Genre ~ LGBTQ ~ MM & BI
Featuring ~ surfing, suicide, escort services, fake relationship, age gap (35 & 46), cancer, grief, steamage
Series ~ Ohana Surfing Club ~ book 1
POV ~ dual 1st person
Release date ~ June 30, 2022
Page count ~ 298
My rating ~ 3.5⭐
My review:
Trigger warnings from the author ~ suicide, thoughts of suicide, homophobia, drug addiction, death of a loved one, explicit language and sex
Kel & Anders
Chapter 1 begins very heavy in 1997 with Kel (11) and Keo (17) finding their mom after she committed suicide. Flash forward 24 years and Kel is the owner of the Ohana Surfing Club. When he finds himself in financial strain with the business, and due to medical bills from his father’s cancer, he turns to escorting to make ends meet.
*Kel never felt like a grown man to me, maybe because he was first introduced to us when he was 11 and then boom he was 35. It was odd to me when he referred to the kids he provides housing to as ‘his kids’ too.
Anders was married to a woman for 20 years, but realized he wasn’t happy and wanted to explore his sexuality as bi~sexual. Months after the divorce is finalized he contacts an escort service for his first gay encounter.
They have an instant attraction, but Kel walks away and avoids seeing him again until Anders walks into the surf shop weeks later trying to buy his business. They come up with a plan that works for both of them, begin fake dating and spending a bunch of steamy time together. After only a few weeks together their relationship is tested and Anders stepped up to the ‘boyfriend’ plate in a big way.
This one is a heart string yanker, so it wouldn’t hurt to have some tissues nearby. Although Kel and his fathers story line was a sad one it was also heartwarming as you could feel their love for each other.
One thing that bugged me though was that so many people would say to them “oh I didn’t know you were gay” and then they’d go on to say they were bi or pan ~ like what business is it of yours nosy pants, mind your beeswax.
*Thanks to Courtney_W_Dixon and Booksirens for my copy. I am voluntarily leaving my honest review*
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Book blurb:
Two desperate encounters led to a dating arrangement. One for money. The other for sexual exploration.
Kel
I tried to save Ohana Surfing Club, a surf shop my father and I owned. Caring for young adults from battered homes, dealing with financial losses because of my father’s soaring medical costs, and being crushed by loans I could never repay, I was desperate. There was only one way out, and that was back to my old escorting job to make ends meet. A job I hadn’t done in a decade. Perhaps there was more to the stranger who hired me. Was it because I had been out of the game too long, or was there more that caused the spark between us? Whatever it was, I couldn’t get involved. Life was too complicated already, without throwing a relationship into the mix.
Anders
Growing up with a homophobic father and a mother I rarely saw because of her mental illness, I struggled with insecurity, always feeling I wasn’t man enough for my father. I shoved awareness of my bisexuality into the deepest recesses of my mind, willing them never to see the light of day. I married a beautiful woman and had two beautiful daughters. But with a failed marriage and no more fear of my father, I was desperate to explore that side of me I’d kept hidden for so long. To have a fling with a man. My escort was unexpected. There was electricity between us, no matter how much he denied it. Little did I know he was the owner of the surf shop I was about to buy up for my future resort. Perhaps we could make a deal.
CW: Suicide, thoughts of suicide, drug use, prostitution, explicit language, and sex.
Note: Anders is many things, but a cheater he’s not. He never cheated on his wife.
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