Reviewed by Larissa

TITLE: The Summer We Surrendered

SERIES: Ocean Pines Series, Book 4

AUTHOR:  Victoria Denault

PUBLISHER: Self-published

LENGTH:  326 pages

RELEASE DATE:  December 7, 2022

BLURB: 

It will always be him. Even if it can never be him.

Declan

Abbott Barlowe has always been my kryptonite.

No one has ever made me feel the things I feel when I’m with him – good and bad.

Since we were kids he’s been perfect. Good at everything from standing up to his zealot parents, to winning Stanley Cups, to instinctively knowing exactly where, and how, I want to be touched.

But it turns out I’m better at one thing – coming out.

So it doesn’t matter that he just got traded, and he’s back in town permanently. I didn’t leave my wife, and toss my entire family into the Ocean Pines gossip mill so that I could end up in a secret relationship.

Even if he’s still the only man I’ve ever dreamed about.

Abbott

My sister loves to tell me I have a knack for making the impossible possible. She might be right because even after a rocky year, when Maine got a pro team, they named me their captain.

If I can manifest my dream job, maybe I can also manifest my way back into Declan Hawkins’ life.

He cut me off years ago and, scared and overwhelmed, I let him. I’ve been drowning in guilt ever since.

They say if you love something, set it free. Well, we set each other free.

So why do I keep finding myself on his doorstep when it’s too hot to sleep? And why isn’t he telling me to leave?

He deserves so much more than me… and I hope he sees it before I break both our hearts.

The Summer We Surrendered is a second chance, MM, small-town, sports romance with heat, heart, a splash of angst and a satisfying HEA.

REVIEW:

Victoria Denault explores the MM romance genre a second time in The Summer We Surrendered.  Dauntless, Denault’s 2022 MM romance debut as part of Sarina Bowen’s In Vino Veritas series, impressed with the seamless integration of her MF romance roots into the new genre without missing a beat. The sweet, sexy romance between two charismatic leading men that she depicted there, she reproduces here in The Summer We Surrendered, the fourth book in her otherwise MF Ocean Pines series. 

It appears Denault has mastered the MM trope challenge – employing tried and true tropes that MM readers know and love while simultaneously making her story different. She knows how to construct a romance plot around complex, intriguing, endearing characters who aren’t idolized, but rather flawed. She’s not afraid to pick at those flaws either. Her willingness to capitalize on the imperfect to create a perfectly plausible, emotional relationship between the male leads reaps rewards in the depth of her stories and the emotional connection her readers develop with her characters.  

If you’ve read Dauntless, you’ll see Denault’s fingerprints all over Declan and Abbott’s story. She goes back to the well, weaving a dynamic between Declan and Abbott that mirrors in many ways the relationship she constructed between Chase and Bowen in Dauntless. The plot differs significantly and there’s absolutely no connection between the two books, but the main relationship pivots on the same central conflicts. The circumstances that drove Declan and Abbott apart years ago persist, rendering them fundamentally incompatible, or so it seems.  Like Chase and Bowen in Dauntless, one character – Abbott – seems committed to living in the closet while the other – Declan – has been in the closet and refuses to ever go back again.  But they have an undeniable connection with an inevitability they cannot shake, and no matter how they try, they find the pull makes them both want to break their own long-established rules.  

Declan and Abbott have a deep, complicated relationship with each carrying a great deal of baggage, including depression and alcoholism.  Abbott’s journey has a sports romance air, but it’s sports romance-light.  The bulk of the book takes place during the off-season. Nevertheless, Denault gives an unvarnished view of an NHL player who isn’t a superstar, but instead is still working hard every day to reach the top of his game, and indeed, presently, all is not well in Abbott’s hockey world.  He may have won the Stanley Cup, but the circumstances of earning that achievement and his dream trade to a new Maine NHL expansion team aren’t smooth sailing either.  

I appreciated the raw, gritty, often ugly view of Declan and Abbott’s lives both apart and together.  Their push/pull is fascinating, and their relationship will keep you invested in the outcome.  Once again, Denault showcases how a balanced romance should be told; she makes it feel new and different, authentic and not gimmicky. The circumstances of Declan and Abbott’s relationship and the baggage each man brought to the table have meaning.

While reading this book, it’s clear that there’s background that likely occurred in the earlier MF series books.  However, I never felt I was missing information necessary to Declan and Abbott’s story.  If anything, Denault piques your interest for those MF romances if that is your jam. There’s a nice small town, found family element to the story as well, and Denault doesn’t skimp on the side characters.

I happily highly recommend The Summer We Surrendered.  It’s a well-crafted, thoughtful, dynamic romance with a solid HEA.  I hope Denault continues to turn out MM titles.  It’s clear she’s got the talent and skill to deliver impactful, sweet, sexy stories that will have her readers hooked from page one.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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