“I have ever since seemed to myself … a kind of solitary wanderer in the wild of life.” – Samuel Johnson
Derrick Chance has been alone for ten years, ten years during which he has lived a half-life of working and taking care of the needs of others, all while ignoring the fact that his own risk-free and insular existence is adding up to little more than a pole to pole exercise in denial; denying himself the right to love and to be loved in return, to feel all the beautiful fears of falling, and instead being paralyzed by the risk that comes with trying to weave your life into the tapestry of another’s, the needing of that intimacy and the sharing of all the uncontrollable and unpredictable good, bad, ugly, and indifferent that fate sometimes throws your way just to make sure you’re paying attention.
And Derrick was fine with it, or at least resigned to it; not that he was unaware there was a different way to live, but he was content with his life, as monotone as it was—until he was hired by Gavin Hayes to do a small home-improvement job; then suddenly he saw someone who made him want things, need things, things he knew were missing but were absent from his life by his choice rather than by his fault. And then there was fear, because losing his heart and letting someone in meant leaving himself open to the pain of losing…again. And it’s more than he’s willing to forfeit…for at least a short while, until a pair of whiskey-colored eyes brought an intensity of feeling to his life, and he found he couldn’t look away.
Inertia, book one in the Impulse series is an exploration of the tenuous beginning of a relationship between two men whose pasts have very much influenced who they are and what they’re willing to compromise in order to see where their attraction to each other could go. Potentially devastating truths nearly undo them before they even have a chance to explore their potential—truths that for Gavin could be life altering, truths that for Derrick could be too much to overcome because they signal the possibility of a repeat of his painful past.
Amelia C. Gormley has treated me to something that, as a reader, I love more than just about anything: a character driven story that’s allowed me the chance to become invested in the lives and trials of the people she’s created, and the promise of what will be an emotional journey, for sure, as Derrick and Gavin continue to navigate their way into a relationship that seems destined for both hope and hardship.
Inertia offers no quick resolutions or easy answers for these two characters—there’s still too much for them to work through and too far yet to go, but there’s progress and promise and that’s all I need to keep me coming back for more.
Be sure to stay tuned, because Amelia C. Gormley is going to be back on November 25, 2012, to offer one lucky reader the chance to win Book Two in the Impulse series, Acceleration!
Buy Inertia (Impulse, Book #1) here: 