“All the art of living lies in a fine mingling of letting go and holding on.” – Havelock Ellis
Drew MacAuliffe knows there’s a fine line between courage and cowardice: the courage in giving rise to a strength you didn’t know you possessed, in spite of your fears; the cowardice in the submission to those fears and the surrender of your Self in order to conform rather than risk being exposed by the one whose words hold the power to dismantle everything you’ve worked so hard to build. Drew has toed that line since the day he was gut-checked by his attraction to Tallis Carrington, so he knows all too well that there’s far more to fear than just fear itself. Say, for example, being held hostage because of who you are and what you desire.
Drew stepped a toe over that line from cowardice to courage when Tally finally had had enough of Brock Peterson’s ignorance. Drew then left that line in the dust when he finally found someone worth risking everything for. Mason Anderson is that someone for Drew, but the problem with living a lie for so long is in discovering the courage to let go of the deception and to hold on to the one who makes you want to embrace the truth. The difficult part comes in the convincing that certain someone of your sincerity and your worth, especially when you do and say the wrong things, but for all the right reasons; when you must prove that there’s a difference between blatant manipulation and a random act of kindness for which you expect nothing in return.
Letting Go is a May/December romance between two men who feel the quicksilver frisson of attraction and of what it all means; for Mason, who isn’t looking for any sort of romantic entanglements, and for Drew, who is still very much the terrified teenager trapped in the body of a man who wants so much more than he’s ever allowed himself to give or receive.
Their beginning is burdened by miscues which are overcome, only to fall into a series of missed clues that there are far too many past issues and outside interferences they’re permitting to shape the course of their future together. It’s a story about honesty, about not only being true to the person you love, but also being true to yourself and, in the process, breaking free of all the things that have been a burden on your very existence.
Though Letting Go is the second book in the “Rock Bay” series, I’m tempted to say it can be read as a standalone—not at all saying you should skip Coming Home, Lex and Tally’s story, though, because it’s well worth the reading—just saying I think you could, as there’s enough background given to complete a clear picture of where the series began.
Drew and Mason are another lovely addition to Rock Bay’s landscape, and unless I’m reading something into this book that wasn’t there, I’m hoping Logan, Mason’s best friend, will be up next and will discover that an as-yet-to-arrive new resident to the town will be rocking his foundation. Soon, I hope!
M.J. O’Shea is a GayRomLit participating author. To learn more about M.J., visit her blog HERE.
Buy Letting Go HERE.
i want to read this one so badly :D