Lisa Henry - Starlight

Brady Garrett is back in space, this time as an unwilling member of a team of humans seeking to study the alien Faceless and their technology. It’s not the first time Brady’s life has been in the hands of the Faceless leader Kai-Ren, and if there’s one thing Brady hates it’s being reminded exactly how powerless he is. Although dealing with the enigmatic Faceless might actually be easier than trying to figure out where he stands with the other humans on board, particularly when one of them is his boyfriend’s ex.
Cameron Rushton loved the starlight once, but being back on board the Faceless ship forces him to confront the memories of the time he was captured by Kai-Ren, and exactly how much of what was done to him that he can no longer rationalize away. Cam is used to being Brady’s rock, but this time it might be him who needs Brady’s support.
This time Brady is surrounded by the people he loves most in the universe, but that only means their lives are in danger too. And when Kai-Ren’s fascination with humanity threatens the foundations of Faceless society, Brady and Cam and the rest of the team find themselves thrust into a battle that humans have very little hope of winning, let alone surviving.

Comment: This is the third installment in the Dark Space trilogy by author Lisa Henry, which concludes the story of the adventures in space facing some aliens which weren't always bad but certainly never really good.

At the end of the second book, Brady and Cameron along with a few others went on to stay on board of a Faceless space ship, for scientific reasons included in the treaty between humans and the aliens. Adapting hasn't been easy for all the same way but they are all alive and they have been managing. Things change when, seemingly for no reason, another Faceless ship approaches and some of the new aliens decide they want to meet the humans. After that, nothing goes as planned and it even starts to look as if everyone is in danger, included the Faceless in the ship where Brady and others have been staying. Could this be the ships are actually enemies? What will happen to these humans trapped in space in the middle of a conflict?

Once again, this wasn't a very big story but it had enough content to make it seem busier than what it really was. I'd go as far as to say that the first chapters were more about the setting up of things than about real important situations, a trend I've also noticed in the previous books, mostly in the second one, since the first was certainly more planned, I think.

This plot is developed on board of the alien ship and this does seem to limit a little certain possibilities, but I think the author found an interesting way to make this feel less restrictive, mainly by adding a few details about the aliens which allow for a broader perspective. For instance, since the group has been staying in the ship for a long time, the food they took would not last forever and I think the solution for this was quite clever. Of course, it is related to the aliens and this, too, was used to advance the plot because some of the issues faced later on were kind of a consequence of the "help" given to the humans.

I won't spoiler things but the reality is that despite the incompatibility between humans and aliens, there are some elements the aliens can use to help the humans stay healthy without their regular needs such as food and other types of health care. When a new ship appears and other aliens discover the results of this help, everyone is on danger and from this moment on the story really became more alive and with action scenes, and not as much musing or inner thoughts as before, during the beginning of the story.

When the conflict begins, things become really complicated for the group of humans and not only because of uncertainty related to what will happen with the other ship. I think this part of the story was fast paced and much easier to follow, even though it also includes some stressful moments. There is also a very specific element which brings in a whole new perspective on things and that did elevate the story quite a bit. As expected, the biggest issues were solved in a way I was happy with, in the sense that no character I cared about was harmed.

The romance between Brady and Cameron was pretty much just the basics. They are a stable couple, which is wonderful and satisfying to see, but nothing special happened either. I feel happy for them but, like I said in regards to the previous book, since this is an established element, perhaps the overall story didn't have to be divided into three parts...

I consider this to have been a good trilogy anyway. It does offer all the necessary ingredients for its purpose, is consistent even with details that could have been more vibrant and ends happily.... I wonder if the author would want to add a spin off, though... that wouldn't be to waste.....

Grade: 8/10

Lisa Henry - Darker Space

Brady Garrett is back on Earth. He’s living with his partner Cam and they’re raising his sister Lucy together. Life is better than some feral reffo from Kopa has any right to hope, and Brady knows it. He’s even grateful for it, most of the time. He loves Cam, even though he’s afraid that he’s not good enough for him, and he’s still having nightmares about the alien Faceless.
Cameron Rushton loved being a pilot once, and he still feels the pull of the starlight. He’s building a life with Brady now, and with Lucy. Life is good, even if it’s not without its complications. Both Brady and Cam are dealing with the endless cycle of interviews, tests, and questions that the military hierarchy hopes will reveal the secrets of the aliens who could very easily destroy humanity. They have each other though, and together they’re making it work.
But from out in the black, Kai-Ren is still watching and everything Brady and Cam think they’ve won, they stand to lose all over again.

