Scarlet Blackwell - Rescue Me

After a near fatal car crash leaves him scarred both physically and emotionally, Matt Harmon finds the solitude of his huge, lonely house too much to bear. Hiring nurse James Hayden to look after him seems like the best idea for Matt, whose fierce independence has been compromised by his injuries. The two men clash from the start as James struggles to help Matt rebuild his shattered body and heal his crushed soul. The bond they form is forged in fire and ice, and the wounds they inflict on one another can only be erased by Matt's admission that he can't live without James's loving touch. Will Matt realize too late that James is the only one who can rescue him from himself?

Comment: I'll be doing some smaller comments about the remaining five books I've read in 2014 to wrap things up before starting the comments for the 2015 books. This is the first book of those, and it was on my list for a long time, as usual in similar cases, I really don't remember why or since when.

This is the story of Matt, a rich, arrogant and cold young man who suffers a car accident and needs serious nursing and help afterwards. He can't stand the first two nurses but it's the third, James, that changes things for him. Matt doesn't want to admit James is the one that makes him feel better and safer but the reality is he can't forget him even after James leaves.

James is a man used to all kinds of patients but Matt is different and not only because of the attraction he feels. But his personality isn't easy to deal with and that will be the main factor why their relationship is so rocky...

This story is mostly told from Matt's POV, not in first person, but always through Matt's eyes, with small exceptions here and there where we see what James is feeling.

I thought the idea interesting, how someone who never had much affection in his life would deal with recovering physically and emotionally from a car wreck and a lonely childhood.

The story evolved at a good pace and it was easy to follow, the writing style is very fluid and easy to read.

The content, however, was harder. Matt has serious issues about himself and what the people around him might really mean. He has difficulty to say what he is feeling and prefers to keep things to himself. He also has the habit of judging what others might be thinking about him and he doesn't want to admit his feelings or that he needs friends or even that others might worry for him. His character is flawed and his responses are mostly to attack and be mean as a means to protect himself from his fears. 

This obviously means his interactions aren't always socially acceptable and that influences everything he does, including his developing feelings for James which he takes a lot of time to admit.

I think there's an interesting psychological development in this story but to be honest it was a bit annoying to keep seeing Matt be mean to his fiends and James and the bigger part of the book was to see how he acted on his wishes but never had a friendly word for those who cared for him.

The end was a bit too sugary because after so much time of Matt's rudeness, his turn of character seemed there just to further the HEA along. I think a change of heart sooner would have seemed smoother in the global scheme of the romance.

Still, I think the author's writing is solid and I might read more by her one day.

Grade: 6/10