Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Nathan Unwrapped
AUTHOR: Susan Saxx
PUBLISHER: Boroughs Publishing Group
LENGTH: 232 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 21, 2020
BLURB:
Nathan Gentael couldn’t bear to lose his family’s legacy, an old house on the tiny cove of Refuge Bay. He scraped together every penny he could find to buy back the derelict manse, and now he needs investors to help put it to rights so he can create a place for people like him: emotional wrecks in need of a safe place to get themselves together. Okay, he isn’t a wreck, but he has turned his back on his passion, and believes by helping others, he’ll help himself. When it seems no one is going to help, a new investor, Jake Reiden, who insists on being called Og, shows up early and inverts Nathan’s reality. Nathan has secrets, but this bull of a man who has more bravado than anyone Nathan has ever met, is harboring mysteries. Dark and closed off, Og is willing to risk investing in the house, but he has conditions, and it turns out one of them is he wants Nathan.
REVIEW:
I was really looking forward to reading Nathan Unwrapped based on the blurb and the cover, but unfortunately it did not meet my expectations. There’s plenty of positive, which I’ll discuss later, but I personally couldn’t get past the insta-love on steroids. Many readers enjoy an insta-love trope, and while I have no problem with instant attraction, insta-love is not my cup of tea.
The general plot is solid with Nathan, a former artist, looking to establish a home for men with difficult pasts who need a refuge, and Og serving as the potential investor – and Nathan’s last hope – whose decision will make or break Nathan’s dream. Both men have deep, dark secrets they’re hesitant to share, secrets that have indelibly changed the course of their lives. The motivation for all of their actions revolves around those secrets. The multiple conflicts resolve satisfactorily.
Susan Saxx has done a commendable job developing her characters, big and small, with solid backstories and engaging personalities. Generous-hearted Nathan and strong Og are the heroes of the story, but there are two other significant characters in the book. Zach is Nathan’s ride-or-die best friend, housemate, and partner in the Hope House endeavor. And then there’s Trasher, the aforementioned young girl found hiding in the property’s barn. She is a precious and precocious runaway who is waaay ahead of her seven or eight years in vocabulary, development, and general worldliness. Trasher is a sympathetic and lovable character who endears herself to the men who are smitten and want to keep her as part of one big happy household. Readers will be routing for her. Zach has a caregiver personality and will likewise be a character popular with readers. He is a highlight of the book for me. Zach has a love interest, Galen, a storyline that is definitely left up in the air with some mystery to it. Smaller but memorable roles belong to Nathan’s aunt and grandmother, and Molly, a great bear of dog who’s always at the ready with a big doggy hug.
Back to the insta-love: this isn’t your run-of-the-mill “I’m falling in love with you after two weeks of knowing you” scenario. This is hyperdrive insta-love where the characters are professing their love within days of meeting each other, not even having had a meaningful heart-to-heart conversation. I refer to the relationship between Nathan and Og, and between the men and Trasher. Within two days of meeting Trasher, Nathan calls her “the girl he loved” and Og states “this is my little girl” and Nathan is “my partner” and Trasher’s “other dad”. The development of such strong feelings so fast about a complete stranger felt preposterous. The book took on a fairytale sentimentality with Og rescuing Nathan from a dire situation, acquiring a daughter, and falling in love almost instantly.
The insta-love distracted me from the other aspects of the book and I wasn’t able to fully enjoy this read. If you’re a fan of this trope, or simply not bothered by it, there’s a lot about Nathan Unwrapped to enjoy, namely an interesting plot and likable, well-developed characters. But if your tastes are more in line with my own, you may want to take a pass.
RATING: 
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