place in his heart.  But Milo doesn’t seem overly thrilled to see him.  At least not in public.  When they are alone, they have some of the best angry sex ever!  Even if Milo’s mouth is saying no, his body is saying yes.

But Andy has his own secrets and demons that he’s been fighting over the previous decade and he isn’t ready to share that with Milo.  Milo makes a lot of assumptions about what Andy’s been up to.  He’s jealous as heck, but he’s vowed not to let Andy off the hook.  If he wants any kind of relationship with Milo, he’s going to have to earn it.

So for two years, they dance around each other.  Everybody in town knows that they belong together and that this little dance they are doing is going to end one way or another.  Neither of them can stand anyone else paying attention to the other.  It seems Milo also has some secrets about what he’s been doing since Andy’s been gone and that will be a fun reveal when Andy is finally let in on that secret as well.

When Meghan needs Andy’s professional help, she manages to get Milo and Andy to face each other and they finally have to start being real.  Milo reveals his hurt and humiliation and Andy reveals what has kept him away from everyone for so long.  They both want to make things right and get their relationship back on track – with a lot of help from their friends 🙂

I adored this story!  What’s better than a second chances with some angry sex to get things started?  Milo and Andy are both great characters.  Andy has come a long way since his high school jock days.  So has Milo.  But neither has found anyone in the time they have been apart – because they are supposed to be together! Everyone seems to know this except for them 🙂  But once they each take responsibility for their part in their long ago breakup and accept each other for the men they have become, things go much better.  The stakes are high since neither of them will survive another broken heart.  I loved both families and the way they supported their sons while also trying to get them to realize that they belonged together and to just get over themselves and start communicating and stop assuming.  There are a lot of other little wonderful gems along the way about facing the past and understanding that sometimes what is done with the intention of helping can actual lead to perpetuating shame and an inability to be authentic.  Once again Joel Leslie’s characterizations were spot on.  This is a great series – highly recommended.

RATING: 

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