Started okay. Huge age difference and someone needing protection are two of my favorites but this didn't really hit it for me. The age difference wasn't really addressed in anything but an info drop (...he's in his twenties...he's in his late forties... kind of mention, nothing too much more). The protection thing kinda fell flat, too. This is because the book took a serious turn in the second half of the book, a turn I was not expecting, and I mean not expecting in the "crap, didn't want to read that" kind of way, not in the not expecting, "holy crap, this is an awesome book" kind of way.

So in light of the fact that there are no trigger warnings on the blurb I'm going to do you a solid and warn you. There are triggers galore. There is verbal gay bashing, rape, kidnapping, references to past child molestation, references to past child pornography, and I'm not sure but I think the child molestation might have also included the father molesting his son. Phew, think that's all.

The "protecting" Simon did in the second half of the book seemed a bit far-fetched. Also, considering how tearful Brian got in the beginning every time he thought of dealing with his family I expected him to be a tad bit more broken after the big climax at the end. He bounced back remarkably well. I thought at first that this was so the writer could finally get Simon and Brian in bed together without Simon feeling like he was taking advantage of a fragile Brian, but nope. Not the case. For a book filled with so much drama the romance side was a decided let down, considering readers never got more than a few kisses.

This was a Kindle freebie but all in all I probably will not read more by this author unless I am really desperate and it is free. ( )