All That You Are by Jamie Craig

Title: All That You Are
Author: Jamie Craig
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Length: Novel (181 pages)
Rating: 4.25 out of 5 stars

A guest review by Lily

Review Summary:

A young man learns the painful lesson that sometimes you just can’t go home again. Luckily he has the love and support he needs to get through it.

BLURB

Sequel to All That You Do

Sometimes love conquers all only if you’re willing to fight for it…

Gage Kimball relishes his new life in Los Angeles. He’s made new friends, has steady gigs, and, most importantly, has the best boyfriend a person could ask for in antique dealer Christopher Gleason. But there are still open wounds, a family, and a past that he doesn’t want to deal with…until his seventeen-year-old brother shows up on his doorstep with bad news—Gage’s father is ill and the family needs him back in Salt Lake City.

Gage knows he must go to his father’s bedside, even if the festering anger, the betrayal, and the pain that’s still too fresh threaten to destroy the life he’s made for himself. Will Gage be able to make peace with the past and heal himself once and for all before building a solid future with Christopher?

REVIEW

This is the sequel to All That You Do and brings back Christopher and Gage. They’ve been dating for a couple of months and things are going great for them. Gage is still working at Christopher’s antique shop during the day and playing gigs at night. He’s been developing a following and settling into his relationship with Christopher. As Gage looks forward to his first performance at the Roxy and an out of town buying trip with Christopher he receives a surprise visit from Ben, his younger brother, who comes with the news that their Dad has cancer.

Now Gage has to decide if it’s a good idea to go back to Utah and the parents who disowned him. He knows things won’t be easy if he goes back, especially since Christopher would be with him, but decides to give his family one more chance. His fears about how his parents will react are spot on as the reunion is not a happy one but he is surprised by the warm reception he gets from a couple of his older brothers.

Determined to stick it out Gage sends Christopher on his buying trip despite Christopher’s offer to stay. Things get really ugly with the interference of some of the Church elders and the continued hurtful attitudes of one of his brothers and his mother. After a painful scene at the hospital Gage takes refuge in something that he loves very much, music. He goes to a club to listen to a few local musicians and there meets a friend his hasn’t seen since high school. Between the effects of too much alcohol, the stress of his father’s illness and his mother’s hurtful attitude Gage ends up doing something he knows right away he shouldn’t have.

When Christopher returns and sees Gage he knows something’s wrong and despite the pain it causes him he’s thankful for Gage’s honesty. Together they must find a way to fully get past what happened and also in some way resolve the situation with his parents. The confrontation between them and Gage’s family is painful yet ends with a beautifully romantic gesture. Gage is ready to put that part of his life firmly behind him as he looks forward to a happy and loving future with Christopher.

What I liked…

As with the first book I really like both of the protagonists. They are well drawn, interesting and likable men and their relationship really drew me in. Despite that they’ve only been in a serious relationship for a short while it’s easy to see the depths of their feelings for each other and they, and their slowly developing relationship, kept me fully engaged throughout the story.

There are several secondary characters in the story and my favorite by far was Bowden, Gage’s older brother. His supportive attitude and obvious love for his brother was really nice to see.

What I didn’t like…

I really didn’t like Gage’s mother and to a certain extent his father and one of his brothers. But it was his mother, with her rabid anti-gay stance and obvious lack of motherly love for her son that I really couldn’t stand. That type of character always disturbs me.

Overall…

This sequel was a very good follow up and I really enjoyed it. I’m a big fan of this author’s writing style and was quite happy with the book despite Gage’s regrettable act and the ‘mother from hell’ character. The relationship between Christopher and Gage has grown into a really loving one and despite their not actually saying the words until late in the book it was apparent. They have great chemistry and their sex scenes are scorching hot but it’s the times when they are sweet and tender with each other, when they allowed their feelings to really shine through that I most enjoyed. The HEA ending was romantic and sexy and left a satisfied smile on my face. I definitely recommend it.

All That You Do was previously reviewed here.