Reviewed by Lesley

TITLE:  Dedicated To You

AUTHOR: Andrew Grey

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 236 pages

RELEASE DATE: January 9, 2024

BLURB:

Dillon Fitzgerald is a famous singer. He’s also exhausted. Too many shows in a too busy schedule have left too little time for him to write or relax. He feels like the music is being strangled out of him. Some time is just what the doctor ordered, so when his friend offers him a week on a cruise, Dillon gets right on board. All he has to do is grow a little beard and hope no one recognizes him.

Financial advisor Tio Smythe-Barrett has been friends with Dillon forever. When the latest in a long string of girlfriends turns out to be a cheater, Tio offers her spot on what would have been a romantic vacation to Dillon instead. After all, why wouldn’t he want to spend a week with his best friend?

As Tio and Dillon share close quarters, the boundaries in their friendship shift like the ocean currents. Spending time with Tio has Dillon’s creative muse singing, and he can no longer deny that his feelings for Tio go beyond friendship. His heart soars when Tio responds to his flirting—but is he willing to risk what they have for the chance at true love?

REVIEW:

This is the story of two very old friends falling in love.

Tio has always known he is bisexual but has never been with a man. He works with his father who has some very outdated views and does not think his dad will be very accepting . When he catches his girlfriend cheating on him, she quickly becomes an ex, and he invites his best friend Dillon Fitzgerald to join him.

Dillon Fitzgerald needs a rest. He has just finished a very successful tour and his manager, Leon, is trying to book loads more concerts in, on what should be his down time. Dillon surprises himself by saying yes when his oldest friend Tio invites him to join on him on a cruise. He is surprised because not only is he worried about how he can maintain his anonymity on a cruise ship but also how is he going to manage in close proximity with his secret crush Tio.

Having just come back from a cruise I really recognised all the references to the bars, dining rooms, shows etc (although sadly we were not in a suite). They were very accurate and made me want to book another trip. Even the description of the different types of people you talk to and can end up sitting with at dinner really resonated with me. (Which is why we always go with freedom dining 😉). We also normally find our own “Jack and Claudia.” This recognition added to my personal enjoyment of the story.

The characters in this book are all well written and the main characters in this book are really likeable. You want Dillon and Tio to work things out. The stalker ex-girlfriend seems to have a screw loose in quite a scary way and Dillon’s manager that clearly has something else going on. This story has lots to keep your attention but at a good pace.

When thinking about the tags I was going to put this story I realised that Andrew Grey has covered a number of different tropes in this book. Best friends to lovers, close proximity, first time with a man, pop star and stalker ex-girlfriend to name but a few.  But the book doesn’t get confused in what it’s trying to be though, which is first and foremost a really sweet love story.

Oh and read the lyrics to Dedicated To You and you will see why the title is perfect for this book.(Not sure if it was named after the song or not )

RATING: (extra .25 cos of the cruise references I recognise)

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon