Reviewed by Ro

TITLE: Covington Acres

SERIES: Briar County Book 4

AUTHOR: Riley Hart

PUBLISHER: Self Published

LENGTH:

RELEASE DATE:  August 1, 2024

BLURB:

Colby Covington has no clue if there’s anything in the world for him beyond Briar County. His family assumes he’ll do as they do: work Covington Acres, get married, have kids. Colby doesn’t want children, and seeing as he’s never felt even an inkling of romantic love for another person, he sure as hell isn’t interested in marriage.

In his mid-forties, Vincent O’Brien is starting over in the small town of Harmony. After being cheated on, again, he’s sworn off ever falling in love. As fate would have it, Vince needs a place to stay, and Colby has a spare room.

With an immediate connection that shakes up Colby’s sheltered world, neither man expects their friendship to blossom so fast…or for a semi-public hookup to make Colby realize he’s bi. Friends with benefits is perfect. It’s easy, it’s fun, they trust each other, and neither Vince nor Colby wants anything serious.

But the more their lives intertwine, the more Colby starts to feel something he’d thought himself incapable of. Something like love, with Vince…the man who will never feel—or want—the same.

Covington Acres is a small-town, bisexual/demiromantic awakening, friends-with-benefits romance with mature characters, home-brewed beer, and secret kisses.

REVIEW:

This is the fourth book in the Briar County series and I will admit, I haven’t read any of the others in the series. That did not inhibit the understanding of this book at all. Colby Covington comes from a large family, all supportive and loyal to the family and to the family farm. Only brother Roe, now engaged to his boyfriend, struck out on his own, moved away, traveled, and then returned. Colby is 37 in the prologue, which happens 2-1/2 years before the book, and he is questioning his life. “Colby knew it was one of the most beautiful places in the world. He loved it…But he also didn’t.” He’s heartbreaking right from the get-go. He has a wonderful girlfriend called Lulu, who he wants to love but doesn’t.  He stayed longer than he should have because Colby hates to disappoint anyone. More than that, “What they didn’t realize, what no one knew, was that Colby was pretty sure he was broken. That he didn’t know how to be in love with someone at all.”

The story jumps to the present, 2-1/2 years later, when we see Vince, Colby’s brother Holden’s best friend, is now renting a room from Colby. They are turning into best friends, and Vince’s goal is to get Colby out so he can have fun. Vince is 44 and loved a man who cheated on him, got a second chance, and then cheated again. That was it for Vince – hookups only, no relationships except the platonic ones he has with his friends. Vince and Colby are comfortable with each other, Vince understanding that Colby is not completely happy, to the point where getting together with his lovely family is hard. “Colby shifted uncomfortably, unsure why. Probably because being at family functions now did this to him. He wasn’t proud of it. He was surrounded by the most loving people in the world, yet they made him feel insecure.” It’s so easy to feel that way when you don’t know what it is you want and are surrounded by people confident in their life choices.

So these two begin to be more for each other, going so far as to call each other “husband”, claiming they are married, just without the sex. Of course, it doesn’t stay that way because friends with benefits and no strings sounds great. Colby feels he can’t love anyone, Vince decided to never love again after his ex, so this is a perfect solution.

This story has no angst, just two men with a lot of baggage trying to carry it for each other. There’s a little bit of non-communication but in the context of their personalities it made total sense. I liked both of them immensely, and I was pulling for Colby to find a passion in life or a person. Both families, the Covingtons and Vince’s aunt and uncle who raised him, are kind, decent people.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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