Christina Lee - The Deepest Blue

Rugged and conventional Callum Montgomery enjoys running Shady Pines hunting preserve, except for the secret that’s eating him alive. When his sister brings a date for a family wedding, he can’t stand the arrogant city slicker with the stick up his perfectly fine ass. He doesn’t understand his draw to Dean, who pushes his buttons at every turn, but he’d never dream of betraying his sibling over some lust fueled fantasy.
Handsome and conscientious Dean Abbott is a research assistant in his university’s biology lab. When his roommate, Cassie, begs him to be her pretend date in front of her meddling family, he begrudgingly agrees to help. He doesn’t anticipate being enchanted by the countryside, the colorful cast of characters, or her sexy and brooding straight brother.
When contempt turns to passion and leads to stolen moments in a sugar cane field, Callum can’t help longing for the kind of connection he believes he can never have. But not even the world’s most heart-melting kiss can bridge the vast philosophical differences between the men.
Dean’s return to his urban lifestyle leaves him restless, his mind continually wandering to the charming setting that spoke to something missing deep inside him. Because you can take the city boy out of the country but you can’t make him forget the intriguing man he left behind.

Comment: In 2020 I've read the first book of this Roadmap to Your Heart series and it wasn't as great as I imagined. Nevertheless, now that any remembrance of its plot is gone, I've decided to give the author another chance and started this second installment, which certainly appealed a lot more to me.

Dean is friends with a secondary character from the first book, he is finishing his biology degree and is the roommate of Cassie. There will be a wedding in Cassie's family soon and she asks Dean, who is gay, to pretend to be her date so that she doesn't have to interact with the neighbor's son, whom everyone hopes she will end up with and their proprieties could be linked in business. Dean accepts and then meets her siblings, especially Callum, with whom he can't help but butt heads. Under this initial animosity, of course, is attraction but Callum seems to be straight...

Callum is gay, actually, but not out to his family. He feels challenged by Dean but also likes to talk to him, even if they tease each other with different POVs. At first he feels bad because he likes his sister's date but when Dean tells him the truth, their connection seems to be even stronger...the problem is that they live in different states, have different goals in life and Callum isn't yet certain he is brave enough to tell his family about who he really is. Can there be any future for them?

The first thing I'd say I liked here is that the connection with the first book is very faint. Dean is friends with Felix ( I don't remember him at all) who knows Vaughn and Smoke (main couple from the first book) and there is one or two references to them in the whole book. This means that despite the series status, I didn't find much of a sequence to the plots nor the characters.

I don't mind it much, since I rarely like books with motorcycle clubs and Dean isn't in one, nor is Callum. Their story is a bit simpler, in the sense the angst and the conflicts come from the physical distance between them. This is indeed an issue for long distance only works in very specific circumstances I assume, and this didn't have the vibe of it being something likely for these two. There is also the fact Callum isn't out but this didn't worry me, for I just knew that at some point this would be addressed.

The story is quite cute at times and simple. This is basically the story of two guys falling in love and dealing with the obstacles to be together. I liked it that things aren't easily solved or fixed somehow. When the end comes, I felt this was more a HFN than a full on HEA. The guys still have things to deal with, probably some details to get right but there's an evident attempt to be together, to try to have a relationship that is more than physical or temporary.

Callum is a good guy, is helping his family's business and fears his coming out might affect his father and older brother's opinion on him but mainly, of what others might think of a place whose manager is gay, especially in a region where most people are still conservative. I liked the fact he doesn't have a quick solution for his doubts, that he takes time to process, to think but clearly meeting Dean and finding him special and liking him so much is the catalyst to make him want to have different possibilities.

Dean is a bit more aware of what it means to be out, and while his relationship with his parents isn't great, they know he is gay but their reaction is more one of not dealing with it than hate or accusations. He shares he had a brother who died of cancer and he decided to be himself for the time he has, not giving in to expectations, and he is keen on doing well in his degree and he plans on working with agricultural biology (if I remember correctly) and we even have some scenes with him working with sugar cane on Cassie's family propriety.

The guys hit it off after some initial animosity and I liked that we feel things progress quietly and slowly between them. Well, kind of, because they soon realize they like each other in the short weeks Dean is there for the wedding. However, I think the author did a good job making it seem as if what happens is gradual and debated by both of them. To me, there is always some element I feel could have been done better, but I liked reading this story, perhaps I'd have added more sexual tension scenes instead of sexual ones, because those I feel weren't as special as they could have.

The secondary characters are actually better than I thought, especially Billie, Callum and Cassie's younger 15 year old brother who is also gay and who has a disability. He was a real cutie and I'm curious about his own story, the last one of the series. 

There is another book after this and before Billie's but I must confess the blurb doesn't appeal to me, so I might skip it and just read Billie's when I can.

As for this one, all the important elements where there, but there is definitely something missing, which I cannot pinpoint...still, the reading itself was quite engaging.

Grade: 7/10