Comment: In December I've read the first book in the Dark Space trilogy by Lisa Henry. I had decided then to finish the trilogy, and this is the second installment.

After what happened in the first book, Brady and Cameron are back to Earth to start a life together and, hopefully, out of the attention of the military. However, adapting to life at a slower pace isn't easy and not even having Lucy, Brady's sister, with them is enough to make them forget their recent past. The problem is that they both still have nightmares and Brady in particular struggles to overcome his thoughts and emotions of what went wrong. Still, both have to cope if they want to offer Lucy any kind of stability, but then, seemingly out of nowhere, everything changes again...

This is one of those trilogies that really needs to be read in order. This isn't only due to the fact the main characters are recurrent and we follow them in a continuous progress; the plot is heavily set on previous events and why the guys are now in their current roles. This is to say that, of course, there's structure to the story, but a lot might not make sense if the information from the first book isn't there.

I'll have to say, though, that it feels a little exaggerated that this story was divided into a trilogy, considering the amount of pages and the repetition of some scenes. I understand the idea, that we need to see how much impact everything had on the guys and that it isn't a mere fact; what they went through is cumulative and cannot be put aside easily. But it is fact that this is a short book, and the first wasn't big and I assume the next won't be either... perhaps with a different editing, the overall story could be bigger in page count and not loose the notion the setting changes at times.

The narrator is still Brady, and he remains as daring and loudmouthed as before, which of course hides his more vulnerable side. Brady had dreamed about returning to Earth to take care of his sister and now having Cameron is even better. He also both appreciates and doubts the fact Cameron's parents are there for them and even welcomed him and Lucy do well. He feels this might change if they were to realize how unsuitable he is - or as he feels himself to be - but the worst is really the nightmares. He can't forget about his experience with the aliens.

It's not a surprise this plays such a huge factor in how the story develops, after all the emotional backlash on their minds couldn't simply disappear, but perhaps there was more to it, as we discover. It seems that Cameron and Brady might still be connected somehow, despite what the aliens had done and said when the first book was finished. From this possibility on, the story changes once more, and it goes in a direction that will still involve the aliens.

I cannot say it was such a surprise to see the story line would go back to that point, but it does seem a little too convenient. I won't add spoilers but let if be said there were new adventures in space...

While all this goes on, of course Brady and Cameron remain a couple, continue to trust one another. I like it that the romance carries on, that the new developments didn't change this. I feel the relationship could gain by having both their POVs instead of only Brady's, but Brady is engaging enough to make this a minor complaint.

I will say I was quite taken by what happened, especially from a certain point on, and I'm eager to discover how this story will end. I'll definitely read the third one, but I do think what happens in this second book could have been condensated into one single book, or perhaps a duology as the author has done before.

Grade: 7/10

Lisa Henry - Dark Space

Brady Garrett needs to go home. He’s a conscripted recruit on Defender Three, one of a network of stations designed to protect the Earth from alien attack. He's also angry, homesick, and afraid. If he doesn’t get home he’ll lose his family, but there’s no way back except in a body bag.
Cameron Rushton needs a heartbeat. Four years ago Cam was taken by the Faceless — the alien race that almost destroyed Earth. Now he’s back, and when the doctors make a mess of getting him out of stasis, Brady becomes his temporary human pacemaker. Except they’re sharing more than a heartbeat: they’re sharing thoughts, memories, and some very vivid dreams.
Not that Brady’s got time to worry about his growing attraction to another guy, especially the one guy in the universe who can read his mind. It doesn’t mean anything. It’s just biochemistry and electrical impulses. It doesn’t change the truth: Brady’s alone in the universe.
Now the Faceless are coming and there’s nothing anyone can do. You can’t stop your nightmares. Cam says everyone will live, but Cam’s probably a traitor and a liar like the military thinks. But that’s okay. Guys like Brady don’t expect happy endings.

