Review: Soul to Keep by Garrett Leigh

Title: Soul to Keep

Series: Rented Heart: Book Two

Author: Garrett Leigh

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 210 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: I loved the easy flow of the story and found myself quickly caught up in it. I also loved the little surprises the author threw in, and, as always, am eagerly anticipating the next book. Another wonderful read from one of my faves!

Reviewed By: Jules

Blurb: Recovering addict Jamie Yorke has returned to England from California. With no home or family to speak of, he sticks a pin in a map and finds a small town in the Derbyshire Peak District. Matlock Bath is a quiet place—he just needs to get there, keep his head down, and stay clean. Simple, right? Until a chance meeting on the flight home alters the course of his so-called life forever.

Ex-Army medic Marc Ramsey is recovering from life-changing combat injuries while pulling nights as a trauma specialist at the local hospital. Keeping busy is a habit he can’t quit, but when Jamie—so wild and beautiful—bursts into his life, working himself into the ground isn’t as compelling as it used to be.

Marc falls hard, but chaos lurks behind Jamie’s fragile facade. He’s winning his battle against addiction, but another old foe is slowly consuming him. Both men have weathered many storms, but the path to the peace they deserve might prove the roughest ride yet.

Review: Garrett Leigh is without a doubt one of the most consistent writers in the genre. Her new release, Soul to Keep, is her twenty-third book, and while she certainly has a “style”—you definitely know you’re reading a Garrett Leigh book when you’re immersed in one of her stories—all of her novels are unique. The plotlines are never redundant or formulaic whatsoever. She brings something unique and special to every single book. In the case of Soul to Keep, she brings together Marc, an ex-soldier and medic from her book Between Ghosts, and Jamie, an ex-junkie, formerly seen as the troubled roommate and best friend of Zac from the LAMBDA finalist, Rented Heart. When I saw that the author was planning this book, I thought it was such a cool idea and I totally love what she did with it. The crossover works really well and even brings in some other familiar faces!

For the past year, Jamie has been in California, first rehabbing and then working for Sea Rave, the company owned by Zac’s partner, Liam. But, California just wasn’t home, basically it was just too damn cheerful for Jamie, and he started itching to go back home to England. He can’t go back to London, though, so he heads for parts unknown and ends up in a little town called Matlock Bath, where he starts looking for a job and trying to figure out his life. One thing he doesn’t expect is to run into is the intriguing stranger he met on his flight home from the States.

Marc Ramsey is equally surprised to run into Jamie, the tempting younger man he talked off the ledge on his flight home from America. He’s happy to see him, though, and immediately starts thinking of ways to guarantee he’ll keep seeing him, one of which is to offer him a job helping Marc clean out his mother’s house, where Marc is now living. I absolutely adored Marc. He’s smart, kind, and completely non-judgmental about Jamie’s past. Marc isn’t without his own baggage, of course—he’s in near constant pain from the loss of his leg and is still processing his past in the Army. He’s also sort of newly processing the fact that he’s into blokes, though things come very naturally as far as his feelings and reaction to Jamie.

Throughout the story we start to realize that addiction perhaps isn’t Jamie’s current biggest worry; he’s also battling some pretty nasty OCD along with his demons from when he was still using. But Marc, always the doctor, sees what’s going on with him and does what he can to make things better for Jamie. And at the same time, Jamie does so much to take care of Marc. I loved these guys together. I loved how they both overlooked the other person’s scars and past, and simply saw the person inside. There are no heavy dramatics in the book. There’s nothing overly sensational that happens. It’s honestly just a quiet romance between two guys who, as it turns out, really need each other.

Soul to Keep does deal with some heavy subject matter, but it is very low on angst. It’s, for the most part, a story about healing. And, about finding someone to spend your life with who gets you, with no conditions. I loved the easy flow of the story and found myself quickly caught up in it. I also loved the little surprises the author threw in, and, as always, am eagerly anticipating the next book. Another wonderful read from one of my faves!

You can buy Soul to Keep here:
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