Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Reinventing Cato

SERIES:  Unfinished Business #3

AUTHOR:  Barbara Elsborg

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  324 pages

RELEASE DATE:  March 24, 2021

BLURB:

Fate is not always written in the stars…

Being headhunted by NASA might be his ultimate dream, but Cato’s life still sucks. He’s tired of anonymous one-night stands. He’s tired of being lonely. And, frankly, he’s tired of himself. As the clock strikes midnight on New Year’s Eve, he realises the only thing to do if he wants to be happy is to reinvent himself.

Persuaded by his sister to spend New Year’s Eve in Scotland with his parents, Vigge can’t escape the memory of why their family fractured eighteen years ago, and his part in it. He’s channelled the guilt he feels into finding truth and justice for others, but his own life is empty and cold.

A chance encounter at a snowbound airport has Vigge and Cato colliding in more ways than one. Someone seems to have it in for Cato, and as Vigge gets drawn into the mess of Cato’s life, he finds himself falling for the sexy scientist. If only Vigge can make peace with his past and step away from the darkness, they just might have a chance at a future as bright as Cato’s beloved stars.

REVIEW:

I can’t be the only one who was eagerly awaiting a novel featuring Devan’s delightful brother, Cato. Friendly, kind, and amusing, Cato was a standout character in Jonty’s Christmas, and now in his own book, his personality is a driving force. He’s more than a little bit similar to Barbara Elsborg’s beloved Jonty.

In the marvelous Reinventing Cato, not only are we treated to a sweet love story, we’re surprised with the suspense of a mystery that wasn’t alluded to in the blurb.

Cato Smith longs for the happiness he sees in Devan and Jonty, yet he’s at a New Year’s Eve party in Glasgow miserably watching his ex – the guy he thought was the one – dance with his new wife. They proposition Cato to live with them as a throuple, but Cato decides it’s about time to make big changes in his life. His New Year’s Resolution: Reinvent Himself. Stop being an idiot; quit wallowing in the past; possibly change his career trajectory; and for God’s sake, no more hookups!

Cato’s new year is off to a dubious start when he oversleeps the next morning, only has five minutes to leave for the airport, and throws on the first clothes he can find. Which… happens to be the priest costume he wore the night before. Worse, the airport is snowed in and his only way to get back to London for an important job interview is to hitch a ride with a stranger. It doesn’t hurt that he’s impersonating a priest.  A priest who’s soon talking about porn to the stranger. (Strike one of the resolution – stop being an idiot.)

About now, Vigge Sorensen is doubting his sanity in giving a ride to Father Cato. He’s a half Scottish, half Danish police detective inspector living near Cambridge, England. He’s been visiting his parents in Glasgow for the first time in eighteen years; a family tragedy has kept him away. Now he’s on a road trip with this handsome goofball and actually enjoying the flirty banter and getting to know you chatter. By later in the day, the snow is heavy, the roads are closing, and they decide to stop for the night at a motel. Well Cato, you might as well just throw the whole resolution out the window. (Strike two – no more hookups.)

It turns out Vigge is mostly closeted because of his career, so his liaisons are always no strings, meaningless sex. This night with Cato (who he now knows is not a priest) will just be a one-off. So why is Cato getting under his skin? And Cato wants so badly to stick to his resolution, wants so much for this time to be different. And indeed it is – he genuinely likes Vigge. Cato and Vigge are lovely together. Interestingly, they are natural and at ease when they mean nothing to each other, but as soon as they both catch feelings, they grow awkward. The sexy times are nice and steamy. Two words that don’t often go together – sexy and hilarious – both apply to a semi-public blow job complete with applause that had me laughing out loud.

There’s more to Cato than his lovable goofiness and clergy masquerade. He’s a brilliant doctoral candidate in astrophysics at Cambridge. His job interview is with NASA for a position in California, which fits with his desire to reinvent himself. But he’s facing an existential crisis – he has wanted to study the stars for most of his life but suddenly he’s wondering if that’s what he really wants. Complicate that with his burgeoning feelings for Vigge, and the appeal of moving to America is beginning to diminish. He’s so conflicted he shows up to his NASA interview looking like a “jaded rock star” in black skinny jeans, a black graphic t-shirt, and eyeliner. (Sounds heckin sexy to me!) I guess when you’re a genius you can get away with that sort of thing.

There are some communication problems and it gets complicated with Cato facing a crossroads and Vigge struggling with the idea of coming out at work. And then, about this time the suspense begins to build because three separate crimes are starting to materialize. With one, I had no clue what happened. For another, I thought I had it all figured out early on, but no, I was wrong. There are a handful of viable suspects up until the very end. The third – and most significant – situation caught me completely off-guard. The conclusion of all three was satisfying.

I have to share a passage that really tickled me. At one point, Cato fantasizes about what a future life with Vigge could be like, for example, shopping for “IKEA furniture— a bed called Vigge or a sofa or a lamp or a corkscrew, because Vigge sounded like something they’d find in the store and they’d have to buy it no matter what it was.”

I heartily recommend Reinventing Cato. The mysteries add a welcome complexity to the book while not detouring too far into heaviness. For Jonty lovers, he and Devan appear fairly often and Jonty and Cato get along brilliantly. Combine endearing characters, a well-constructed story, suspense, and a setting in England and you can’t go wrong.

RATING: 

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