Comment: I got interested in this book after seeing a positive review. Since I had liked other titles by the author, I decided to give this one a try.

In this sci-fi story we meet Brady Garrett, a young man who was conscripted to a space station for a mandatory set of years. Brady knows it will be a long time before he returns home, and he is worried for his father and younger sister. Things become problematic at the station when missing pilot Cameron Rushton, a hero for the population, is returned after four years of captivity by the Faceless, the alien race Earth is trying to keep away. When the officers and the doctor try to bring Cameron out of a stasis, Brady is present since he is training to be a medic, and somehow things don't go as well as they should and Brady ends up touching Cameron, synchronizing their heartbeats. From then on, Brady needs to be close by, so that Cameron doesn't loose the connection. With time, they become close and even intimate but Cameron did say the Faceless will return and want a peace treaty. But is it so?

I liked this story and had a great time reading and turning the pages. Of all the books by this author I've tried, I only wasn't a fan of one, which was in a genre I don't appreciate anyway. Therefore, I was quite happy with the way things progressed in regards to this one, a very interesting sci-fi romance, even though it's not totally original.

The world building is well done and the author creates atmosphere and settings without having to explain every single detail. Some things one can simply infer from comments and descriptions and that is a great way for the reader to feel layers are being uncovered. The alien race and the things we learn about them aren't that much, but what we do know provides enough information for the reader to understand something is going to happen, all seems to point to something not doomed or disastrous, but there is a constant niggling of suspicion about what might happen.

The story is told by Brady in first person and in this case, I didn't mind it because he was interesting on his own, but also because the situations he lived through and what he is facing now is such a novelty that his "voice" remains surprised and constantly thinking about what is happening. I liked Brady because he is clearly a good guy, with a goal which is to return to his family and I kept rooting for him to be well and to be able to deal with things as best as he could. We understand he comes from a  poor environment but he is genuinely a good person who only wants to do right by those he loves, isn't selfishly wanting to do whatever he wants.

Brady is caught by surprise as everyone else, so his perspective is always at the same pace as the reader's. This means we move along with him as he helps with Cameron's revival and all the process afterwards. They way they bond is still a bit too quick for what it should, emotionally speaking, but the details about this situation offer enough information for this to not feel as instantaneous as it seems. I suppose I could say the romance is gradual - for a story which isn't very big to begin with.

Cameron we only know from Brady's POV but he is described as someone levelheaded, caught up in an impossible situation when he was kidnapped by the aliens, and his return is both a happy one and a suspicious one, for many believe he might be a traitor. Cameron clearly comes from a wealthier background and he should act privileged but he doesn't, which means we start caring about him and his relationship with Brady too.

The plot is very basic, but the world building is quite strongly presented. Although the focus is a bit more on the romance, the surroundings and the little things we learn was we go about life in a space station, and the people Brady knows or interacts with there, as well as all the alien stuff make for a very engaging novel. It's not a big book, true, but I still read this very quickly. I will certainly read the other two full length books in what seems to be a trilogy.

Grade: 8/10

Lisa Henry - Lights and Sirens

Paramedic Hayden Kinsella is single and the life of the party. He likes driving fast and saving lives, and he doesn’t do relationships—he does hookups. Except he wouldn’t hook up with copper Matt Deakin if he were the last guy on the planet. Hayden thinks the feeling is mutual . . . until clearing the air leads to a drunken one-night stand, which leads to something neither of them was expecting: a genuine connection.
Police officer Matt Deakin moved to Townsville to take care of his elderly grandfather. In between keeping an eye on Grandad, renovating his house, and the demands of his job, he somehow finds himself in a tentative relationship with Hayden and very slowly gets to know the damaged guy beneath the happy-go-lucky persona.
But the stressors of shift work, fatigue, and constant exposure to trauma threaten to tear Hayden and Matt apart before they’ve even found their footing together. In the high-pressure lives of emergency services workers, it turns out it’s not the getting together part that’s hard, it’s the staying together.

Comment: Back in March I've read the first book in this Emergency Services duology and liked it well enough to want to read this sequel. As I assumed then, this is loosely connected to the first book and only because all characters are somehow in the emergency services. Oh yes, and Gio (from book #1) has a quick cameo that lasts for one scene.

In this book the focus is on paramedic Hayden and police officer Matt and we are told their first meet didn't go well when Matt charged Hayden with a ticket over a misunderstanding and now they are kind of enemies. Things change one day when they finally talk about that day and they end up hooking up. Since the world of emergency service workers isn't that wide, they keep running into each other and one thing leads to the other and they start dating. However, the stress of the job and the expectations of what it entails to be in a relationship might might prove too be big challenges for the guys and will they be able to try to make it work?

As I had experienced with the other book, this one was also very easy to read and appealing. I was quickly motivated to see the protagonists fall in love and even more so when the focus was not on how this had to be shown in every page but by how natural it looked as we followed them through their routines. I think I might really like the contemporary romance aspect of this author's work a lot, especially by having read other genres and them not being as seductive to me.

Hayden is definitely the major focus here, even though he shares protagonism with Matt. He is an apparent carefree guy, no worries and always with a smile but obviously this means he has to be down at some point for his constant happy persona is also a way to hide what he doesn't want others to share. It was very easy to root for him because despite his actions sometimes might be seen as ways to push others away, he is a good person and I was genuinely interested in seeing him have his HEA.

Matt is also a good hero material, he is back to Townsville to live with his grandfather, who is in need of some help and company. How not to like a guy like this, and he even wants to help around the house, fixing up some things. he seems aloof at first, but we soon learn he misunderstood Hayden when they met and after they start dating, we get to see how his personality is so laid back and appealing. His biggest flaws, I'd say, are originated on his need to control things (thankfully not in the bedroom) and how this is once or twice mentioned by Hayden.

As one can imagine, their romance is kind of slow but sweet and for a while I thought the goal was to only focus the story on this but I was quite happy to see the author also dedicates a lot of time to what it really means to be a paramedic, and a police officer in general, in the emergency service environment. It might be assumed by the public those who work in that field must be this or that but beyond a procedure to follow, they are humans who feel compassion and dislike as anyone else, and I was glad we got to have a lot of scenes with them doing their job.

I also had a better notion of some descriptions after having watched a few episodes on TV of the show Ambulance Australia. This airs on one of the cable channels I have and I think it did help me to imagine what Hayden, mostly, would go through. I particularly liked how we see that interactions with the patients, dealing with co-workers, managing protocols, then personal lives, all this adds up to the workers needing stability to process stuff and how easy it can be for them to burn out. In a way, Hayden goes through something like this and now I can feel the author did do a realistic portrayal of something likely.

Once the story line reached the climax, the protagonists had to assume their feelings and help each other dealing with the less than good experiences. This helped me to believe their situation was stable and that their relationship had a future. I still think that Hayden's past might have been used to present his issues differently and that at times it felt is was just convenient to be mentioned, but in general, I liked this book a lot.

In the end, I was happy for the guys, I was certainly very glad their HEA was believable and the epilogue was so heartwarming without being cheesy, I could really picture the scenario Hayden describes. 

I will have to investigate other titles by the author with the contemporary romance label, perhaps there are more gems to enjoy!

Grade: 8/10

Lisa Henry - Two Man Station

Gio Valeri is a big city police officer who’s been transferred to the small outback town of Richmond with his professional reputation in tatters. His transfer is a punishment, and Gio just wants to keep his head down and survive the next two years. No more mistakes. No more complications.
Except Gio isn’t counting on Jason Quinn.
Jason Quinn, officer in charge of Richmond Station, is a single dad struggling with balancing the demands of shift work with the challenges of raising his son. The last thing he needs is a new senior constable with a history of destroying other people’s careers. But like it or not, Jason has to work with Gio.
In a remote two man station hours away from the next town, Gio and Jason have to learn to trust and rely on each another. Close quarters and a growing attraction mean that the lines between professional and personal are blurring. And even in Richmond, being a copper can be dangerous enough without risking their hearts as well.

Comment: After seeing some positive reviews on this book, I got interested enough to want to try it. Finally, I was able to start the book and it turned out to be very addictive...

