Release Day Review: Will and Patrick Fight Their Feelings by Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths

Title: Will & Patrick Fight Their Feelings (Wake Up Married: Episode Four)

Authors: Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths

Publisher: Self-Published

Pages/Word Count: 137 Pages

At a Glance: Yep, the denying denierpantses are at it again, and I loved every word of it.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Will and Patrick have embraced adding hot sexy-times to their fake marriage, but as their emotions deepen, they confront whether or not they want to be more than friends-with-benefits. Freshly free of a restrictive relationship, Will’s not ready for more than exploratory fun. And no matter how Patrick feels about Will, his own difficult past has left him wary of love.

The heat is high (and occasionally kinky) in this episode of the Wake Up Married serial, but Will and Patrick struggle to accept their mutual affection, much less confess it. How long will they fight their feelings?

Review: Welcome back to Episode Four of Wake Up Married, the continuing saga that is Mr. and Dr. Denial McFakerpantses (or, as the authors like to call them, Will and Patrick), in which our heroes are denying deniers who deny. Because of course, four out of five men agree that it’s best to just shove all your feelings down into a mewling and pathetic little ball of denial. I mean, what could possibly go wrong, right? A future string of hollow and failed relationships because you can’t admit the thought of being without a certain someone leaves an empty ache in your pectoral region? These guys…

But, I do love them in spite of their extreme obtusification (yep) of… pretty much everything. Maybe even because of it. Yes, they’re a little bit frustrating, but what’s a reader to do? And at least that dickweasel Ryan wasn’t in the picture in this episode, thank God. It’s bad enough that his stink still hovers all over Will like an Eeyore shaped cloud of stenching insecurities. Hmph. But that’s our sweet Will, always thinking that there’s something damaged and broken about him because he happens to like sex, and might even like his sex with a little yeehaw! to it. He does. So how perfect is it that Will’s married to a man who isn’t averse to a little giddyup! too? So perfect. In the grand scheme of denying, if there’s one thing these guys can’t deny, it’s that their sheet music ::wink-nudge:: is completely in sync.

Now, the bad thing (still) in this episode is their pesky fake marriage, and this whole let’s get divorced NOW (Maybe?) business that’s constantly looming. The other bad thing is that first came sexing, then came marriage. So now what happens when thoughts of the L-word start mucking up the fake marriage/real sexing? Nothing, because let’s not talk about feelings here, remember? Feelings are for shmoops and Will and Patrick are…not…shmooping. They’re sexing. End of story. Right? Sure. So much denial… But honestly, what says love more plainly than being willing to sacrifice your own happiness because you want someone else’s happiness more?

And this, dear readers, is the cruel beauty that Leta Blake and Alice Griffiths have woven into this episode of Will and Patrick’s romantic arc. We watch the deeply intimate conversations and we get to see how much Will and Patrick truly care about and for each other. Just like a real committed couple. And then there is the brilliant manipulation by the authors of reader emotion as we watch these two men falling deeper into each other, and we see them trying not to—or at least trying not to let each other know that the secret smiles and stolen moments and the intense intimacies may not mean much individually, but cumulatively they’re all building to a boiling point that I can’t wait to see bubble over. Because it’s going to be a little bit glorious to witness.

Watching Will and Patrick evolve as friends and lovers has been as wonderful as seeing them evolve as individuals. Patrick is opening up to Will like he never has with anyone before. And Will is finally beginning to stand up for himself (his mother is still such a buttinskifaced hypocrite). And Will is finding the strength to do this because Patrick is giving him the courage and conviction and belief in his own worth as a man to do so. Have I mentioned how much I love these guys? If I haven’t, that’d be a lot.

And, of course, having this all play out in a present tense soap opera-esque style, complete with the perfectly crazy cliffhanger at the end (that South Dakota Mafia, they’re kinda serious biznass), all that’s done is make Will and Patrick Fight Their Feelings my favorite episode in this series so far. For the record, though, I can’t wait to get to the Will and Patrick Quit Being Pains in the Patootie part of their relationship. Soon, so soon. And the journey so far has been more than worth the wait.

 

 

 

 

You can buy Will and Patrick Fight Their Feelings here: