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On the worst day of Stuart Wilson’s life he has a chance encounter with a stranger on a street corner. He finds himself inexplicably drawn from the second their eyes connected. Over the following decade he has never forgotten the brief encounter, or the eyes that have haunted his dreams.
Finding his life has stalled, though successful and financially independent, Stuart feels his life is sadly lacking that one thing everyone wants, love. Making a decision to change, Stuart uproots himself from his life. On the recommendation of a friend he moves to a small island in the Irish Sea, where Stuart’s life takes several unexpected turns and twists when he offers to help his new boss. Joe King has it all, or so it appeared, until he made a wrong choice which has left him reeling both emotionally and physically. Devastated by the turn of events he seeks refuge with his friend hoping to find some peace and quiet to lick his wounds. What he finds is an unexpected connection to his past that he struggles to accept. The present situation is hindered by a past he wants to escape that will not let go. Will they find the true happiness Stuart believes can be theirs? Or will the threat from Joe’s past take away what Joe is only starting to realise could be his future, Stuart. Guardian cats walk this earth, there to protect—if you are fortunate enough to be blessed by the fates. Princess is one such cat. Having found herself in trouble for breaking the rules, Princess believes that being paired with Stuart Wilson as his guardian is her penance. Unbeknown to her that is not the case. Things turn ugly when Princess steps in to protect Stuart putting her own life at risk causing her new arch enemy Maximillian, an ancient guardian cat to make a decision that has far reaching consequences for them both. Will she accept or fight the changes, only time will tell. Warning The content of some of this book is sexually graphic, with the use of explicit language and adult situations involving two/three males. It is only intended for mature adults. There are also some potential triggers of violence and partner abuse.
4 out of 5 (very good)
Independent Reviewer for Archaeolibrarian - I Dig Good Books!
This is book two in the Manx Cat Guardians series, and I would recommend that you read book one, Seeing Beyond the Scars, first. Brad and Martin play a huge part here, there is some overlap of the two stories and you need to know what Brad suffered.
I enjoyed this far FAR more than book one. The major issue I had with that book was it had not been edited properly and it had a massive impact on my reading experience. I saw no sign of that problem here, and it made for a much more pleasurable read.
Stuart is a work colleague of Martin (although I'm still not entirely sure what ANY of the guys do for work!) and he moves to the island to help Martin while Brad is in hospital. Cat sitting wasn't his best decision. Joe is hiding from his abusive ex, and lodging at Stuart's seemed like a good idea. Falling in love wasn't something either of them had in mind.
I'm still not sure about the cat, Princess! I said in my review for book one that I wanted more of the history of her "people" and I STILL want that, I NEED it, I think, to get the full picture. That Max turns up with Aadan, gives a little bit, but no where near enough for me! I'm just greedy, I know!
I do think again, that Joe would have been a bit more skittish, jumping into something so soon after he managed to get away, but he does push Stuart away when Stuart says something that Joe hated.
I loved Aadan, and the fact that he pushed Joe and Stuart into something they maybe hadn't thought about, but ran with it anyway.
I see book three laid out for me, and I REALLY ant to read that now! Max has upset Aadan, when he saves Princess and Aadan has some paranormal power that isn't fully explained here, it's just hinted at. Something has happened between Aadan and Greg, Stuart's secretary, and I really NEED to know what!
Since this was a much MUCH better read, and I saw no editing errors that plagued book one....
4 stars
**same worded review will appear elsewhere**
* A copy of this book was provided to me with no requirements for a review. I voluntarily read this book, and my comments here are my honest opinion. *
Let me introduce myself, my name is Jayne, I’m a lady of a certain age (50 in 2019, bites fingernails). I am an identical twin, the younger one of course by 7 minutes. I am married to a wonderfully complicated man or as he puts it, off his rocker Rob. We celebrate our 25th wedding anniversary this year. I have one daughter and currently one grandbaby.
I was born in the Isle of Man; this makes me Manx (not British or English). I moved to the UK for several years and as a child I lived in Italy for a while. But, the island calls to me. I love the sea and it’s only a stone’s throw from my home. The island is steeped in folklore and I have used some of this in my writing.
I have worked in the caring profession for 34 years and have been a hospital nurse manager, out of hours, for the past year and a bit. I made that decision to work part time nights so that I could pursue my lifelong dream of becoming a writer.
I have always believed that I could and would write a book, but life just seemed to get in the way. I took a senior nurse manager post several years ago. It just seemed to take over my life until I had nothing left.
I was offered an opportunity to have life coaching which I grabbed onto with both hands. When she asked me what I really wanted to do, the answer was writing. But we all know it’s not that simple, or so I thought. I was questioned as to why it couldn’t happen, then what could I do to make it happen. It was life changing for me.
So two years later, my career path has changed and so has my life. I found my happiness again in something that just brightens my day. Now I won’t say it’s been a breeze because it hasn’t been, but it has been fun and exciting. Oh, and the joy just fills me up.
I am asked a lot why did I chose to write a gay romance. The answer was easy it flowed out, to write something that was so different to what I was doing in my life. All the research I did said write about what you know, but that just wasn’t working for me for many reasons.
I went to a creative writing group (couldn’t recommend this enough for new writers); anyway the course leader gave me these words of advice. “Put your inner critic aside, put pen to paper and just write, don’t worry about what comes out, just write.” I was a bit, really that works, but I decided to give it ago and 6 weeks later I had this bones of my first book (113,000 words).
It’s unleashed a beast in my mind, now I can’t switch it off. I follow a lot of authors and I listen to them talking about their characters talking to them. I so get this now, I find myself muttering and talking at odd times. Waking at 3am in the morning with bits of story wanting a voice.
I have the second book all but written and the third book storyline ready to start. I think I’ll write different stuff as well but this seems to be where I’ve started.