In this book we meet police officer Giovanni "Gio" Valeri, who has always wanted to be a cop and who has lived his entire life in a big city, used to the noise, the people, the demanding speed in which many things are done. However, one day he makes a decision at work and tries to do the right thing, but it backfires and he sent to Richmond, a small town which most officers would not even dream of wanting. Gio plans on staying low, do his job, endure his "punishment" and after two years he hopes he can go back, and ask a transference to another city.

Jason Quinn is the sargent in Richmond, a police station which only needs two men, and he knows Gio was sent there for some kind of mistake, believing him to be a traitor to his fellow police officers. However, as he gets to know Gio and dealing with him in such a small town, he realizes there's more to his story. The demands of the job aren't much but Jason also has a lot to worry about, namely his 10 year old son and now, apparent,y the fact he finds Gio quite attractive...

Will these two be able to become friends after all, or even more than that?

This was a very addictive story to read because the writing made it so, but more importantly because the story line captivated me and I wanted to know what had Gio done to force him to be sent away and I wanted to see the (I hoped) slow burn journey from simple acquaintance to being in love between the two protagonists.

The idea of this novel is not very original but I liked how it seemed so very likely, perhaps because I have this idea the majority of people in Australia might be more understanding and receptive to the idea of bisexuality and homosexuality, which made me believe that if two cops in a small town would have a romantic relationship, most people there would not mind it. I don't know Australian culture that well to say this, I only know what is conveyed in some TV shows (which always try to show how acceptance is made look like it's no big deal), but somehow the mix between the romance and the location where the novel is set made me imagine everything a certain way.

The setting was very interesting, besides the ideas I've thought of because of my limited notion about the Australian way of life, it was also very nice to imagine the situations they faced in regards to the descriptions... I also checked the map of the area, it felt as if Richmond would be even more isolated but I suppose that's the point, by comparing to big city areas.

Gio and Jason felt like well fleshed characters, I could imagine in my head how their personalities were and how they might have behaved and moved just by how they were described. I think the author did a good job regarding them as individuals. Jason seems like a good guy, he is raising his son since the death of his wife, and his worries feel very mundane in a way, such as how to get a babysitter he can trust, without finally exhausting the goodwill of Sandra, the receptionist at the police station. Of course this is exploited more in depth as the story moves along and I liked how things were made to seem serious and important to Jason, and not just an excuse for his son's presence.

Gio is, obviously, more fascinating because he is a bit more mysterious as well and I wanted to keep reading to learn why he felt he was being punished. The author gives us clues/information very slowly to make it feel as if this is dramatic- which it is - but not so overwhelming that Gio would be a walking despaired guy. I liked this, for it made it even better when Gio slowly started to trust Jason and and we finally have his side of things on why he is in this situation, it's hard not to think he was clearly prejudiced and not given the chance to explain his actions.

The romance is quiet, even when they give in to the attraction, everything is slow, one step at a time, a lot of respect between them and even though both make assumptions and have one or two scenes where they go over the top in their reactions without thinking before they speak. This added drama and I imagined it would create the possibility of some kind of "make up" intimacy but they were, once more, respectful. The way the story ends is not a detailed and amazing HEA but it's more a HFN with a lot of hints and even an epilogue that their relationship might be even more solid with time.

I suppose some of the misunderstandings between them felt like taking too long, but at the same time, if things had been rushed I probably would like it even less.

There's a sequel, but not with familiar characters - at least the protagonists aren't -  which I will read too some day, since the vibe and writing in this book felt so appealing.

Grade: 8/10

Lisa Henry / M. Caspian - Fallout

High-school boyfriends Jack Haldane and Bastian Wade thought everything would be perfect once they reunited at college, putting disapproving parents and small-town attitudes firmly in the past. Now Jack’s on track for a PhD scholarship and a career as a researcher, and Bastian . . . well, living inside a broken body and trailing along in Jack’s shadow didn’t feature in his lofty teenage ambitions.
A weekend camping trip back home offers a chance for them to reconnect, but an ugly confrontation with the local motorcycle gang is only the start of their problems. When disaster occurs and the world unravels, will Bastian and Jack manage to hold on to each other, or fall further apart as they try to survive?

