Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: House Arrest Without a Home
AUTHOR: Brina Brady
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 221 pages
RELEASE DATE: January 10, 2021
BLURB:
Shawn O’Brien
Pre-law student Shawn O’Brien loses his mind when he finds his live-in boyfriend Jasper Logan with a younger man in their bed. Shawn breaks the law and ends up in big trouble, in danger of losing his scholarship and freedom. He needs a new place to live to serve his house arrest sentence or he will go to jail for six months.
Noah Braun
Successful, District Prosecuting Attorney, Noah Braun has it all: money, friends, and a top career, but he’s at risk of losing it all as he grieves the loss of his husband. His father, Judge Braun finds the perfect lover to save his son. The judge asks Noah to take Shawn into his home to complete his sentence.
Everything changes when Noah and Shawn meet and find themselves living together. Noah is determined to do whatever it takes to prove to Shawn that their relationship will be different from his nightmarish one with Jasper.
Can Noah find a way to win Shawn’s heart forever, or will Shawn move on when his house arrest is complete?
Steamy, Age Gap, Hurt and Comfort, Contemporary, Forced Proximity, Destined to Be Together
REVIEW:
A new-to-me author with a new trope for me too.
Shawn O’Brien is a bright young student but his choice for love couldn’t have been more wrong! Now, after catching his lover in their bed with a very young man, being thrown out of his home and Jasper won’t even let him have his clothes. Taking matters in his own hands he makes another wrong choice and goes back to get his things, with the gun Shawn gave him. Arrested and watching his promising law career-to-be circling the drain he calls the one person he trusts, his school mentor and prominent defense attorney Henrik to come and help him out of this disastrous mess. Forced into house arrest, Henrik places him with his best friend Noah Braun, the son of Judge Braun that Shawn was his graduate assistant. Noah is still grieving for the loss of his husband a year ago. Now he has agreed to do a favor for his dad and best friend by taking in a young man that needs a place to serve out his house arrest. What he didn’t expect was the instant attraction to the young man. Shawn is stuck at his house for six months now and there’s absolutely no way he will be able to resist him.
I don’t know if it was just me but this story just didn’t click for me. The dialogue was very stilted and clinical. I felt at times like I was being retold a story instead of being in the moment with these men. I was offended when Noah suggested that he pay Shawn to have sex so Shawn would have some income and he could get closer to him. The young man is coming off a bad relationship with an abusive boyfriend who cheated on him and the guy he doesn’t know but is forced to live with us coming on to him and offering money in exchange for sex with him! And he’s a district attorney!! Talk about bad choices. I know he said he wouldn’t force Shawn into anything he didn’t want but he had all the power and leverage. Luckily Shawn was strong than he appeared and shot that down. They did rush into sex pretty fast though.
This was definitely forced proximation and insta-love attraction but it was even a bit too fast and loose for me. I did like that both Henrik and Judge Braun were looking out for Shawn and I believe they knew these two would fall for the other. Even though Shawn’s ex was the villain in this story the other one was his first PO. What a piece of nastiness he was! He was ready to make Shawn’s life a living hell.
I really wanted to like this book but it just fell flat for me and never really engaged me like I expected. I felt for Shawn and wanted him to be safe and loved. Yes he made stupid decisions from time to time but he was young and inexperienced even though he had been kicked out of his home at 16. And Noah, being a lonely widower, should have captivated me but really didn’t use his head at times very well.
RATING: 
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