Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Memory Lane

SERIES:  Pine Cove

AUTHOR:  H.J. Welch

NARRATOR:  Nick J. Russo

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  8 hours and 21 minutes

RELEASE DATE: May 5, 2021

BLURB:

Ever since Jay Coal’s best friend saved his life in high school, he’s harbored a secret love. But Angel is straight, and his thrilling work as a movie stuntman takes him all over the world, while Jay has never left Pine Cove. When Angel finally comes back to town, a suspicious work accident leaves him in the dark, and only Jay can light the way.

It’s a second chance for Angel Shields. Trustworthy Jay helps him recover from the accident, and Angel starts to see him in a different light. But are these feelings of attraction new? Or has he always had a secret crush on his best friend? Thanks to the accident, Angel can’t trust his own memories to tell him. Maybe all that matters is how he feels now?

Their life-long friendship is at risk if they make a move, but this chemistry is unforgettable. With more dangers ahead than answers, will they even get the chance to explore this love that’s waiting for them down the end of memory lane?

Book five of Pine Cove, Memory Lane is a steamy, stand-alone MM romance novel with a guaranteed HEA and absolutely no cliff-hanger.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the fifth book in this series and does contain spoilers for books 1, 2, 3 and 4 but it can be read as a stand alone.

Angel and Jay have been best friends since they were kids.  They’ve been through a lot together.   Angel has always been there for Jay.  Even after he came out, Angel never left his side, no matter that he was called names too because he was Jay’s friend after he came out.  Angel is a big strong guy – former football player – who has grown up to be a Hollywood stuntman.  In the past, he had a long term girlfriend that seemed to always plan something else every time he’s tried to get back to Pine Cove to visit Jay.  She’s also completely biphobic and always complained that bisexuals were just cheaters.

Jay has stayed in his hometown and is a Drama teacher at the local high school.  He’s the GSA sponsor and he’s so excited to see his BFF.  It’s been waaaay too long and now that Lisa, Angel’s ex-girlfriend isn’t there, he’s looking forward to spending time with his bestie.  The movie is a sequel, has queer characters and some of the kids from the GSA are even going to get to be extras.  On the first day of filming, everyone is so excited.  Everyone except for the local bully and long time nemesis, Kenny, who made Jay’s life a living hell.  He and his little band of troublemakers are trying to shut down the movie because of “morals” and “protecting their kids” nonsense.  Needless to say, nobody has time for this BS, but they are like gnats flying around causing problems.  And then Angel crashes the car in his first stunt in Pine Cove.

Luckily Angel isn’t hurt too terribly – but he is concussed and has memory loss.  Jay and his friends tell the hospital personnel that he’s Angel’s fiance so that they will let Jay in to see him.  Angel’s family is far away and he will need somewhere to convalesce, so it seems like a good plan.  Surprisingly Angel goes along with it quite willingly and he thinks maybe he really IS engaged to Jay when he finally wakes up.  Jay is the one who Angel has been asking for since he’s regained consciousness, so it totally makes sense – or at least doesn’t seem like a lie to anyone.

Angel can’t remember the accident itself and he’s happy to be able to stay with Jay.  They haven’t seen each other nearly enough over the years and they are so glad to be back together.  But Jay has a secret.  He’s been in love with Angel since he was 14 and this playing fiances is a bit too close to home for him.  It turns out that Angel might not be quite as straight as he thought though 😉  But he’s got a lot of negative  thoughts running through his head about bisexuals – largely planted by the aforementioned Lisa.   He’s not really sure what to think, but he really does seem to have feelings for Jay – if he can just figure out what they are.

While Jay and Angel and trying to figure out what is happening between them, Kenny and his ilk continue to try to disrupt the movie.  they also disrupt the GSA and try to throw a monkey wrench into the whole production.  But when they finally go to far, Jay has the opportunity to come out on top and right some wrongs of the past.  And Angel is there to help.

This is one of my favorite stories in this series.  Even though there were a couple of parts that maybe dragged a tiny bit and I really wanted Jay to get over his apprehensions about Angel knowing what he wanted, I still really enjoyed the journey these two guys took to find their HEA.  I love second chances and friends to lovers and this was a really sweet story of two guys who were really good for each other.  Another enjoyable aspect of this particular story was getting to revisit and see how all the couples from the previous books are doing.  Emery and Robin and Swift and Ben are all there, supporting Jay and Angel as well.  Jay’s family – including his badass sisters – are all ready to help save the day too!  Angel did a good job of overcoming the negative stereotyping of bisexuals that he’d been exposed to in the past and realized that he is the only one who could decide who was right for him.  Jay needed to learn to trust Angel – and he did, once he got over his self-doubts about being enough.

As usual Nick Russo did a great job narrating this book.  There are a LOT of characters – from all the past books, the movie crew, Angel, and of course the town idiots trying to shut things down.  I loved his choices and the emotions of the climactic scenes were really well acted.  Bravo!  Definitely recommended for fans of friends to lovers and second chances and of course this series 😀

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

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