Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Firefly Lane

SERIES:  Briar County #1

AUTHOR:  Riley Hart

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  269 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 7, 2021

BLURB:

At forty-three, Holden Barnett is getting along just fine. His job as a pilot keeps him from getting restless, and he’s got a man who doesn’t want promises for the future. One phone call from his estranged sister changes everything. She needs his help, so Holden drops everything and heads to Harmony, a small town in Briar County, which represents everything he’s tried to avoid in life.

Monroe Covington is forty-five and happy. He loves his life—running his store, helping at his family’s farm, and spending his days with his best friend, Lindsey, and their son, Wyatt. Sure, half the town likes to forget he’s gay, and he’d love for the queer population to be bigger, but Roe makes do. He misses dating, relationships, and a man to hold at night, but at least he gets new eye candy when Holden, the brother of the woman who’s renting his cabin, shows up.

The attraction is instant, the friendship not far behind, but between Holden’s initial relationship status, family complications, and the two of them wanting different things, they’re a disaster waiting to happen…only it doesn’t feel that way, not with how much time they spend talking, laughing, and eventually, tumbling into bed, a field, or the back of a truck together. The closer they get, the more Holden realizes that just being fine isn’t enough, and Roe begins to see that his life isn’t as complete as he thought. Now, if they could only sort out the rest of it…

REVIEW:

Firefly Lane, the first book in Riley Hart’s new Briar County series, is a charming romance between two men in their forties, set in fictional Harmony, North Carolina, with its lovely small-town sensibilities. This is the story of how drastically life changes for big city man, Holden Barnett, when he meets and falls in love with small-town guy, Monroe Covington. In less than three months, Holden’s priorities with regards to love, family, and community have completely shifted the direction of his life. He’s never felt as happy, alive, and fulfilled as when he puts life in Atlanta and his job as an airline pilot on pause to temporarily relocate to Harmony.

The move was just supposed to be short-term for the summer when he went to rescue his sister and teenaged nephew, Marilee and Sean, from an abusive marriage. He hates tiny towns; they remind him too much of his own broken childhood and his parents’ failings. He rejects small-town life because he doesn’t want to be like them: drinking, doing drugs, partying, unemployed, and physically abusive to him. In the little burg where they lived, where everyone knew everyone else’s business – including the abuse in his household – no one ever stepped in to help him and Marilee. He had to be the adult of the family, and to this day, he carries the weight of the world on his shoulders and feels responsible for anything that goes wrong.

When Holden meets Roe, there’s instant attraction but neither is looking for a relationship. Holden, in fact, has a boyfriend at the time (but there’s no cheating in this book). Roe is a trusting, kind, generous, family man who senses Holden doesn’t feel worthy of love. The men are so in tune with each other, able to see and read each other’s desires and intentions. The sexy times are more than just hot – you can feel the need and deep emotion. They have fun, trying lots of positions and flip fucking.

I love novels centered around small-town life – with families that have lived there for generations, where everyone is friendly and welcoming and willing to lend a helping hand. Where there’s no such thing as a stranger. These settings lend themselves so well to series where the reader gets to know the locally owned businesses – the diner, the ice cream shop, the little grocery store, the local farms – and the personable and sometimes eccentric townsfolk. Roe’s large extended family plays a significant role in his life and as a found family for Holden, Marilee, and Sean. It’s heartwarming.

That said, as much as I enjoy stories with snippets of everyday life, I think the beginning of this one got bogged down a bit too much. The pace is slow in the first half, but picks up nicely in the second half when Holden and Roe’s relationship gets off the ground.

The bottom line is that Holden must determine how much he’s willing to risk to have the love of his life. This sweet, low-key novel is one I happily recommend.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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