Reviewed by Kat
TITLE: Bridging Hope
SERIES: Bridging Hearts (Book 1)
AUTHOR: Greyson McCoy
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 89 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 26, 2024
BLURB:
When workaholic Pierce Simms’s sister passes, he suddenly finds himself unemployed, back in the hometown he fled, and raising his niece and nephew. Despite that, he’s confident he has things under control—at least until his sister’s high-school sweetheart shows up.
With his teaching grant ended, Dalton O’Dell is at loose ends and tight purse strings. Just as the world crashes down on him, he learns his ex-girlfriend has passed and named him guardian of her two young children. Chaos ensues when he and her brother, Pierce, are forced together to raise the toddlers in Pierce’s family farmhouse.
Nestled in the enchanting beauty of the farm, Pierce and Dalton bond over the challenges of co-parenting and their shared grief as unexpected love blossoms. Love might not be enough, however, if they can’t learn to bridge the gap between their different worlds and overcome the trauma of their pasts.
REVIEW:
I had no idea that this was based in my beloved Oregon. What a special treat! 💕
Pierce is no where prepared for all that has happen in the last 6 months of his life. He never planned to return to Wilcox, a small town in Umpqua County, Oregon. That farm had been hell growing up on and he ran away when he feared that his father would beat him to death for getting caught getting a kiss from the football coach’s son. The shelter up in Portland he landed at not only helped him with therapy but get through high school and college. It also gave him his best friend Sam. But here he sits. His sister Lizzie got really sick and passed away. Her despicable sperm donor is locked away in prison for murdering a homeless man while strung out on meth so he’s not in the picture for raising her two babies. And the farm was somehow left to Pierce. So, the only snag in him raising his precocious toddler niece, Frankie, and her baby brother, Max, is the fact she left custody of the children to her HS ex, Dalton. The extremely cute, desirable and gay ex that also plans to honor his besties request. How do the two navigate raising these two precious children and keep what is brewing between them separate?
This was a very fast read but it covered what needed to be told. My heart immediately went out to those two precious babies. Their dad was a scumbag druggie that thankfully wouldn’t be in the picture. But losing their Mom was tough. And having to adjust to a gay uncle “guncle” they had never met until their mom was dying is hard. Add in that their uncle had never planned to visit there and was now raising them. And a new man is entering their lives as their guardian. Talk about extreme overload. Thankfully Frankie took to Dalton right away like she did Uncle Prince. Then there’s the trauma that Pierce had to feel returning to a place where his father would beat him so badly he’d wind up in the hospital and he had eventually ran away from home in fear for his life. Plus his guilt at leaving Lizzie behind and abandoning her. Then you add in the guilt Dalton had for Lizzie because he couldn’t love her the was she loved him. A lot of guilt to overcome.
I love that Sam used “tough love” on Pierce to finally have him open his eyes to real truths. Truths his Battle-Axe, as the kids from the shelter had named her, former counselor helped him understand and grow up so he could move forward. Because Dalton, Frankie and Max deserved nothing less.
I truly enjoyed this short, poignant story of overcoming what life has thrown at you and rising above to succeed and live.
RATING: 
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