Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Unforgotten
AUTHOR: Garrett Leigh
SERIES: Forgiven #2
PUBLISHER: Carina Press
LENGTH: 224 pages
RELEASE DATE: February 16, 2021
BLURB:
Billy Daley hasn’t been home in years, and he likes it that way. He’s just fine on his own—he has a cash-in-hand job at a scrapyard, a half-feral cat to keep him company, and many miles between him, his hometown and all the baggage that comes with it.
Until the job goes sideways. Suddenly he’s back in Rushmere, working for none other than his brother’s best friend—a man whose kiss Billy can’t seem to forget.
Gus Amour’s memories of Billy Daley are all spiky edges, lips crushed against lips and a reckless streak that always ended in trouble. But when Billy needs a place to stay, Gus steps in. He’d do anything for the Daley family, including living, and working, side by side with a man who makes his heart beat too fast and his blood run too hot—two things he’s been running from for years.
It doesn’t take long before their easy banter, lingering touches and heated glances become a temptation too hard to resist. But falling into bed and falling in love are two different things, and love has never come easy to either Billy or Gus. Only when fate threatens to steal away their opportunity for a second chance will they realize they don’t need easy.
They just need each other.
REVIEW:
“Family, friends, lovers,” Gus says. This perfectly symbolizes his complex and evolving relationship with Billy, the other leading man in Unforgotten. The book features a multi-layered, second chance love story with imperfect characters, a slow burn, and a redemption arc for Billy. Sometimes I crave a difficult story such as this because it evokes deep, powerful emotions. And fully realized, damaged protagonists – something Garrett Leigh is very skilled at creating – are like my romance catnip. I love to get sucked in and feel their pain.
Although Unforgotten is Gus and Billy’s love story, it’s also about familial love, overcoming deeply entrenched pain, and the dynamics between Gus, Billy, and his brother Luke. All three have bruised souls and convoluted ways of hiding their emotions. I was most drawn to Gus who seems to be most in touch with his feelings, but that may just be an appearance. Luke’s default around his brother is stone cold silence and scowling; Billy resorts to sarcasm, sneering, and isolation.
After Billy and Luke’s father died, Luke secretly joined the navy and left home at eighteen. Later their mother took off for Spain and deserted Billy. He never recovered and it was the beginning of a long history of dysfunction with his big brother. Meanwhile, Gus’ mom died and his sister, Mia – Luke’s girlfriend – abandoned her brother and moved to France. Luke was Gus’ best friend so he suffered that lost, as well. Billy’s life became a trainwreck. He ran with a rough crowd and did everything to avoid being a law-abiding citizen. Then he left town and drifted from one locale to another.
Now at twenty-four, Billy’s job at a scrapyard gets scrapped and suddenly he’s unemployed, homeless, and desperate, so he calls Luke for help. Luke and Billy can’t exist under the same roof, though, so Luke asks Gus if Billy can crash in his spare bedroom. Gus agrees and promises to look out for Billy who’s in a bad way. Luke offers him a job in his roofing company where Gus also works. Gus and Billy aren’t strangers, though. As an adolescent, Billy was obsessed with Gus for years. Then five years ago, they shared a kiss – Billy’s first ever kiss – and it cemented his thoughts that he was bisexual. But Gus pushed Billy away and the men haven’t spoken since that night. Neither has forgotten about the other or the kiss, though.
During the intervening years, Billy dealt with his pain through drugs, alcohol, theft, and fighting. Gus turned, in part, to meaningless sex as a coping mechanism – his way of escaping the noise in his head. He filled his nights with Grindr hookups, but they never quite alleviated his loneliness. Once Billy arrives, he becomes embedded in Gus’ head and it messes with his Grindr mojo. For Billy, sex is scary and was painful in the past. He can’t remember sex without being drunk and he’s intimidated by all of Gus’ experience.
Intimacy between the men is a slow dance beginning with lots and lots of kissing. It’s impassioned and loving and gentle. It progresses to sleeping in each other’s arms before anything more. Billy isn’t prepared to have sex yet, and Gus isn’t prepared for what might come after sex. He wants much more than friendship or a fling with Billy, but everyone he’s loved has left him or died, and Billy has a long history of not sticking around. Further, if it’s awkward afterward and Billy leaves, it will deny the brothers of a slowly improving relationship and Billy will lose the only security he’s had in years. The book nears the end dramatically with a traumatic event that leads to the men finally finding their way.
I’ve read every one of Leigh’s M/M novels and this ranks as one of my favorites. I’m confounded by why I seem to like Unforgotten more than the average reviews indicate. Because I read M/M romance exclusively, I didn’t read the previous M/F book, Forgiven, and perhaps that is the difference. Maybe the fresh look at these characters and their backgrounds have left me with a more positive outlook. Of note, I feel Luke is integral in Gus and Billy’s relationship. It’s possible the impact of Luke – whom I believe adds vital complexity – is more poignant because I’m experiencing him for the first time. Readers who were introduced to Luke in Forgiven may view his role here completely differently. At any rate, I don’t feel it’s necessary to read Forgiven. I highly recommend Unforgotten and hope you enjoy it as well.
RATING: 
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