“Because that was then and this is now. Because the past is gone, even though it defines the present.”
― Stephen King
Title: Rare (Roads: Book Two)
Author: Garrett Leigh
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 240 Pages
Rating: 5 Stars
Blurb: Paramedic Pete Adams lived through the year from hell watching his lover, Ash, fall apart, and the precarious balance between work and home is becoming more strained. His heart is always home, with Ash, but the dark side to his job is weighing him down.
Tattoo artist Ash Fagin is recovering from a nervous breakdown triggered by revelations about his traumatic childhood. His battle with mental illness is far from over, but with Pete by his side, he’s feeling good again, so good he doesn’t notice something missing until it walks right into his living room.
Ash believes he’s had enough coincidence in his life, but when a voice from the past comes looking for him, it takes the devastating injuries of the one he loves most to convince him to let a ghost become the family he never knew he wanted.
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Review: I’ve been anticipating this sequel to Slide and I’m soooo glad that the Garrett Leigh didn’t torture me by making it a long wait like some authors like to do.
As with the first book, Rare starts off with a brief beginning, in Ash’s point-of-view, as he returns home from Philadelphia; then it morphs into Pete’s point-of-view during the first half of the book. The love between these two has strengthened in spite of all the problems Ash carries with him, but there are a few surprises in this half of the book, so just be prepared to say to yourself, “No way!”
Even Ash had a problem with this one. Since I’m one who does believe in faith, coincidence, and Karma, though, I’m glad this happened. Ash needed to make this connection with his sister. Oops, don’t want to spoil this, so I will say no more.
I will add that following Pete while he’s on the job gave me a new respect for paramedics. They do have a tough job! Some parts of his job were heartbreaking, and I, for one, could not handle this type of work without suffering a major burn out. Turns out, Mike, his fellow paramedic, does have a burn out and takes a leave of absence so that Pete is force to train a newbie paramedic, Tim.
And… As with the last book, I’m at the point of the story where there’s a climactic scene, while Pete and Tim are on a call involving multiple casualties, when I turned the page to find Ash’s point-of-view, and some serious brain hiccupping went on here while I adjusted to this change, let me tell you!
Part II of Rare leads into how Ash deals with a tragedy that involves Pete, and this is where you see how Ash has grown into a man. He’s no longer a victim, but a survivor. My only problem with reading Rare is that I should have chosen a weekend instead of trying to devour it during a work week. I had a big problem putting it down at work once I started reading it, especially since the emotions it brought out were all over the place.
I do love these characters Ms. Leigh has created and would love to read more about them.
It’s a 5 Star rating, all the way.
You can buy Rare (Roads: Book Two) here:
