Review: In Over Our Heads by CJane Elliott

Title: In Over Our Heads (Stories from the Shore: Book Two)

Author: CJane Elliott

Length: 192 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, that isn’t what happened.

Reviewed By: Carrie

Blurb: Anthony Vallen is the life of any party. Full of energy and fun, Anthony adores romance and enjoys playing matchmaker for his friends while dancing the night away with a series of Mr. Right Nows. But he’s given up on his own happy ending. A bad breakup years ago made him a secret cynic about love… until he runs into Walter Elkins—the boy who broke his teenaged heart—on a scuba-diving vacation in Key West. Suddenly, Anthony’s reasons for shunning romance no longer hold much water. Being with Walter again forces Anthony to get serious—about himself, his worth, and his heart’s desires.

Brilliant and self-contained, scientist Walter Elkins prefers deep thoughts to other people. He’s a good boss and a model citizen, but Walter doesn’t let anyone get close. After a tragedy drove him out of his science career, Walter landed in Key West and became owner of a dive shop and a bar. Things are fine until Anthony Vallen—the only person who ever penetrated his defenses—shows up, and Walter’s calm, controlled life capsizes. He and Anthony have a second chance for love, but Walter must confront the old fears that threaten to torpedo their happiness.

Review: This was my first book by this author, and while I enjoyed the witty repartee and the constant banter, I was not impressed with the book overall. I had some serious issues with this story and as such, just can’t recommend it. I love second chance love stories, but this one didn’t hit the mark for me. This is the second book in the Stories from the Shore series, and while the couple from the first book are featured here, you do not have to have read their story to understand this one.

Anthony Vallen is a seriously self-doubting person. Plagued by ADD and run-of-the-mouth disease, he doesn’t see himself as worthy of love because his boyfriend dumped him when he was seventeen. Overtly femme, he can get a wee bit on your nerves. Instead of rooting for Anthony to find true love with Walter, I found myself sad because he didn’t think he deserved better than to have to trail after someone who is so obviously troubled. I wanted to bean his “friends” over their proverbial heads when they kept encouraging him to reach out to a man who had such obvious issues, never understanding the depths of the hurt they were causing by urging him to do so. I’m sorry, but someone tells you flat out to your face they don’t want you, and you spend your birthday on the floor of your kitchen in tears because of this person, it is up to them to make the amends…not you. I was actually offended by the character of Anthony. It was like the author took every gay caricature and rolled them into one person, and then shot it with steroids.

Walter Elkins has issues. Serious issues apart from self-doubt, including isolationism and depression. He needed therapy. When a book is written by a psychotherapist, and the character in the book obviously needs help, and doesn’t get it—well, then I don’t get it. Love does not conquer all inside the mind of a depressed individual. I kept waiting for Walter to get better, to snap out of it, to get a clue. He never does, not really, until the second chapter of the epilogue. This book could have easily been cut by half. I know that at the halfway point, I was ready for it to be over.

If I had felt the least bit of chemistry between the main characters, if I hadn’t spent most of the book hoping Walter would talk to a professional about the traumatic experiences he had in his childhood and early adulthood, if Anthony could have had the least bit of depth, if I hadn’t wanted to reach into the book and slap a few of the secondary characters… I wanted to like this book, but unfortunately, that isn’t what happened.

You can buy In Over Our Heads here:
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