C. J. Bishop

Abel is a dancer at a male strip club who is injured by an over-zealous creep of a customer and ends up in the ER where he meets Dr. Grant. For Dr. Grant it's lust-at-first-sight and he can't shake his desire to be with Abel no matter how hard he tries. But can he get through Abel's rough exterior that seems to push everyone away. And when Abel's sister gets sick, can he find a way to comfort the young man that doesn't just make things worse.

Content warning off the bat - descriptions and depictions of past sexual abuse/rape.

There's something about this story and the characters of Abel and his sister that really drew me in and made me want to like it. I think there's a lot of potential with the characters, but overall this first installment of the series didn't really hook me as much as I think it could have. The insta-love here on Dr. Grant's part is nearly jarring - he sees him once and doesn't just want to get intimate with him, he suddenly wants to mate with him for life? That's a bit too much. And I'm still not sure how I feel about the way things seem to conveniently and unrealistically line up at the end to provide the major twist that comes out. That said, reviews seem to indicate the next couple of books in the series are better than the first, so I'll probably give the second a shot just because I'm hoping for something better for these characters who do have a lot of potential for a great story.… (mer)