Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Suddenly Beck
SERIES: Belong To Me #1
AUTHOR: Vawn Cassidy
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 348 Pages
RELEASE DATE: July 23, 2021
BLURB:
A surprisingly sweet, sinfully sexy, and deliciously hilarious romp along the Cornish coast.
Nathan Elliott has run away from home at the age of twenty-six. His teenage rebellion may have come ten years late, but better late than never. Leaving behind a world of wealth and privilege, and a strict patriarchal family that would never except a gay son, he’s ready to embrace life and make up for lost time, but nothing’s ever that simple. A coin toss, a delayed train, and a wrong bus later, and Nat finds himself in a small bay in Cornwall being hauled out of the ocean by a gorgeous stranger and wondering how the hell his life got so off track.
Beck Ainsley lives life by a very simple ethos, don’t get attached, don’t get involved and don’t fall in love. He’s been there, done that and got the t-shirt that reads I’m a gullible idiot. Now, he keeps his life simple; all he needs is his dog, his art, his rambling sea cottage overlooking the bay and a few choice waves to surf. He’s not looking for love or commitment, but when he ends up plucking a posh boy from London with incredible blue eyes from the ocean, Cupid doesn’t just shoot him with an arrow, he decides to club him senseless with the bow too.
One simple agreement. A summer fling, a chance to act on the insane attraction between them with no strings attached, and at the end of the summer they walk away.
There’s just one problem, fate is a fickle and capricious creature, and she has no intention of letting them walk away unscathed. They’re about to discover that sometimes the heart wants, what the heart wants…
From author Wendy Saunders writing as Vawn Cassidy, comes this hot and sweet, first time, MM romance that will leave you laughing out loud and fanning yourself from the heat…
Can be read as a Standalone
REVIEW:
Tired from familial expectations and a life already mapped out, aged twenty-six, Nat runs away from home. Ending up on the Cornish coast, Beck saves Nat from unexpected storm waves, and from there, the future of Nat and Beck seems to be in the hands of fate.
Suddenly Beck, is a sweet story made special by the surrounding characters as much as the main men. Technically not brilliant, predominantly some autonomous eyes. As the story is told in the first person, present tense from the viewpoints of Nat and Beck, there is some expected overlap in event telling, but not much.
There is some super imagery/world-building, and with the tale being a slow burn, I felt almost part of the community, caring for its inhabitants. There is a great deal of fun and snark, mainly provided by Beck’s joking siblings, who provided a superb family dynamic. Many phrases had me smiling, and a few one-liners had me laughing out loud. Oh, and Molly is simply the best. There is also lots of sensitivity alongside mixed emotions while forging a path ahead.
The seeds for book two are sown, but the arc is not expanded. This suggests that the other books with either be associated with or reside within the Cornish bay area. The blurb says that this book can be read as a standalone. There is one thread that wasn’t completed, albeit it didn’t involve Beck or Nat. Nevertheless – it was still annoying to be left hanging.
So, I get the impression that although the book technically can be read as a standalone, and the primary characters will get their due endings – one will get a more in-depth account as the series progresses. In all likelihood, characters will cross over, and there may be secondary story arcs.
All in all, I found Suddenly Beck to be an enjoyably satisfying, comforting, community-based easy read that contained a bit of drama and made me smile a lot. The series has the potential to be a world to immerse oneself in and not want to leave.
A good book, better than average, and a promising start to a series.
RATING: 
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