Stevie‘s review of Real World (Bend or Break, Book 5) by Amy Jo Cousins
Gay Holiday Romance published by Samhain Publishing, Ltd. 17 Nov 15
I jumped into this series partway through and have yet to read the story of how Tom and Reece got together. As such, I’m probably not the ideal audience for this story of how they’re preparing to celebrate Christmas five years on, although I did particularly like Steph from the other books and was keen to find out how she was getting on with her life and in her relationship with Cash.
Tom and Reece got together in college, but have now graduated and are learning to cope in the grown-up world of employment and responsibility. Both are unsure what they want to do career-wise, particularly Reece, who is working a fairly low-key receptionist’s job until he’s spotted by a new manager and asked to help out on a big new marketing project. Tom, meanwhile, is concerned that whatever he does will always be overshadowed by his father’s imprisonment for fraud and embezzlement, especially since Tom is working in finance, and his father (who has never faced up to his own guilt) is due for parole.
Tom tends to keep his feelings bottled up inside, in contrast to Reece, who comes from a much more open, loving and (as far as fathers go, at least) honest family. His insecurities are compounded by Reece’s joy in the attention being paid to him by his new boss, and by an accounting error at work that he’s convinced he’ll be blamed for, even though he’s part of the team investigating the issue.
Reece is prepared to put up with a lot from Tom and to be supportive of him through his problems – helped by the friends they made at college and afterwards. Eventually, however, it’s Tom who has to work his way through the issues himself and find a way to repay all Reece’s patience with one huge surprise party.
As I said at the start, I’m not the best person to appreciate this story, not knowing the main characters’ background, but it was good to see Steph and the others again, and I did enjoy all the subplots involving Tom and Reece’s neighbours and the ways in which they bonded with the boys and each other.
Not my favourite holiday story so far this year, but I’m sure it will go down well with readers who’ve been fans of the series from the very beginning.
Grade: C
Summary:
Five years ago, Tom Worthington busted his ass to overcome the fear and paranoia that led him to withdraw from the world and nearly lose his boyfriend. He never thought he’d find himself right back there, shutting Reese out, keeping secrets again.
Reese Anders is ready to try anything to get Tom to talk: if he can’t seduce his boyfriend with food, he’ll get Tom to open up in bed. But even Tom’s confession that his dad is getting out of prison soon doesn’t clear the air between them. And as the holidays approach, intensive mentoring from a new British boss creates more distractions, until Reese is keeping secrets of his own.
At a company Christmas party, it only takes Tom one look at Reese’s new boss to figure out how much danger their relationship is in. But he’s not about to let the connection that started all those years ago at Carlisle come to an end. It’s time to deal with their problems like adults. Face to face. Or back to front. Starting in the bedroom.
Warning: This book contains two adorable guys with way too many secrets, conciliatory rigatoni, a bedroom lesson on the power of multitasking, and indisputable evidence on what makes the perfect holiday HEA.
Read an excerpt.
Other books in this series:
