Title: When One Door Opens
Author: J.D. Ruskin
Narrator:: K.C. Kelly
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Run Time: 8 Hours, 50 Minutes
Rating: 4.5 Stars
Blurb: Logan Sellers’s parole officer has issued three commandments: stay sober, stay employed, and stay out of trouble. At first Logan thought those three simple rules would be easy to follow. But that was before he accepted a side job assisting his boss’s housebound agoraphobic nephew, Caleb.
Caleb is deceptively normal for a guy who hasn’t left his apartment in three years, and his friendly, caring personality tugs on heartstrings Logan didn’t know he had. But hitting on his boss’s nephew is asking to be unemployed. Logan has enough problems with booze on every corner and a supervisor trying to jump into his bed. He doesn’t need to work out how to free Caleb from the anxiety that keeps him in his apartment; he needs to keep his nose clean, attend his AA meetings, and make a fresh start—alone.
If only his heart would get with the program.
Review: I am really impressed with J.D. Ruskin’s When One Door Opens. What got me hooked on this story was that it pretty much was true to life, what one does in order to stay sober, and Ruskin did a great job with researching her material on alcoholism and recovery.
Logan is out on parole after spending a year in prison for almost beating a man to death while intoxicated. I found it interesting that Logan was a totally different person while on the road to recovery. Like so many who suffer from the disease of alcoholism, Logan was a Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde personality. Sober, Logan is a very likable person, but when talking about his past, he was nothing more than a nasty, violate asshole, so it was interesting to see those tense situations that came up throughout the story and how he handled himself.
Now Caleb, even as a deceptively normal guy, has his fair share of quirks too. When he slips into a panic attack, he loses all control of himself and has no memory during the attack. Both Logan and Caleb share a lot of similarities in their dysfunctions, and it’s those similarities that bring the two together. Love and trust were a slow build with these two damaged men, and Logan and Caleb together were each other’s second chance at life. Each used the other’s strength to help overcome their problems while working on their recovery.
So yes, I was very impressed with When One Door Opens and how insightful it was on some of its topics. As an audio, I would highly recommend When One Door Opens. It’s a great listen, and K.C. Kelly delivered a wonderful performance.
You can buy When One Door Opens here:
