Reviewed by Taylin

TITLE: Meet You In The Waves

SERIES: South Coast #1

AUTHOR: Aria Brennan

PUBLISHER: Self-Published

LENGTH: 290 Pages

RELEASE DATE: July 1, 2024

BLURB:

AJAY
No one expects to be abandoned the day before Christmas but that is exactly where I find myself when my mum cancels our summer holiday to be with her new husband. Not wanting to spend the break alone, I jump at my best friend’s offer to join him at his family’s beach house.
The only potential hiccup? Dane’s lazy, beach bum older brother, Nick, will also be there.
Except Nick is like nothing his younger brother has represented. He’s a welcome breath of fresh air, a man who lives life to the fullest and who calls to me in ways nobody else has ever done before. Oh, and did I mention how good he looks on the back of a surfboard?
As far as I know I’m totally straight and it’s easy to mistake attraction for admiration. But then the lightbulb suddenly flicks and I can no longer deny how much I want him.
I’m hooked and falling fast but we both have exes – my manipulative, slightly stalkerish high school sweetheart and his devastatingly beautiful supermodel ex who just so happens to be Nick’s best friend – who aren’t quite so thrilled about letting us have our happily ever after. Besides, this was only meant to be a summer fling. Right?

Meet You In The Waves is a light hearted, low angst, bi-awakening love story featuring one sweet music student and one maybe not-so-sweet best friend’s brother and an explosive love found on a hot and humid Australian beach. Come for a dip and stay for a while.

REVIEW:

Having been let down at the last minute by his mum, Ajay is invited to spend the Christmas break with his best friend’s family. What made his sadness worse was his friends’ scathing reports of the older brother. However, upon arrival, the godlike figure coming out of the water was not what he expected – nor was the kind person behind the veil. It was enough for any man to question his position on the Kinsey scale. However, both had an ex intent on standing in the way of (possibly) true love.

Meet You In The Waves is the first in a two-part series featuring different couples that are interconnected. This first installment involves Nick and Ajay, who, when their journey is completed, will make cameo appearances in book two.

I will freely admit that I was agreeably surprised by this story. The blurb points out the ‘light-hearted, low angst, bi-awakening’ nature of the tale, which didn’t fill me with the hope of a gritty page-turner. I expected a pleasant narrative and not much more. But I couldn’t stop reading. I eventually gave up at 1 am in desperate need of sleep, continuing before breakfast the next day. Each encounter made me smile, and my heart grow.

The story is told in the first person from the viewpoints of Nick and Ajay. The setting is a small coastal town in Australia. So, sun, sea, surf, sibling dysfunction (I can’t call it rivalry, because there is none), close friends, and exes are the name of the game.

Talented music student Ajay is part of a stifling close-knit group – besties dating besties situation – Dane and Dee, Ajay and Kira. For fear of upsetting the dynamics, Ajay stays with the dramatic and manipulative – we’re dating, we’re not dating, Kira. However, on the coast, Nick shows Ajay a freeing world outside of grades and college pressures that helps Ajay decompress. When Dane goes turncoat, Nick also offers friendship.

Initial encounters with Nick provide an egotistical picture of a man who has the looks and is up for some summer fun corrupting his upstart of a brother’s bestie. Nick never had Dane’s smarts, so he does his best with what he has. He didn’t expect to encounter a young man he could relate to and a deepening connection, which neither expected. Nick soon showed a depth that wormed its way into my heart, coupled with a series of events that made me melt in their presence. Oh, and the sexuality adjustment was deliciously spicy.

There was an openness between both protagonists that gelled superbly. One would call the other on their shit, not allowing potentially explosive situations to become worse. Usually, I love a good dose of angst. But the way Nick and Ajay interacted was done so well, and seamlessly flowing that I didn’t mind the speed at which dramas (and there were some) were dealt with. It was as refreshing as the sea breeze. Bravo.

RATING:

BUY LINKS: 

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