Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: Let Me Show You
SERIES: True-Blue Book 1
AUTHOR: Becca Seymour
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 202 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 18, 2019
BLURB:
When a veterinarian and a construction worker connect, it takes mishaps, mistakes, and a Rhodesian Ridgeback named Rex to show them they’re made for each other.
Dr. Carter Falon is content living a quiet life in a small town caring for his animal patients. That doesn’t mean he’s not looking for a distraction. After finding himself precariously wedged… naked and at the mercy of a drop-dead gorgeous construction worker, Carter hires his savior to renovate his home.
When Tanner Grady’s best friend and new niece needed him, he uprooted and relocated without a second thought. His life has since been centered on work and spending time with his family, but when he comes to the rescue of a cute vet, Tanner finds he’s a lot more interested in the homeowner than the house he’s renovating.
Book one in Becca Seymour’s low-angst, feel-good LGBTQ series, True-blue. In the small town of Kirkby, there are busybodies, dogs who cause chaos, families who have the “best” of timing, and opportunities for good men to find their perfect match.
REVIEW:
Becca Seymour’s Let Me Show You is the first book in her True-Blue series, which was published in May 2019. Two years later, the series is still going with the seventh book, Our First and Last, set to release at the end of May 2021. I’ll be making my way through the series between now and then to visit Kirkby and its men, and give you my thoughts on each of the books.
Let Me Show You is not just the first in the True-Blue series, but looks to be one of Ms. Seymour’s first books, period. As an early career book, it’s an auspicious beginning. The book has some rough spots but overall, it shows solid writing and a good sense of story structure.
An unusual meet-cute kicks off this story. Dr. Carter Falon is the new town veterinarian and homeowner of a derelict house he inherited from his grandfather. To say the house needs work is an understatement. A demo would probably be more appropriate. But Carter opts to remodel instead.
Tanner Grady has just uprooted himself and his construction business, and moved to Kirkby to help his best friend with his newborn baby girl. They essentially co-parent at least in the early days. But now, six months later, things are starting to settle down and Tanner is looking to pick up some bigger construction jobs. So off he goes to quote Carter’s whole house remodel. What he’s met with is a naked Carter, sprawled outside his bathtub with his foot trapped in a broken floorboard. Well I suppose that’s one way to meet a guy …
The attraction between Carter and Tanner is immediate and the relationship slowly builds over the course of the construction project. The pacing of the story is a bit slow, but not so much that you disengage. I think it’s the lack of dynamics that makes it feel a bit sluggish. Carter and Tanner grow closer and their interactions are sweet and funny with some UST constantly simmering below the surface. But it’s a pretty straightforward journey from hello to HEA with these two. They don’t experience emotional highs and lows and the story doesn’t present anything unexpected. The minimal conflict in the story involves Carter and his homophobic boss, Scott.
On the whole, the story structure is solid and the writing is good. But the story has some rough spots. I liked Carter and Tanner, but really couldn’t engage fully with either because Ms. Seymour only provided superficial character development. Additionally, the narrative was jumpy at times. Sometimes the story seemed to skip over an important scene. Later you learn the scene inexplicably played out off-page. The dialogue was juvenile at times with silly, childish nicknames and playful insults. Also, the story surrounding Carter and Scott didn’t develop organically. The story initially presents Scott as a caricature, but then his story abruptly shifted. I think what was missing was the foundation for Scott’s character which would have given us context for what happens in the story between him and Carter.
Notwithstanding the flaws, Let Me Show You is enjoyable, although not particularly memorable. However, you’ll definitely get a nice HEA and enjoy a lot of sweet, funny, sexy moments with this couple along the way. I do think there’s enough here to demonstrate Ms. Seymour’s writing skill and room to grow. Similarly, I think Let Me Show You provides enough to keep you interested and even pique your interest for Book 2.
RATING:
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