Reviewed by Lesley

TITLE:  Fen

AUTHOR: Barbara Elsborg

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH: 400 pages

RELEASE DATE: May 2, 2024

BLURB:

An indecent proposal leads to a future neither guy expected.

Fen is broken but does his best to hide the cracks. His life-changing condition might have stolen his first love—ballet, but he’s kind to old ladies, good at his job, and his mum loves him, even if his famous father refuses to acknowledge he exists.

Ripley’s a top flight barrister who’s used to winning. Mostly by fair means, occasionally not. He’s horrified when he learns his manipulative mother has sent family possessions to an auction house. On his way to retrieve them, he encounters Fen.

Cold, rain-soaked and hungry, struggling with his crutch and auction acquisitions, Fen just wants to get home. What he doesn’t want is to be drenched by a car and minutes later, confronted by the bad-tempered driver demanding he hand over his purchases. Hell no!
Ripley gets back his belongings but finds he wants more. Blue-eyed Fen has sparked something to life. Even as his barrister’s brain screams at him to be careful, he makes Fen an outrageous offer. Sleep with me for money. Fen should say no. Yet as he weighs his options, he realises turning Ripley down could be the biggest regret of his life.

In a tale where the pieces don’t always fit, can two imperfect men mend what’s broken in each other?

Warning
Main character with a life-limiting illness. Suicide of a character before story starts. Brief mention of rape and suicide of a man not in the story.

REVIEW:

Please note the trigger warnings above.

When the request came in to review this book it came with a note that it was a long book so the author was giving us a lot of time to review it. The fact that it was a reasonable length book really wasn’t an issue. I read it in 2 days having to take time out for the full-time day job.

Sleep bah who needs that. If I haven’t been clear I really enjoyed this book.

This is not a low angst story; it will tug your heart strings throughout.

Fen lost his original dream in life of being a ballet dancer. He was good. Good enough to be offered a scholarship at the Royal Ballet School but after being diagnosed with Becker Muscular Dystrophy his life hasn’t gone to plan. Now he does the best he can, struggling through life with a low paid job, crutches and a famous dad who won’t acknowledge his existence. It isn’t all bad, he has a mum who loves him, and he always tries to do the right thing in life.

Ripley, work wise and financially is living the best life. He is a very successful barrister comes from a family who are well off and is used to the good life. He has a very unpleasant mother and is very emotionally scarred from his previous relationship.

There is so much to this book, I felt really emotionally engaged with the characters. Fen I felt attached to quicker than Ripley, but as you get to know more about Ripley and his life before meeting Fen the more your heart starts breaking for him.

Wish I could give this a 4.9 rating.  I have rounded up because it is so close. Why isn’t this a full five star rating for me? This story had the potential to end 2 ways. One would have made me sigh with warm fuzzies and quiet contentment and the other would have ripped my heart fully out. The author went with one of these endings but not the one that would have made it a full 5 star read for me personally. ( I stress the personally).

PS there is a free prologue for this book Taking a Risk but you don’t need to have read it to enjoy this one

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon