Title: Risk Taker
Series: Mixed Messages: Book Three
Author: Lily Morton
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 288 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Lily Morton always manages to execute her critical relationship turns so well and for maximum effect, not to mention she has a keen sense of comedic timing for all the sweet and not-so-subtle asides that seem to be placed just at the moment I need them most.
Reviewed By: Lisa
Blurb: Being in love with your best friend is hard.
Henry’s the odd man out. All his friends are settling down, and his reputation as the Hook-Up King of London seems more like a curse than a blessing these days. Especially when it keeps photojournalist Ivo, his best friend and the brilliant man he’s loved since they were fifteen, at arm’s length. But that’s where Ivo wants him, right? Putting aside his feelings, Henry decides to give up casual sex and look for the real deal. After all, he has no chance with Ivo – or does he?
Henry is everything to Ivo. Best friend, soul mate, the one person who has never let him down. The one person he is loyal to above everything and everyone. But Henry’s in a box marked best friend and that’s where Ivo’s kept him for nearly twenty years, despite steadily falling in love with the gentle man. And besides, why would Henry want to date Ivo? Burned out and injured, he’s the walking embodiment of damaged.
Distance has helped Henry and Ivo keep a lid on their attraction, but when they find themselves in the same city for a change—Ivo hurt and needing assistance, and Henry more than willing to provide it—the two best friends grow closer than ever, forcing a realization, and a decision. Risk their friendship for their hearts? Or can they have both?
From the bestselling author of Rule Breaker and Deal Maker comes a tender love story about two best friends who are perfect for each other, and always have been – if only they knew it.
Review: If you’ve read the first two books in this collection, Rule Breaker and Deal Maker, you already know how fabulous Henry Ashworth is—that’s why readers have been salivating for his story. If you haven’t read them and are thinking about reading Risk Taker first, well, that’s okay I guess, but to know Henry prior to this is to already love him—which happens almost instantaneously in Risk Taker—and you also get the added bonus of knowing who Henry’s good friends Gabe and Dylan and Asa and Jude are, so there’s that. But, either way, author Lily Morton has treated readers to a friends-to-lovers romance that’s so, so lovely and can stand on its own too.
If you don’t know Henry yet, he is, among other things, a good friend, a kind man, and he’s built quite a reputation as a player. But now he’s decided he wants to give monogamy a go, something steady and real and that might look a bit like the relationships he’s watched his friends settle in to. He knows his feelings for his best friend, Ivo, can never be acted on—because Ivo doesn’t see Henry that way—so it’s time to start dating and hope he can find someone who isn’t Ivo, but who might make-do, to share his life with. Cue the guys setting Henry up on a few blind dates, and then cue Ivo’s growing jealousy as he fears that Henry is going to find someone and leave everything they are behind. To state the obvious, the friends-to-lovers trope is no stranger to romance readers, so if that’s your thing, Risk Taker is your go-to; it’s not an easy or angst-free ride, however. In the case of Henry and Ivo, they not only share the deep bonds of friendship, but they’re soul-mates and bro-mates as well (they just so happen to be ex-stepbrothers), and have always felt a platonic affection for each other. But now that they’ve acknowledged their feelings for each other are so very extra, at least to themselves, the question becomes not if that love is real but whether it’s worth risking if it only results in their losing everything between them.
That’s where the turning point in their relationship begins, and I think Lily Morton executes those critical turns so well and for maximum effect. Sometimes it takes more than a few turns, of course, and one of the greatest complications for Henry and Ivo is that there will always be Ivo’s job. Ivo will never be happy putting down permanent roots, but the emotional toll his work takes on Henry is considerable because it takes a mental and physical toll on Ivo. The job takes Ivo away for months at a time and into war-torn territory where death isn’t out of the realm of possibility—and could take him from Henry forever. So, for Henry it comes down to whether or not he can bear those separations and their inherent danger if it means being able to claim Ivo’s love for however long he can.
One of the things I love about Morton’s writing is that amongst the angst and pathos of the building relationships—which there always is, and which always works to build my investment in the characters and their story—is that she has such a keen sense of comedic timing for all the sweet and not-so-subtle asides, especially at the start of each new chapter. That levity seems to be placed at the moment I need it most, when my heart is feeling just that little bit pinched over her characters’ unresolved feelings and the obstacles that stand in the way of their happiness.
It was great to see the guys again, to see Gabe and Dylan happy, to see Asa and Jude happy, and to meet Henry’s supremely awesome brother, Silas, who should get his own book in this series. Let me say that for the folks in the back: SILAS NEEDS A BOOK… Yeah, I loved him that much for the way he always had Henry’s back when they were kids and their father was being typically despicable, and for his unwavering love for and loyalty to Henry now. I loved Silas for the way he saw how much Henry and Ivo belonged together, and for the way he just wanted Henry to be happy. So, here’s hoping this series doesn’t end in a trilogy.
You can buy Risk Taker here:
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