Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: A Reluctant Boy Toy
SERIES: Men of St. Nacho’s #3
AUTHOR: Z.A. Maxfield
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 258 pages
RELEASE DATE: April 12, 2021
BLURB:
A physically scarred veteran. An emotionally scarred young actor. Can they let go of the past and find a future together?
Stone Wilder is happiest with his emotional support dog and the hybrid wolfdogs he rescues. They don’t react to his scars or call him queer because sex doesn’t interest him all that much. Maybe that’s why he doesn’t believe the rumors that paint gorgeous Sebastian Keye as an unprofessional “it boy.” To Stone, Sebastian is simply a nice kid who shares his interest in dogs.
Sebastian is drawn to Stone’s warmth and caring nature. With the help of his stalwart PA Molly, Sebastian and Stone begin a quiet friendship. But a video from Sebastian’s past suddenly goes viral, causing old hurts and humiliations to destroy his emotional stability and nearly cost him his life.
After Sebastian’s world falls apart, Stone wants to support him. But Stone has his own tortured past, and they can’t move forward unless he makes things right.
Will growing close to Sebastian lead Stone to a new understanding of who he is and what he wants?
REVIEW:
A Reluctant Boy Toy is a beautiful hurt/comfort story with a fourteen year age gap. Until the HFN end, that is, which disappointed me greatly. More on that later.
Stone Wilder is a rugged Marine veteran who sustained extensive facial scaring from an IED explosion during his deployment in the Middle East. It’s been eight years since the accident and four years since he walked away from his wife and three children. Before his last deployment, Stone was a happy and attractive husband and family man. Now, he endures stares, revulsion and pity from strangers and works at his sister-in-law’s wolfdog hybrid rescue in Colorado with his brother and his wife, and the family of dogs.
He meets actor and model Sebastian “Bast” Keye on location in California where Bast is filming a television series featuring wolves. Stone is the handler of the hybrid dogs being used for filming. Bast is immediately intrigued by Stone and sees right past his disfigurement. Their friendship is special – two lonely men find solace in each other, share a deep understanding and an uncanny bond. Stone struggles with PTSD and his devastating family situation, while Bast is still held hostage emotionally by a terrible trauma he suffered a decade prior.
Was it only the deep recognition that drew me? The notion that while he bore his scars on the outside and I wore mine deep within me, we each had that residue of trauma in common?
This book features one of the best representations of a demisexual character I’ve read. Stone is confused by his sexuality. He has a sex drive but feels nothing when looking at men or women. He’s only ever been attracted to one person – been with one person – his ex-wife whom he knew since childhood. Stone is worried that something’s “wrong” with him. Bast wants Stone badly but Stone only feels strong friendship. So far. Their relationship develops into more but they reach an impasse when Bast works up the courage to tell Stone what he needs and it’s the one thing, based on his past, that Stone can’t provide.
I have to mention that Z.A. Maxfield wrote one heck of an erotic shower scene like no other. Steamy in more ways than one!
It’s not clear to me why the book was written as part of the Men of St. Nacho’s series rather than as a standalone. This book is only loosely related to St. Nacho’s in that the set location for the television series is being filmed nearby and they get take-out food from The Bistro restaurant. Otherwise, there are no scenes that take place in the town and no past characters are referenced. One other note, this is not a Daddy/boy book as the title might imply.
Despite how much I loved this book, I’m so stomping mad. It was a solid five-heart/star read until the last chapter which ended abruptly. As I read, I kept thinking it would be a contender for my Top 10 of 2021 list. I loved this book so much and wanted to cry when the end wasn’t wrapped up satisfactorily. It ends suddenly without an exchange of those three little words, with loose ends regarding the future, and no epilogue to ensure the reader that these men are set for long term. This is clearly an HFN ending, which for me, goes against the grain of a romance novel.
If you don’t think this kind of ending will bother you, then I highly recommend A Reluctant Boy Toy. I adore hurt/comfort stories, particularly when both main characters are hurting yet are able to help facilitate healing for the other, as Bast and Stone do. Fair warning for the end, though. 4.25 hearts
RATING: 
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