Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  The Hidden Door

SERIES:  Open Doors

AUTHOR:  Vinni George

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  294 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 8, 2022

BLURB:

Life is tricky…especially with a hidden identity.

In a word, Brody’s life is complicated. He has enough secrets—and enough reasons to keep them—to fill the back of his Volvo station wagon. But something about the marine biology nerd who works at the smoothie shop has the things he’s kept hidden begging to be set free.

Phin has never been one for complications, which is why he’s always avoided relationships. Hookups? Yes. Relationships? Definitely not. So why, after striking up an unlikely friendship with Brody, can Phin not seem to get the hot surfer with the pink surfboard out of his head?

When circumstances force Brody and Phin together, will Brody’s new feelings be enough to convince Phin to build a relationship with him, or will Brody have to share parts of his past and present that no one else knows about to keep his man?

The Hidden Door is the final full-length novel in the Open Doors series featuring a marine biologist who loves to teach, a SoCal surfer with a hidden identity, and an unlikely friendship forged over a shared love of tide pools, tacos, and vinyl records.

REVIEW:

Note:  This is the last book in this series and as such contains major spoilers for the previous books.  It can be read as a standalone, but I think it’s even more enjoyable as part of these series having read the previous stories.

Brody present himself as the quintessential California surfer dude.  He work part time at Fletcher’s surf shop, does naked yoga with Hank, the 70-year old drag queen and volunteers at a homeless shelter.  His friends don’t really know too much about him other than that though.

Phin is a PhD student in Marine Biology.  He volunteers at the Aquarium in LaJolla, TAs some undergrad classes, works on his research and works part time at the smoothie shop down the boardwalk from the surf shop.  Brody is a regular customer at the smoothie shop and they have some common friends.

Brody and Phin keep running into each other at the beach and Phin shares a lot of his knowledge of the ocean and tidepools.  Brody is entranced by the science nerd talk 🙂  Phin is really attracted to Brody, but he’s been friend zoned and he’s Ok with that.  He’d rather have Brody as a friend than nothing at all.  But Brody is feeling a connection with Phin that he hasn’t experienced really before and that means he’s going to have to be honest with Phin and tell him more than he usually shares.  Phin is really surprised by what Brody shares with him, but he’s willing to go along with Brody and move their friendship forward at his pace.  They grow closer and circumstances then conspire to put them in closer proximity and then things sort of accelerate from there.

But Brody sill hasn’t shared his past with Phin.  Phin has one idea of Brody and he know he’s a good man, but he’s shocked when he finds out the full truth of Brody’s past.  The way he finds out is also a rather big shock and really blindsides him.  Brody knows he’s messed up things, but hopefully he can explain?  If Phin will let him.

Oh man!!!  There is so much to this story.  I am trying to keep out any spoilers here in the review that aren’t shared in the blurb.  Bottom line is that Brody is not what he appears to be.  He has learned to present one face to the world so that he doesn’t have to deal with other’s perception of him.  Phin sees glimpses of the man behind the laid-back surfer as they get to know each other, but he can’t just put his finger on things.  They’ve both lost their grandmothers and they bond over that.  They both are good guys – doing important work and sharing that together.  Volunteering at the homeless shelter doing meals, fixing up bikes to distribute to folks with no transportation, etc.  It’s clear that they are compatible.  Brody’s sexuality is something that he’s not been comfortable sharing in the past and he’s been happy to let people make assumptions about him. Phin is the first person he’s really connected with in a long long time.  They work their way through that, but Brody’s other secrets continue to come between him and Brody is terrified to let Phin know everything about him.  He’s been burned before and even though he does trust Phin, he has trouble getting past the fear.  Despite others trying to convince him to share, he balks.

There are so many great characters in this series and I loved seeing all of them again in this finale. Everyone is happy and supportive and continuing on their own journeys.  There are so many wonderful moments in this story of two guys who are finally in the right place with the right person and I was there cheering them on for all of it.  Love this series and this book was a great finisher.  Highly recommended!

RATING:

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