Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Meant To Be
SERIES: Love On Tap: Pain & Healing (Book 1)
AUTHOR: Sammi Cee
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 111 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 14, 2023
BLURB:
PJ couldn’t be more surprised that he needs a Daddy in the bedroom…
Joel and PJ met as pre-teens at Takoda Outreach Center. They’ve shared every secret, first as best friends, then roommates. But now that they’ve graduated from college, adulting presents circumstances and unforeseen problems that they never saw coming. Joel’s at a new job, using his degree, and PJ’s working at The Tap Tavern as a waiter, frustrated by the choices he’s made.
What happens when two men who thought they knew everything there was to know about each other find out that some truths were too hard to share? Why is PJ so shocked that his confident, sexy best friend would do anything to make him happy?
REVIEW:
What a perfect novella to introduce this new spin-off series in the Takoda Outreach Center universe.
The reason this book worked so well as the lead in to the new series as a novella was that we have all been rooting for Joel and PJ forever. We have watched their families form and grow. We have loved their Dads and siblings (both blood and found). We watched Archie look out for his little brother and try to shelter and protect him. We just needed them to finally accept the inevitable.
Obviously everyone except these two incredibly dense young men knew that they belonged together and were madly in love with their best friend. We just had to let them finally catch up and let the pieces fall together. But there where times I just wanted to smack them up side the head and tell the to open their eyes because the love of your life is RIGHT THERE!!! Because EVERYONE KNEW!!! I mean…they were even betting on them!
The surprise part for me was that Joel figured out what his PJ needed and took on the role of his Daddy. I never, ever saw that coming. Also the hidden artwork that PJ had been producing for years. I get that it’s dark. Heck his and Archie’s lives were really dark for awhile there and his ability to put that emotion on paper with charcoal was not only showcasing his talent but deeply therapeutic. I just didn’t see why he hid it from Joel. They had shared almost everything but, when they finally graduated and started their adult lives, they suddenly buttoned up their sharing and emotions. Yes, PJ’s art was deeply personal but so was so much of what they shared. Even though they kept their thoughts and wants deeply locked away from the other. And I get that too. The fear of not only being not loved back but losing your closet and dearest friend was too much after all the loss in both their young lives.
I see that we get Cameron’s story next and it is as highly anticipated as Joel and PJ’s story. Cameron has literally been the Daddy to all of Toby’s Crew until they found their forever Daddy. Now it’s time for him to accept his own fate. And I can’t wait to see everyone watching how this plays out!
RATING: 
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