Reviewed by Becca
TITLE: Kamari’s: A Best Friend’s Brother Romance
SERIES: Takoda Outreach Center #4
AUTHOR: Sammi Cee
PUBLISHER: self-published
LENGTH: 107 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2020
BLURB:
Sharing an apartment with your brother’s best friend wasn’t supposed to be complicated—or involve feelings.
In a triumphant stand, Lachlan tells his father he’s gay immediately following his high school graduation. He’s done letting the man who destroyed their family control him.
When Lachlan’s spontaneous declaration tilts his world on its axis, Kamari, his brother’s best friend, comes to the rescue and offers him the perfect solution. Roommates.
Fresh out of college, Karmari’s back in Takoda and ready to live his life to the fullest. He’s happy to help out Lachlan by giving him a place to stay, but he doesn’t expect how quickly they bond.
Lachlan’s eager for new experiences, and Kamari‘s more than happy to go along for the ride. But living in such close quarters, the lines between friendship and love start to blur. Can Kamari trust that Lachlan is old enough to know what he wants or will he let the man who’s already ruined Lachlan’s childhood convince him to let him go?
Takoda Outreach Center: When you’re holding hope in the palm of your hand… Low-angst. sweet stories of finding your happily ever after where you least expected it.
REVIEW:
I debated whether or not to say this, but to be on the safe side….there may be possible triggers for some in this book. At one point, one of the MCs had talked of self-harm. It never happened, thankfully because of a good counselor, but it’s there. There is also a verbally abusive father in the picture, who never really gets physical, but he’s not a nice person. Just in case any of that is a trigger, I wanted people to be aware.
Lachy’s life went down the toilet the day his mom died. Then the day when his father kicked Jasper out, because Jasper wasn’t really his son. Lachy’s father was never there for him, unless it was to gripe at him to cook and clean and such, while trying to go to school full time. And I mean high school. It got to the point he considered something drastic, but a friend’s mom, who is a counselor, gave him a different option and one that kept him sane. When it was time for him to finally graduate, he did so. And everyone was so proud for him. People he knew were Jasper’s friends even came to support him. Even though his father tried to ruin it. But Lachy had options now. And his father wouldn’t ruin it anymore. And when it came time for college, he had the best option of all. He got to live with Kamari. Someone he’s been crushing on for a while. But Kamari only saw him as a kid, Jasper’s little brother. Or so Lachy thought. But living together is making Kamari rethink his opinion and he knows he’s screwed. But he wants Lachy to experience life, and Lachy just wants Kamari. Will Kamari give in or make Lachy wait even longer?
If there was another person I would love to reach through and smack, it would be Lachy’s father. What an idiot. An absolute d***. I absolutely hate what that man did to those babies, but as stubborn as both Lachy and Jasper are, they ended up in the hands of some good people. It didn’t mean that life was easy for them. By no means was it. If you’ve read this series, you know what happened with Jasper, and for Lachy, he had to deal with that man alone for years. But he had Milo, his best friend, and Milo’s parents, who never hesitated to take him and make sure he was loved. I think with this series that’s what’s hit home for me. So many times we see youth in bad situations and they are often ignored. But for these guys, they had someone who backed them up, Even when they tried to hide the truth of everything going on. But people saw more than they thought and stepped in as much as they could. And I love that. Because it gives me a sense of hope that maybe in real life, people will start reaching out more.
This story actually made me think of a commercial I’ve seen about adopting teens. It was a young African American kid being adopted in a ‘white’ household. He sees the wall of pics of the family and you could see on his face, he wished to be a part of that, but how? Eventually he starts getting comfortable and interacts more, and one day he sees himself in a pic with the rest of the family, now knowing he belonged, by one simple gesture. And he hugged his new mom. And I cried like a baby. And it made me think of it all in this story. Maybe we can’t adopt a child or a teen, but we can sure as heck be an influence and a life line for someone. You never know whose life you can change by one simple gesture. And for Lachy, that’s what it took. Simple gestures from those who loved him, so he knew he had a family and a home. Whether blood or not, he was loved. And he had a way to finally break free and live the life he wants.
RATING: 
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