Author: Kim Fielding
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Length: 254 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Love Is Heartless is just a gorgeous story that has you hoping for that happy ever after right up to the end.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: Small but mighty—that could be Detective Nevin Ng’s motto. Now a dedicated member of the Portland Police Bureau, he didn’t let a tough start in life stop him from protecting those in need. He doesn’t take crap from anyone, and he doesn’t do relationships. Until he responds to the severe beating of a senior citizen and meets the victim’s bow-tied, wealthy landlord.
Property manager and developer Colin Westwood grew up with all the things Nevin never had, like plenty of money and a supportive, loving family. Too supportive, perhaps, since his childhood illness has left his parents unwilling to admit he’s a strong, grown man. Colin does do relationships, but they never work out. Now he’s thinking maybe he won’t just go with the flow. Maybe it’s time to try something more exciting. But being a witness to a terrible crime—or two—was more than he bargained for.
Despite their differences, Colin and Nevin discover that sparks fly when they’re together. But sparks are short-lived, dampened by the advent of brutal crimes, and Colin and Nevin have seemingly little in common. The question is whether they have the heart to build something lasting.
Review: Love Is Heartless is almost better than its predecessor, Love Can’t Conquer, from the Love Can’t series. Author Kim Fielding entices her readers with yet another carefully crafted story introducing two polar opposites who somehow just work perfectly when they finally get together. And boy, is that getting together thing truly up in the air for quite a bit of this story.
Nevin Ng is a sharp-tongued police detective who deals with cases most don’t want, or care about—abuse victims, the elderly, the mentally disabled, etc. He investigates each one as if his own life depended on it—with passion, determination and quite a bit of angry resignation. All those emotions come from a place of truth for Nevin, from a history of his own personal abuse at the hands of multiple foster care placements after a drug-addicted mother abandoned him at the age of three. With all that baggage in tow, he has decided that he will never allow himself to be weak again, so a series of one time hookups is all he wants or needs—that way his heart is always safe and his expectations never shattered. Being bisexual, Nevin isn’t really choosy as to which sex he beds down with, and that allows him to be wingman for his best friend, Ford, when they go on the prowl. Ford gets him, never pushing him to change, but always looking out for him, knowing just how hard he drives himself at work and just what eats at his soul. Yes, Nevin has life all neatly figured out—until he meets the guy wearing a bow tie, and with the irrepressible happy attitude…Colin Westwood.
Colin is much more than just a happy exterior. In fact, while he comes from a moderately wealthy family that has always accepted his sexuality and loved him fully, from the very beginning life has dealt with him unfairly. Born with a rare congenital heart problem, he has undergone several surgeries and must live carefully in order to protect his fragile heart. Even though he lives on his own, his mother hovers and interferes in his life, often, and he works for his father, which he does enjoy but doesn’t necessarily love.
Just recently split from a man who he never really loved, Colin is afloat, not necessarily unhappy but not content either. He wants his happy ever after, his prince charming, but he’s just not sure that is realistic. When he meets the infuriating Detective Ng, he recognizes the zing he feels, the sexual tension, and he knows immediately that with this man there is no future, but is more than willing to throw caution aside just to be in the moment with Nevin. What neither man bargained for was that they might just want more, need more, and that just doesn’t work for Nevin, at all.
I cannot express how much I love this series Kim Fielding has started. What she began in Love Can Conquer she continues with this second book, Love Is Heartless. Not only is the story a good one, with a plausible mystery on the side, but the main focus—the growing relationship between Nevin and Colin—is just outstanding. Nothing is easy for Nevin; he fights his emotions and denies his needs on a regular basis, and often treats Colin poorly, yet the two are constantly drawn to each other. And not just because bodies seem to pile up around the unfortunate Colin.
It’s the chase that happens as Nevin vainly tries to avoid attachment ad Colin desperately denies the depth of his feelings for Nevin that makes this novel so good. This constant struggle to deny their true emotions causes each man to grow. For Nevin it is the near horrific realization he can still be who he has fought so long to be, and learn to depend on another person. For Colin it is finally standing up to his parents in a way which forces them to step back and allow him to more fully control his own life. When these two guys finally get together, it isn’t wine and roses, but it is exciting, scorching hot and romantic in a rough, hard earned way. In short, it is magic!
Love Is Heartless is just a gorgeous story that has you hoping for that happy ever after right up to the end.
You can buy Love Is Heartless here:
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