Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Out Of Control
SERIES: North Shore Stories (Book 3)
AUTHOR: Lynn Van Dorn
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 359 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 30, 2022
BLURB:
Tomasz has been in love with Nik for as long as he can remember. Nik is gorgeous and intelligent and sexy and even Tomasz’s parents like him. He’s perfect for Tomasz and Tomasz is perfect for him. Their love is meant to be and will be epic enough to make angels weep.
There’s only one problem.
Tomasz is just a teenager and Nik is a decade older. And Tomasz is college-bound for a university halfway across the country. And Nik sees Tomasz as only a kid. Also, Nik is kind of a mess. A scorching hot mess, granted, but the man has issues. Deep dark ones.
So maybe there are a few problems. But there’s nothing Tomasz can’t overcome to make sure their happily ever after comes true.
Nik and all his baggage don’t stand a chance.
Out of Control is the third novel in the North Shore Stories series. It’s got “the grumpy one and the sunshine one,” lots of found family, a little bit of particle physics, far too much food, and the happiest of happy endings.
REVIEW:
I’m really not sure how I felt about this one.
Tomasz has always had a thing for his big brother Marek’s best friend Nik as long as he can remember and the further he gets into his teenage years the more he makes it know. But Nik always makes sure that Tomas knows no means no…until he can’t say no any more. Nik knows it’s wrong to secretly desire Tomasz but he can’t stop his body or mind from wanting. But he has made a promise to Marek to wait until Tomasz turns 18 before acting on it…as if he could ever stop Tomasz from what he wants! But is 10 years age difference too much of a span and what happens when Tomasz heads to MIT in the fall and he is left again???
I know that Tomasz did all the pursuing and Nik tried to persuade him that they were a bad idea but it creeped me out a bit that the 17 year old was pursuing so had. And Marek knew what was up. And he knew at least part of Nik’s past. After all he was his best friend! And his husband Ryan is a lawyer so he should have been the one to sit his little brother down and make him understand what danger he was putting Nik in by continuing his pursuit while he was under age.
The book became much more comfortable for me when Tomasz finally became 18. I could at least handle it then. But I truly felt for Nik. At times I felt like Tomasz was a steamroller and just crushed Nik until I wasn’t sure he could survive without Tomasz. I know that the entire Allen clan loved Nik even though he couldn’t allow himself to believe it or that he was just a throwaway. Allowing himself to be swept away by Tomasz would lead to being discarded again just like by his mom, his dad, his Babushka, by his disgusting pedophile foster father Frank because, at 14, he got too old to play with any more. Everyone eventually left Nik and eventually Tomasz would too! It just broke my heart that Nik was almost too damaged to see true love right in front of him. And that part I got…Tomasz had waited his whole life to be with Nik. He would love and treasure him unconditionally. Nik may have thought he was “training wheel” for the younger Tomasz but Nik was and would always be he one and only for Tomasz.
I know this was the third book in the series. Books one and two deal with both of the Chadwick brothers. The first one deals with Tyler, the Hollywood star. The second is Ryan’s journey with Marek, Tomasz’s much older brother. I haven’t read the first two and the author did a good job of filling in who these characters were along with how they interconnected with the Allen family so I didn’t feel lost at all.
I know that I definitely liked the last 75% of the book much better than the first quarter. I was constantly concerned that Tomasz would do something that would land Nik in major trouble and that made reading the book apprehensive for me. Although Nik journey is not an easy one I’m glad, in the end, that I took this book on. But I will warn you Nik’s story is hard to read in some parts and will make you hurt for all that he went through to survive. Because that’s what that poor broken boy was…a survivor. This book is tough and gritty but has a well earned HEA.
RATING: 
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