3.75 ( )

E.S. Carter is an author who spans genres and tropes with a great deal of skill and imagination. I’ve been looking forward to her latest offering, which is an M/M love story. If M/M isn’t your thing, then you can feel free to move on right now. But the story is amazing, so hang in there, if you can!

Her writing manages to be both straightforward and lush, full of the small details bring her stories to life. Her characters are fully realized, and as the reader you can’t help but be drawn into caring for them. The plot is fairly straightforward, but the appeal in this case isn’t in the reader’s discovery but in watching the men, Ellis and Macsen, make the steps for the themselves.

The secondary characters are just as appealing as the main men. It’s obvious that Eli sees them as people who exist in their own right, not only as devices to support her story or main characters. They are funny, sweet, acerbic, loyal, talented and have their own lives and their own concerns.

I don’t want to give away any more than the blurbs do, but I do want to warn you that this book has a good chance of making you cry. It’s a bittersweet, cathartic cry, but you might want to plan your reading take into account some recovery time. I give this book 5 enthusiastic stars. ( )