Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Hardwood
SERIES: Four Bears Construction
AUTHOR: K.M. Neuhold
NARRATORS: Tim Paige and Liam DiCosimo
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 6 hours and 59 minutes
RELEASE DATE: November 9, 2020
BLURB:
I’ve spent 44 years of my life telling the world I’m a carpet man. Is it too late to admit to myself and everyone else that deep down I’m really all about the hardwood?
It took me over 35 years to admit to myself that I’m gay, another seven to find the courage to say it out loud to anyone else, and exactly 30 seconds to develop a massive crush on my daughter’s music teacher. It’s really not my fault. Have you even seen those cute bowties he wears?
After everything it’s taken to get here, am I going to work up the nerve to come out to my ex-wife and my best friends?
Am I ready to shake up my comfortable, simple life and take a chance on Watson? Or, am I going to throw a wrench in my own chance for happily ever after?
Hardwood is a steamy, seriously with so much delicious tension, single-dad, gay awakening, low angst story, which happens to be the third in the Four Bears Construction Series. It can be listened to as a stand-alone. There are no shifters in this series, only the other kind of bears.
REVIEW:
Everett is the one of the four owners of Four Bears Construction. He’s also the only one who has a child and an ex-wife. His 8-year old daughter, Olivia is his pride and joy. But he’s been keeping a secret – from himself even. He thinks once he’s finally admitted the truth to himself, everything else will fall into line with coming out. Of course it won’t be that easy 😉
Watson is an elementary school music teacher. He loves his job and the kids. He has a solid group of friends that he laments his lack of a love life to, but he’s pretty happy with how his life is turning out. Then he sees Ev at the gay bar that he frequents with his friends – which happens to be the other gay bar in town where Ev’s coworkers don’t go. When they meet again at a parent teacher night, he’s all kinds of pissed off until he finds out Ev and Val are divorced. He also gets it that Everett has been struggling with embracing his sexuality and that he’s basically in the closet everywhere except with Watson and at the bar they go to. Watson is nothing if not patient.
While Everett is wrestling with when and how to come out to his ex-wife and his friends, he and Watson are secretly dating. However, their first two dates get cut short and modified considerably when family stuff comes up that Ev has to take care of or has to avoid 😉 Watson is so understanding. They text and talk and are on their way to maybe a real relationship if only Ev can get off the dime. There are a few close calls and Watson gets a little sad that maybe Ev just isn’t ready and he’ll have to decide how long he’ll be willing to wait.
Everett can’t believe that he’s so lucky to have found Watson. He enjoys everything about Watson, from his singing, to his pet hedgehog, to his absolute comfort in his own skin. Watson is head over heels for Everett, but he’s worried that Ev has never been in a relationship with another man before and he will realize there are better options than Watson out there. There are a few misunderstandings and Ev has a hard time trying to say what he’s feeling thinking he’s gotten ahead of himself with Watson and fallen too hard too fast. And there’s still that pesky little detail of coming out so that they can be together publicly. If he can’t embrace who he is, how long can expect Watson to be his secret?
This is another really enjoyable story in this series. I can’t help loving all these guys. Poor Everett is just way too in his head and has had the hardest time trying to figure out how to come out to his ex-wife, his co-workers, everyone really. All of his business partners are gay so he thinks he shouldn’t be having such a hard time. But he has a lot of guilt over his long marriage where he wasn’t honest with himself or with Val, his ex-wife. When he meets Watson though, he’s ready to be honest. And while the spirit is willing, the mouth just doesn’t seem to be able to say the words. He’s really tangled up with how everyone else will react and how bad he feels for keeping this secret for such a long time.
Watson is just so lovable! He’s fun and funny and outgoing and cute and he’s super patient with Everett. He understands Ev’s reluctance to come out in middle age, but he’s also ready to make a life with someone and while he really wants that with Everett, the delay is starting to mess with his head and his confidence. Ev was so lucky to have found such a good guy right out of the gate 😀 I did get frustrated with Everett at one point because he just couldn’t seem to act on the decision that he had already made about being with Watson and coming clean with everyone. I wanted to shake him more than once when he backed off the opportunities presented. But in the end, he got there in a truly 21st century way 😉 At the end of the day, this is a really sweet story of a guy finally figuring himself out and going for what will really make him happy while also being considerate of the others who might be affected by his revelation – which I found ultimately admirable. He just should have done it sooner 😉 Definitely recommended – particularly for fans of this series and those who enjoy a later in life sexual awakening story with a lovely HEA 😀
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
Audible