Cameron Dane’s A Fostered Love

Blurb:

Christian Sanchez never thought he would see Jonah Roberts again. Foster brothers for a short time as teens, Christian developed a massive crush on Jonah, his tough, older roommate. That all ended when the cops came and arrested Jonah, stealing him from Christian’s uncertain world.

Jonah never forgot Christian, even though he cut off all contact with the boy. Jonah knew the kid with the crush on him would be better off forgetting that Jonah ever existed. Jonah stayed in contact with his foster mother Marisol, but refused to hear stories about Christian, and made the woman promise never to tell Christian anything about him.

Upon her death fifteen years later, Marisol leaves a request that Jonah come home and help Christian renovate her house. Jonah can’t refuse, even though he knows he will have to face Christian once again.

Although they haven’t seen each other in years, neither man has forgotten the other. Neither man will deny Marisol her final request…even if it means facing their past, working together, sharing the room they had as teens, getting to know one another now as men, and discovering that the brief friendship they shared has altered into a consuming, abiding love.

 

Review:

This is a solidly written book with intense characters and some pretty hot sex scenes. That said, I struggled with this book and found my attention wandering at several points. There aren’t any huge glaring mistakes that I can point out as plot killers or even problems per se, although I’ll try to explain why I couldn’t seem to connect with the characters. For the majority of readers, you’ll really like this book. It has tight, concise writing with vivid scene detail and some interesting characters. It has enough intensity and emotion to be a thoroughly satisfying romance for most readers.

My problem was partially with the characters. Jonah is a thirty-something rough man with a broken home life growing up and eventually ended up in juvie for a few years. The culmination of a poor and dysfunctional childhood has left Jonah completely emotionally stunted and unable to have even casual communication with other people. He swings from angry and overbearing to fearful and tongue-tied. This dichotomy isn’t overcome but more so, Christian understands Jonah’s emotional distance and is able to counteract it. Jonah’s inherent emotional problems aren’t fully explained either, giving a brief glimpse of an unhappy drug filled childhood before going into foster care which lead him to petty and not-so-petty crime. Whatever problems he had in juvenile detention were not addressed at all, leaving me wondering which experience in his life really left him so emotionally crippled.

Christian is an interesting character, showing a solid depth and complex nature that compliments the almost wild unpredictably Jonah presents. Christian’s smooth and easy going nature give life to the cliché of “still waters run deep”, but in a good way. He goes from the quiet one of the duo to showing strength and dominance on his own by the end of the story. His low-key intensity, while seemingly contradictory, somehow works well with the whirlwind of conflicting emotions that Jonah experiences. Christian is a solid character with a more complicated personality than initially expected. Together, he and Jonah work well as long denied lovers who reconnect and find sparks kindle quickly and hotly.

The storylines, which involve the renovation of their foster mother’s house for sale and a subplot of an ex-boyfriend stalker, are a bit mediocre. Both are used as tropes to progress the relationship and throw Jonah’s emotional stability, or lack thereof, awry and fall short of believable. The resolution action scene to the stalker problem was over the top and had me wondering about the laws of physics with the speed Jonah accomplishes everything. It’s not that it is impossible per se, but it just seemed too much and unnecessary when the scene was working just fine as it was going. However, that is a relatively minor point amidst the story and easily overlooked.

Another problem I had was the language involved in the sex scenes. Now, the sex scenes were hot and rough with a refreshing alternating top/bottom positioning that added weight to the dynamic between the men. Yet the language tripped me up a few times with excessive euphemisms, which began to feel slightly clinical and detached from the intensity and emotional level the author was aiming for. Repeated use of the words “channel, chute, rectum, and ejaculate” during the sex scenes just jarred for me. I realize there are only so many words you can use when writing sex so “ass” isn’t used every other word, yet it just seemed a few too many sterile words that were in contrast to the rough and dirty sex between the men.

Even taking these problems into consideration, the characters were likeable and the story was solidly written with tight prose. Even if the plot devices were slightly thin, you can get by them without too many problems and most romance lovers will enjoy this offering. I still recommend this book, not only for the beautiful cover art, but the story itself. It’s not a keeper but it’s better than the average offering.

 Get it HERE!

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