Review: Regret Me Not by Amy Lane

Title: Regret Me Not

Author: Amy Lane

Length: 119 Pages

Category: Contemporary, Holiday Romance

At a Glance: Regret Me Not by Amy Lane is just the right blend of sweet and romantic—a lovely Christmas story you won’t want to miss.

Reviewed By: Sammy

Blurb: Pierce Atwater used to think he was a knight in shining armor, but then his life fell to crap. Now he has no job, no wife, no life—and is so full of self-pity he can’t even be decent to the one family member he’s still speaking to. He heads for Florida, where he’s got a month to pull his head out of his ass before he ruins his little sister’s Christmas.

Harold Justice Lombard the Fifth is at his own crossroads—he can keep being Hal, massage therapist in training, flamboyant and irrepressible to the bones, or he can let his parents rule his life. Hal takes one look at Pierce and decides they’re fellow unicorns out to make the world a better place. Pierce can’t reject Hal’s overtures of friendship, in spite of his misgivings about being too old and too pissed off to make a good friend.

As they experience everything from existential Looney Tunes to eternal trips to Target, Pierce becomes more dependent on Hal’s optimism to get him through the day. When Hal starts getting him through the nights too, Pierce must look inside for the knight he used to be—before Christmas becomes a doomsday deadline of heartbreak instead of a celebration of love.

Review: Pierce broke more than his body when his car crashed. Now, with his divorce looming, his anger and disgust with himself in the driver’s seat, and his life a shambles, he can barely get out of bed much less enjoy the Florida coastline from the condo his best friend has let him borrow during his recovery. Despite the fact that he nearly snapped his poor sister’s head off the first few weeks out of the hospital, she has made him promise he will return to her and her family in a month for Christmas. As Pierce drags himself to the pool in order to begin the aqua therapy he must endure, he collides with a force of nature named Hal.

Hal is having his own quiet breakdown. Not only has he lost his boyfriend, but his wealthy and uptight parents have demanded he give up the pursuit of his massage therapy licensure for a more staid and acceptable law degree, or they will cut the purse strings. When he sees Pierce, he makes it his mission to become the man’s personal trainer, and the two men begin a somewhat rocky friendship that quickly blossoms into more. But Pierce has real reservations about how young Hal is, and doubts that he is half the nice guy the younger man declares him to be.

No matter what, Christmas is looming and Pierce is going to have to make a decision—pursue this intangible connection he feels with Hal, or walk away for good. If he does, his body may not be the only broken thing Pierce must contend with when he leaves Hal behind. His heart may shatter too.

Sometimes an author manages to write a character that is utterly sublime from top to bottom and everywhere in between. This was the case with Amy Lane’s creation of Hal Lombard. Hal refuses to see anything but the best in Pierce. With absolute certainty, he pursues Pierce’s therapy and his heart. To be honest, both Pierce and Hal were incredible, and this sweet story, Regret Me Not, will most certainly go down as one of my Christmas favorites this year. Between the tension that the age difference creates and the emotional crippling Pierce has experienced over the years, Pierce struggles with the idea that Hal should be hands off, not someone he should ever get involved with much less fall for in so short a time.

But the heart wants what it wants, and, in this case, it is this dynamic, sweet young man who, in turn, simply wants to be loved and needed. These two are a match made in heaven. They expend so much energy trying to avoid the fact that they are deeply attracted to one another that you find yourself on tenterhooks just praying these guys come to their senses before it’s too late. This story is just magical. The chemistry between Hal and Pierce feels so genuine and so right. It is just lovely sitting by the sidelines watching their story unfold.

Regret Me Not by Amy Lane is just the right blend of sweet and romantic—a lovely Christmas story you won’t want to miss.

You can buy Regret Me Not here:
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