Comment: Next on my diary reads was this title by authors Lisa Henry and M. Caspian. This is an m/m story I saw recommended somewhere for some specific reason even tough I can't remember why anymore, much less why I thought it might be a good thing to read for my taste. I should have given more attention to the labels and some spoiler free reviews before starting this but alas, I did not so I ended up being surprised by how much more negative the story was than what I imagined. Thankfully, it wasn't a big book. 

This is the second book by Lisa Henry I try and I did like the other one so I wasn't really concerned this was a joint effort, I just assumed it would be like her other book in terms of style or tone.

This is a practically novella sized story (one of the positive elements it has) about a couple, Jack and Bastian and their travel to go camping while trying to see where their relationship really is at, after several years together but also drama and guilt and physical consequences of an accident.

Things seem to be pretty normal until they have an unfortunate encounter with a biker gang but they put it aside until the world goes through quite an apocalypse and both guys need to hold on to their humanity and hope for survival...

I'm not certain I could be very eloquent about what I felt like about this book but for those who want better descriptions or even summaries of the bad aspects, there are plenty of reviews on goodreads which I feel could inform and still work as a good expression of my feelings.

Will mention some spoiler situations...

This is a dark horror story and it's filled with apocalyptic situations with ashes falling and people not being able to breathe and so on and attempts by the main characters to survive their individual hells while still hoping that something good can happen.

After they run out of gas in the woods, so to speak, both go their separate ways to find help, Jack by going towards a gas station they passed through earlier and Bastian waiting for him to come back since he has a spinal injury. The problem is that Jack only finds the remains of what looks like an attack on the station and an apocalyptic and scary scenario.

Had this been a story with this situation, where the protagonists had to survive harsh physical conditions or even emotional ones considering the status of their relationship, I think I'd be so motivated to read and know how they can move on from the supposed bad moment in their lives, to develop some rapport to improve or to settle into what they have if that was the way to go, this would probably have been better for me. Too bad the main characters didn't even seem to like each other, much less love. Their personalities weren't that much developed either, besides the basic instinct to survive somehow.

I did appreciate the idea behind this book and it can be/look as more realistic that what people think. I could buy into the feeling of despair but of hope too, by seeing the characters trying to hold on to something, to fight for their feelings and history or even just plain human survival. 

One can read this as just a physical survival story or as an emotional one.

However.

However, the characters aren't just dealing with themselves and the people they meet at the gas station and nearby stores. No, no. They also must deal with the apparently dismissed gang that obviously didn't appreciate Jack being a black guy but that for the reader was just another element to highlight the difference between the main characters, especially because we know their families didn't like the fact they were together.

I seriously hated the fact the gang was part of this story. I hated the fact that besides the challenge of dealing with the supposed end of the world as they knew it, they also had to deal with the gang and how depraved and selfish and all kinds of negative adjectives I could use to describe those who think they are superior to you or who think they can use and abuse others because they have the power to do so. This so called gang takes the chance caused by the ashes and the fear to catch Bastian and other secondary (female) characters and rape and torture them. I can see what the point was with this but it ruined the story for me, it made me hate the characters, hate the story, hate the fact the characters had to survive this.

Is this the definition of edgy and realistic and scary? Probably but I pass while there is still love and positivism in the world. I just didn't stop reading because I hoped the message was that despite bad things, people can survive and prosper but while the bad guys were punished, I don't think the end was that amazing in the crime vs punishment dichotomy. Are humans condemned to be silly excuses for beings and no one will ever find happiness again in such a scenario? Maybe, but I don't care because I rather read books where people aren't tortured for no reason besides petty plays at power. It's enough knowing some people can be like this in real life. It was not enjoyable to spend time with this book.

Grade: 3/10

Lisa Henry and J.A. Rock - When All The World Sleeps

Daniel Whitlock is terrified of going to sleep. And rightly so: he sleepwalks, with no awareness or memory of his actions. Including burning down Kenny Cooper’s house—with Kenny inside it—after Kenny brutally beat him for being gay. Back in the tiny town of Logan after serving his prison sentence, Daniel isolates himself in a cabin in the woods and chains himself to his bed at night.
Like the rest of Logan, local cop Joe Belman doesn’t believe Daniel’s absurd defense. But when Bel saves Daniel from a retaliatory fire, he discovers that Daniel might not be what everyone thinks: killer, liar, tweaker, freak. Bel agrees to control Daniel at night—for the sake of the other townsfolk. Daniel’s fascinating, but Bel’s not going there.
Yet as he’s drawn further into Daniel’s dark world, Bel finds that he likes being in charge. And submitting to Bel gives Daniel the only peace he’s ever known. But Daniel’s demons won’t leave him alone, and he’ll need Bel’s help to slay them once and for all—assuming Bel is willing to risk everything to stand by him.

