Title: Independence Day 2
Author: Christiane France
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: M/M contemporary romance
Length: Novella (23k)
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
A guest review by Jenre
Summary Review
An enjoyable conclusion to the Independence Day duology which sees Nick finally forced to make a decision about his future.
THE BLURB
When Nick Gregorio’s former lover, Al Martinsen, came to Vegas wanting to make up, Nick was prepared to listen. For Nick, however, returning to their hometown to resume playing second fiddle to Al’s ambitions was not an option, and he suggested Al move to Vegas permanently.
Now, six weeks have passed with no word from Al, and Nick doesn’t know what to think. Is Al still considering moving to Vegas, or does his silence say it all? When Nick finally receives news about Al, it sends him reeling with shock, anger and total despair. He knew Al had allowed ambition to dominate his life, but even he found it hard to believe Al would go so far as to commit the ultimate betrayal. There’s no going back for either of them now.
In desperation, Nick looks for temporary oblivion in the form of a night out that turns nasty and violent. Fortunately for Nick, his new friend and boss, Trip Browning, comes to his aid. With Trip’s support, Nick is able to resume work planning the gala opening of The Neapolitan’s newest restaurant. That is, until Trip delivers a surprise of his own and sends Nick’s world spinning in a whole different direction…
THE REVIEW
I reviewed the first book in this series, Independence Day, a few weeks ago here. Whilst I had enjoyed the story a great deal, I had been disappointed to find that it was a two-parter. This second part concludes Nick’s story and although I enjoyed it, there were a few minor niggles.
The story begins six weeks after the previous book. Nick has sent his ex-lover, Al, back to Buffalo in the hope that he might come to his senses and realise that Nick is more important than his career. In the meantime, Nick is gearing up for the opening of a new restaurant where he will be head chef, which means that he gets to spend a lot of time with his boss and good friend, Trip. Nick still isn’t sure that Trip is gay, and even less sure of his true feelings for Trip.
One of the things I liked about the previous book was the way that the author showed both Al and Nick’s thoughts, and how that meant my sympathies shifted between them. In this book we get Nick and Trip’s point of view. I have to admit, I was slightly disappointed that all Nick’s interaction with Al took place over the telephone as I was hoping for a face to face showdown between the pair. After so much of the previous book being focused on their failed relationship I had been looking forward to more conflict in this book. Whilst the internal conflict was there – Nick spends much time in agonising navel gazing over his feelings for Al, especially at the start of the book – the external conflict between them was fairly brief. In some ways I can see why the book was structured in this way, after all it is supposed to be Nick and Trip’s story, but I couldn’t help but be slightly disappointed nontheless.
Having said that, both Nick and Trip are delightfully sympathetic characters. I felt rather sorry for poor Nick as he copes with the stress of a new job and some unsettling news about Al, all whilst trying to work out his attraction to Tripp. Along the way, he makes a few errors, has a bit of anonymous sex and tries unsuccessfully to drown his sorrows. Even this fitted well with his character, as rather than burden Trip with his relationship problems he sought to deal with them himself, even if he was rather misguided. Compared to the complexity of Nick, Trip comes across as a much blander character – a good description for him would be a ‘nice’ man. However, I felt they worked well as a couple and was glad when things started to go well for them. I also liked the small amount of history we get of Trip and his own past failed relationship, as this gave reasons as to why he was not more forthcoming about his attraction for Nick.
Overall, this novella clipped along at a decent pace and I enjoyed seeing how things worked out for Nick. When placed with the first story in the series, this duology is a pretty good read. You do have to read the first book before this as even the slight info-dump at the beginning of this story will not be enough for you to get the full idea of why Nick is so cut up over his failed relationship with Al. If you’re looking for a contemporary with a twist of angst, then you can’t go wrong with this short series.
Just popping up to say, thanks for this review, Jenre. I remember being really glad for the warning about the cliff-hanger on the first one. I’m a little disappointed to find that the first half of the story is essentially dedicated to a doomed relationship, but I suppose this is what Wave was talking about: edgy and unexpected stories!
Hi Alexi
**spoiler**
I’m a little disappointed to find that the first half of the story is essentially dedicated to a doomed relationship
That’s true and I hadn’t really thought about it in that light! I think I was expecting Nick’s final decision to be Trip, even in the first book because, let’s face it, Al was a complete bastard. This meant that the second book just seemed to go the way I was anticipating.
Well, the way the blurb read, it seemed like it could go either way (and it’s not like bastards don’t get HEAs in M/M pretty often). But now I know better! Which is good, because otherwise I could see myself getting pretty ticked off. I’m all for realism (like in the Smoke Jumper series by Julia Talbot, where a relationship just naturally dies) but I don’t like to feel like I’ve been tricked.
Hi Alexi
I liked Al enough in the first story to think he could have been redeemed or turned a new page for Nick. It would be interesting if the author wrote a story about Al, especially as we get a lot of his POV in the first story.