Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Where the Pines Kiss the Sky
AUTHOR: V.L. Locey
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 213 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 24, 2023
BLURB:
Sometimes life leads you back to where it all began because home is where the heart can truly mend.
Elias Lake is facing a personal and professional crisis. The world-famous star of countless action movies has been outed on social media. By an ex-lover with a poisonous ax to grind. His life and reputation as “The World’s Only Remaining Manly Man”—the studio’s PR words, not his—is hiding in his mansion in the L.A. hills, trying to sort out where to go now. The media is camped outside his gates, the studio heads are up in arms, and his legion of fans are ready to fire up the torches and grab their pitchforks.
With his world burning down around him, he tucks his tail and heads home to a small island that hugs the rocky coast of Maine. There Elias Lake can return to being plain old Elias Kesside, the son of an innkeeper, who spent his youth pretending to be a famed local pirate or swimming in the choppy waters of Kesside Bay. Hiding isn’t as easy as the beleaguered movie star had hoped, though, and when the press finds him, he ducks into a small pottery shop near the inn to shake off the paparazzi. There he meets Gibson Vale, the upbeat and attractive older ceramist who owns the shop. What starts out as a duck-and-cover moment turns into a friendship that quickly grows into something strong, vibrant, and healing for both men.
Where the Pines Kiss the Sky is a slow burn, age gap, small town M/M romance starring two men who are looking for new beginnings, a tiny coastal town filled with well-meaning but incredibly nosy natives, rough seas, rocky coasts, sailboats under summery sunsets, and a happy-ever-after.
REVIEW:
Elias is a big action star who has been firmly in the closet. Until an ex outs him and posts some pretty racy pictures as well. UGH! He’s being hounded and studio who makes his macho action hero movies is not happy. In fact, he may lose his very lucrative gig. He heads home to Maine, where he hasn’t visited in 20 years to hide out from the press.
His father is thrilled to have him home. He doesn’t care that Elias is gay – he wish he would have known earlier. There is a little bit of distance and Elias has been worried that he’s yet more of a disappointment to his dad. When he’s checking out the town, he sees someone with a camera and he automatically things he’s being tracked. He hides out in a ceramist shop and meets the owner, a gorgeous bear of a man.
Gibson hides Elias in the ceramist shop and they have a bit of a moment 😉 Later when they meet again, it’s clear that they have a connection. Elias has never really “dated” before though. They have dinner together and things go from there. But Elias’s future is uncertain. He hasn’t been out before. Gibson has a sad past and he’s happy on the island. Will Elias go back to Hollywood? Will his career survive? Can he be happy back in Maine? Will Gibson accept all of him? These and more questions will be answered by reading this sweet romance.
What an enjoyable love story 🙂 Elias and Gibson were an interesting and different couple. They come from very different worlds, but they really have a connection. Elias has only lived his life in the closet, so being with an out man and living his truth is a totally new experience for him. it takes him some time to feel comfortable doing that. Being seen with a gay man, holding hands, spending the night at an openly gay man’s home, etc. For Elias, finding a man who appreciates all of him and who he just enjoys talking to is also something he’s not known before. He left his home and father when he was 18 and he hasn’t been back in 20 years. He’s only had relationships on the DL with younger twinks who were more interested in being with a movie star. Gibson is the complete opposite – older, a bear of a man and an intellectual as well as an artist. Gibson is “existing” to use his word, but Elias knows he deserves more. Gibson has suffered unimaginable loss and Elias feels guilty about his own issues. They are very good at providing solace to each other. Gibson appreciates things about Elias that other’s look askance at – like his penchant for male lingerie.
The supporting characters – particularly Elias’s father and his childhood best friend as well as his agent and trainer – are there for him and Gibson. Gibson has made a decent life for himself in his solitary cabin. He enjoys his work as a ceramist and former philosophy professor and there is something to be said for the small town life. The mayor is a hoot too 😉 Hollywood’s hypocrisy and the hounding and harassment of Elias after he’s outed are particularly well-written. This 24-hour new cycle, cult of personality, celebrity obsessed version of the 21st century is particularly distasteful and 100% accurate. I loved that Elias ended up finding out you CAN go home again. And like it. The HEA for Gibson and Elias and his new career direction were fabulous. Left me with warm fuzzies and a smile on my face. Highly recommended for fans of what turns out to be a lovely story of second chances for two men who face a lot and come out on top – together.
RATING: 
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