Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Castles in the Air

AUTHOR:  Felice Stevens

NARRATOR:  Kale Williams

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  7 hours and 48 minutes

RELEASE DATE:  August 28, 2024

BLURB:

One heartbroken, lonely man
Another man struggling to find his life again

Ryan Matson dreams of a new life, one with a future where drugs aren’t in control. But lying to himself isn’t helping him achieve that goal. Neither is pretending he’s sober, especially not with Logan Silver, his one-night stand and longtime crush. When Ryan’s world implodes and all his hopes for a fresh start vanish, he heads down a familiar, self-destructive path, doing what he does best: running and hiding. Only this time, he’s got Logan Silver searching for him.

And Logan won’t stop until he finds him.

Logan Silver is the man who has everything and yet nothing at all. After losing his brother to drugs years ago, Logan is heartbroken, unable to regain his footing or open himself to others. Except to Ryan, the only one to break through the pain that haunts him each day. He is driven by a need to protect Ryan, to give him all he can—a home, a chance at a fresh start…everything, no strings attached. Then Ryan disappears, taking Logan’s trust with him. And when he returns, insisting on keeping his distance, Logan feels like he’s been used. And nobody uses Logan.

Logan and Ryan are unable to deny their attraction, but this time has to be different: no more lying to themselves and each other. Logan must let go of his heartbreak and fear to support Ryan as he discovers his own way. Because Ryan doesn’t need a savior. He needs to own his truth, believe in himself, and accept that he deserves to be happy. Only then can the two have a future together—one built on a foundation of love and trust—that won’t vanish like clouds in thin air.

From Lambda Literary Award winning author Felice Stevens comes an emotional MM romance full of heartbreak, hope and ultimately love. It’s filled with angst, true friendship, and swoony, steamy moments plus an epic happily ever after.

Be advised there is discussion of substance abuse and mental health issues.

REVIEW:

Whew!  This was a hard listen.  Both of these men are so damaged.  It takes them quite a while to get to the place where they can be completely honest with each other.

Initially Ryan, seems to be the one with the biggest issues.  And he is – in a way.  He’s an addict who has a lot of problems taking responsibility.  He’s been a terrible husband, friend and lawyer.  He was kicked out by his family.  He’s got a lot of self-hatred but at least his desire to survive has left him wanting to figure out a way forward.  He treated his ex-husband (Garrett from Ms. Stevens A New York Minute) horribly.  He took advantage.  But perhaps his addiction was a symptom of the many things that he hasn’t dealt with.  His self-medicating helped him avoid the hard things in his life.

But it turns out that Logan has a lot of deep-seated problems.  So much so, that he is even more closed off than Ryan.  He hasn’t dealt with his past and so he repeats unhealthy patterns as well.  He takes Ryan as he is trying to get his life together and thinks he’s helping.  His anger and his worry and his despair when Ryan disappears from his life after yet another blow to Ryan’s hard won sobriety push him over an edge he wasn’t aware was there.  His friends and colleagues however, call him out on it.

When eventually Logan and Ryan are face to face again, well Logan is not too happy about seeing Ryan seemingly now getting his life together after running out on Logan.  Logan is pretty callous to Ryan as he tries to explain to Logan why he left.  Ryan also realizes that he needs more help and agrees to therapy.  Despite his desire to not go back and rehash his past, his therapist helps him forgive himself and look forward to the man he wants to be.

There are a lot of sad moments in this story for the young men these two both were and what they have endured and overcome.  Ryan has to stand on his own two feet and take ownership of his past and his future.  Logan needs to stop living in the past and believing that there was anything he could have done to change that situation for his family as well.  Given that Ryan is in recovery, it’s very slow for these two to build a relationship – something that isn’t recommended for anyone in until at least a year of sobriety is under their belt.  The friendship that these two build is the key to a hard won HEA.

Kale Williams delivers yet another fine performance – particularly of the two protagonists who both need to change a lot in order to have any kind of a happy future – either separately or together.  Ryan is self-destructive and so disappointed in himself that he took a successful life and threw it away with both hands.  Logan is hell-bent on fixing a past that isn’t his to fix and thereby putting pressure on where it wasn’t warranted or needed.  The anger and the desire and the self-loathing are just palpable in this audio.  The side characters are so insightful (brilliant crossover/cameos from the From Hell and Back series characters) they clearly know these men better than they know themselves in some ways.  The path to honesty and true intimacy is a tough one!  But so worth it.  Another emotional read of characters overcoming adversity and doing the hard work to get to a good place.  Just a great redemption arc particularly for Ryan who seemed pretty irredeemable 😉

RATING: 

BUY LINKS:

Amazon

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