Author: Felice Stevens
Publisher: Loose Id
Pages/Word Count: 212 Pages
Rating: 4 Stars
Blurb: Ryder Daniels has spent the last year recovering from rejection: his parents couldn’t accept his sexuality and his lover chose drugs over his love. The only bright lights in his life are his younger brother and his rescued pit bull. But now his mother’s punishment for his lifestyle has cut him off from his brother he loves so deeply. Devastated, he throws himself into the work of the Pit Bull Foundation he and his friends started.
Jason Mallory can no longer hide the dissatisfaction of his relationship with his longtime girlfriend. When her marriage ultimatum pushes him to break things off, he’s determined not to jump into the dating scene. But when a group of injured pit bulls are found on his construction site, he can’t forget the guy who shows up to help.
After Jason adopts one of the dogs, he and Ryder become fast friends—until one night, Ryder lets down his guard and Jason recognizes his desire. Soon, they can’t deny the passion between them but will family differences and ugly prejudices keep them apart, or can they fight to prove that love is precious, no matter the flavor?
Review: The premise of this book couldn’t have been more perfect for me as a reader. I mean, there are cute puppies in need, a big gorgeous construction worker, a hot lawyer who works for said cute puppies’ rights, and a tight bond between brothers. This is the reason I picked up the book, but the writing was what made me love it.
Ms. Stevens made me fall in love with Ryder from the very beginning of the story. He is wounded and fairly sad, but he keeps on going. He refuses to give in to the pressures from his parents, and he does everything humanly possible to keep his connection to his younger brother. He is just an all around great guy, so I wanted everything to work out for him, and it did…eventually.
Jason was a little different. Jason was unsettled and he didn’t know why. His longtime girlfriend seemed to be the bane of his existence, and I didn’t understand why he stayed with her, because she was one annoying woman. Once he hit his limit with her, he did cut her loose, though, and it was actually kind of funny when he realized how much he had needed that to happen.
The cute and needy puppies bring our two MCs together, and this starts Jason on a path of self discovery that leads him in some interesting directions. One thing I can say for his character is that once he made up his mind, he really only doubted himself once…maybe twice. After wrapping his head around his new journey, he seemed to own it and that was great for both he and Ryder.
Ryder was a little more cautious, however. Having been burned in the past, he isn’t ready to jump in with both feet so fast, but his resistance is short lived. He hasn’t had much luck in the past with his choice of men, but Jason is kind of hard to resist.
With a little help from their friends the two men get it all figured out. Now, I won’t say they don’t hit a few stumbling blocks, but what kind of romance would it be without some conflict? I liked that they talked through their issues and didn’t just fall into bed and use sex to “fix” everything.
Their families were problems for both of them, but in different ways. I feel the author did a believable job in ironing out those problems, and she even gave Ryder something back that he thought was gone for good.
Some of the dialogue was a tad on the cheesy side, but I don’t think that took anything away from the story. I would highly recommend this story for anyone that loves dogs in need, smexy construction workers and hot attorneys.
You can buy Rescued here:
