Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Open Hearts
SERIES: Stealing Hearts #3
AUTHOR: K Evan Coles
PUBLISHER: Wicked Fingers Press
RELEASE DATE: September 28, 2020
LENGTH: 191 pages
BLURB:
Some hearts are made to be opened.
Jae-seong Bak has never been in love. He prefers to let his personal life take a backseat to his career as a nurse, especially since no-strings hookups with men he’s glad to call friends have always felt like more than enough.
After years of moving around the United States, Jae takes a job in his home city of Boston, arriving just in time to celebrate his brother Ty’s engagement. In reconnecting with friends and family, Jae befriends Emmett McNeil, a young chef and Ty’s future brother-in-law, whose own bad luck with love hasn’t dampened his enthusiasm for life.
As the summer passes and Jae and Emmett help their families plan the wedding, the spark between the two men ignites, though each agrees to keep their hookups under wraps in order to prevent potential drama. Taken off guard by the depth of his feelings, Jae backs away, only to find that going back to being just friends with Emmett is much harder than he ever could have predicted.
Now, standing with Emmett as their siblings make their vows, Jae must decide if he’s really content to hold the man he loves at arm’s-length or if taking a chance on more is in the cards.
REVIEW:
Jae-seong, a forty-three-year-old nurse anesthetist, returns to his hometown of Boston because something is missing in is life. While celebrating his brother Ty’s engagement to the lovely Amelia, Jae meets her brother Emmett, who is a chef. Together they cook up some sizzle, but pansexual Emmett frequently says that he is down with love and fuck dating. In the beginning, the arrangement suits Jae, but things change.
Open Hearts is told in the third person, from Jae’s viewpoint, and is mainly conversation based. Personally, I prefer more of a mix between show and tell. The entire story revolves around the planning of Ty and Amelia’s wedding. Food, flowers, a bachelor party, the whole shebang. Arrangements throw Emmett and Jae together, and despite the twelve-year gap in their ages, neither can deny the attraction.
I found the scene-setting excellent. Dealing with inter-family relations and support systems or lack thereof was well thought out and written delicately. Emmett is a chef who runs a food chain with his friend Aiden. Jae has allergies that affect what he can and cannot eat. Therefore, the story is heavily food orientated, and I now have a list of foodstuffs that I need to look up and try—but talking about foods that I was not familiar with alienated me from the story a little. Maybe that was me being from the UK or simply my food unworldliness.
The broader character base includes good guys and gals. I particularly liked the character Zac, who appreciates the sentiment behind vegan food, but isn’t always sold on the taste. There was a sarcastic element to him that spoke to the devil within me. It was also refreshing that Jae and Emmett talk about previous relationships without there being any fallout.
Possible complications make, Jae and Emmett keep their closeness away from Ty. But because of the singular viewpoint, that aspect doesn’t always transfer from the page to the brain. Thus, their interactions seem more evident than they should. Secrets, Emmett’s position on dating, and the changing status of Jae’s feelings take its toll. As the blurb says, Jae pulls away, and I was looking forward to a juicy bit of angst. Must admit, I think it could have been strung out a bit by a simple change in the timeline. But I am aware that many readers like dramatic arcs to be solved quickly. Nevertheless, elements of these scenes melted my cold heart like an ice-cream on a summer’s day.
Open Hearts is a well-written foodie’s dream story full of likable characters, glitter, a few drama’s and lots of organizing.
I have given it 3.5 hearts which is a good book, better than average – but that is with my reading preferences in mind. However, if you are familiar with Boston, the food involved, and love a conversational style read – this novel could score much higher.
RATING: 
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