Comment: This was the May book selected for my book club. It's the first book I've read by the authors and I confess I got it mostly because it was the chosen title, otherwise it might not have caught my attention.

In this book we meet Daniel Whitlock, someone tormented by somnambulism. When he's asleep he has no memory of his actions or of what happens around him. But Daniel is severely ill in a way because he killed someone while in his somnambulistic state. 

Joe "Bel" Bellman is a cop and after Daniel makes up some trouble in a bar, he decides to monitor him in case he does something more dangerous. But Bel comes to realize Daniel is a victim and even his crime wasn't completely his fault. But the rest of the town where both of them grew up isn't as quick to understand and forgive and Daniel lives in fear of losing control of himself again. 

Can Bel help Daniel having a grip on his problem or will Daniel have to keep finding orthodox ways to not be dangerous to others?

Overall, I enjoyed reading this story. I think one of the best things about it is the narrative's atmosphere: we can tell how desolate and difficult it is for Daniel to withstand others' glares, depreciative comments and how ill at ease he is in social events, such as going to the coffee shop. Besides being labeled a killer, Daniel is also gay in a small town. These two factors, added to the difficulty of dealing with his own family and loss of his dreams, makes him terribly vulnerable. The way the authors did write about Daniel and his problems and how that affected his life was quite good because it gave some heaviness to the story but also the idea that things had to improve.

Daniel is a fascinating character. He has a sweet side but rarely shows it because of what happened to him. He has served time, he is sorry things happened like that but he is still scared he will loose control in his sleep and do something terrible again.

I really liked his character, I understood his problems and fears and why he chose to isolate himself so much. I was sorry his family didn't have the will to support or defend him. It's complicated when everything point out to one's guilt. The atmosphere was heavy and suffocating. I really felt Daniel's despair and desire to change and control things but deep down, his fear of causing more damage to people. He was terribly lonely and so I can accept why he would feel better in the positions he put himself into by having a sort of submissive lifestyle.

But BDSM isn't my thing and I would have preferred Daniel not to have given in to it. Yes, it might have helped him in the past, but now it's not helping and the way his relationship progressed with Bel with some elements from this lifestyle in the mix was the thing I liked the least.

Bel is a good man, he grows to understand Daniel, he tries his best to defend and help him, to protect him from his own fears. But in the beginning of their relationship he starts to embrace the bdsm ideas  - never totally, they never get to the point of being a dom/sub completely, they simply use part of that reality for a while - so he could make Daniel feel easier and at the same time he started to like how that made him feel. Sure, I get the point and the purpose but it's something that simply doesn't appeal to me. No matter how much talk they have about how good they feel or how plain they make the rules, for me it's always an unbalanced relationship and I don't enjoy story lines with such a theme.

However, it was interesting to see that it wasn't the sole focus of their alone time and they could grow up together separately from their sexual relationship. It was good to see Bel weight in his commitments and his need to be who he thought others saw in him with his love for Daniel.

The book ends in a way I liked, with both guys moving forward with their lives, still in love, still confident they could become better together.

Daniel learned how to improve, Bel proved he is a wonderful partner and I finished the book happy about their future.

The plot had some conflicts which were expected, but Bel was there for Daniel. There's a certain issue that wasn't solved the way I imagined and I think something different would have helped but...it is what it is.

Daniel's problem isn't miraculous solved, but he is learning to not let it control him or his life and having someone by his side like Bel, someone who trusts and cares for him is half way to being a bit more in control of his fears.

It was a nice read, despite the darker issues and moments. But Daniel's despairing moments and thoughts in his lowest moments stay with us. How good to think there's always hope even if not an easy path ahead. Interesting book to read.

Oh and a gorgeous cover, by the way. Very suggestive and matching the tone of the story.

Grade: 7/10