Author: Ella Frank
Publisher: Self-Published
Pages/Word Count: 360 Pages
At a Glance: Finley was fun. Sooo romantic and lovely, but without being overdone.
Reviewed By: Jules
Blurb: It’s time to come home, Finn.
It’s been seven years since Daniel Finley left his hometown in Florida for the hustle and bustle of Chicago’s city life. Since then, he’s worked hard for his position at the prestigious law firm Leighton & Associates, even when it’s caused distance and isolation from his family and friends. But that’s all about to change.
On his thirtieth birthday, he receives the one thing he never dared hope for. Something that was promised to him years earlier—a note. One simple sentence from the man he’s never been able to forget.
Six words will forever change the course of their lives.
Brantley Hayes has it all. Or so he thinks. When he first made the decision to take a job down in Florida, his family thought he was crazy. But, after years of living in the quiet beach town, he finally feels a sense of community. He’s surrounded himself with friends who are like family, has a job he loves, and owns a spectacular beachfront property that is his sanctuary.
Yet he still feels unfulfilled, as if a piece of the puzzle is missing, and he knows exactly which piece it is. On an impulse, he follows through with a promise he made years earlier. A promise to call home the one he sent away.
Nothing is as simple as it seems.
After years of separation, the former lovers are reunited, but Brantley wasn’t expecting to encounter the high walls now guarding Daniel’s heart. Daniel may not be the same person he was when he left, but he knows that the first step to healing is the note in his hand.
Review: This book was an utter delight. Maybe it was just one of those perfect timing situations—don’t you love when the exact right book comes along at the right time?—but I enjoyed every minute of this story. I also realize I’m tardy to the party as far as Ella Frank’s books go; many have read and loved her Temptation series, though I haven’t gotten to them as of yet.
Finley starts off with a bang. Daniel Finley—Finn—has been called home at last by the man who broke his heart seven years ago. A note. Just a simple, six word note.
“It’s time to come home, Finn.”
But somehow, it’s completely gasp-worthy, and immediately lets us, the readers, know what a huge deal it is to Finn to have received it.
Home is Sunset Cove, Florida, a small, tight-knit beach town where Daniel grew up, and where, as a young college student, he fell in love with his professor, Brantley Hayes. It’s not a complicated story: We have what some may consider a ‘forbidden love,’ though Finn is nineteen when the relationship begins; a nine year age gap; and one partner who feels he’s ‘doing what’s best’ for the other person, without allowing him a say. Add in the passing of time, a heart heavy with regret (and one with bitterness), and a love that never died…and voila! However, nothing about this story felt a tiny bit formulaic or simple. The pacing was perfect, and the use of the flashbacks mixed in with the current timeline was fantastic.
I adored both characters so much. Finn is cocky, mischievous, fun, adorable and sexy as hell. And, while Brantley is nervous at first that the seven years his love spent becoming a big city lawyer in Chicago have taken some of those qualities—qualities he loved—away from Finn, he couldn’t be further from the truth. Daniel is still the same fun, cocky, sexy man he was back then, only a thousand times hotter. And, the two together? Sparks for days and days. They are all about intense heat, yet aren’t afraid to do tender and soft. There is never a question about what they mean to each other. So good!
Finley was fun. Sooo romantic and lovely, but without being overdone. A great love story that I highly recommend. Can’t wait for the next one! I’m crossing my fingers that it’s Derek and Jordan’s story!
You can buy Finley here:
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