When Love Comes Back Around

Title: When Love Comes Back Around
Author: Lisa Marie Davis
Publisher: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com
Genre: Contemporary GLBT (M/M)
Length: short story (69 pages)
Rating: 4.50 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

Caden was a Foster; the most respected, most influential family in the county and one of the most prestigious in the state. Royce was the nephew of the town drunk, a boy no one expected to amount to anything. That hadn’t kept them from a friendship that had deepened into love. Ten years ago, Caden had followed his father’s expectations rather than his heart – and he’d regretted it every day since. But now Royce is back in town, and Caden has a second chance for the life – and love – he’s always wanted.

THE REVIEW

When Royce left town 10 years ago he was disillusioned and disappointed with the love of his life Caden Foster. Despite promising to love him forever Caden had allowed his father to influence him and he left Royce for a life of privilege and influence. Now Royce has returned to his old hometown to bury his abusive uncle Hank and all he wants to do is leave town as soon after the funeral as possible. The first person he meets is Caden’s father Kent who makes it clear that Royce had not been forgiven for ‘corrupting’ his son, and he strongly suggested that Royce stay away from Caden who was running for Mayor of the Town.

When Caden finds out that Royce is back in town he calls him and asks to get together for old times’ sake; Royce is still angry at being abandoned all those years ago but agrees to one last meeting. When they see each other again the old feelings are very much in evidence. Then Caden tells Royce he is withdrawing from the Mayor’s race and he is informing his father of this and other decisions he had made about his life, including ending his engagement to his father’s choice of a suitable spouse.

Of course the path of true love is not smooth and our heroes have to withstand vigorous efforts by Kent Foster to get rid of Royce. Kent is determined that his son does not ‘ruin’ his life and he takes action which has a devastating effect.

This book is very well written and the characters were likeable, three dimensional and well crafted. Caden and Royce had been friends since they met at thirteen before they became lovers later in their teens and they had the usual plans of a life together. As a reader I was pleased to visit with their teenage characters for a short while before they became adults and everything changed. The plot moved quickly with a bit of danger thrown in and the conclusion was credible. The sex between the protags was emotional and sensuous and their feelings for each other were evident. The secondary characters were also well drawn – Kent Foster as well as his potential daughter-in-law, Kelly Cameron, who were cleverly portrayed as people who didn’t care what they did to achieve personal gain.

This is the second story with a 10 year time frame that I have read this week as mentioned in my review of another book. Perhaps in this book the time frame is not so much some magical horizon but instead is a long enough period to allow the characters to grow to maturity.

I loved When Love Comes Back Around and I think that you will too.