Series: Rock Bottom #3
Author: Felice Stevens
Self Published
Publication Date: October 6, 2019
Length: 340 pages
Reviewed by Truus
Synopsis
"Holding onto the past can hurt more than letting it go."
People say six years is long enough to mourn the death of his husband but for Ross Miller, the pain is as fresh as if it happened yesterday. He’s left his glittering Hollywood life behind, yet guilt still dogs his steps, no matter how far he runs. Trapped by his past and needing to escape his well-meaning friends, he rents a cabin in the secluded Adirondack mountains. A reclusive man moves in next door and piques Ross’s interest, but his persistent attempts at friendship are rebuffed. That doesn’t stop him because the one rule Ross Miller has always lived by is to never take no for an answer.
Novelist Arden Wainwright has given up. He can’t pretend a happiness he knows he’ll never find again. Solitary days turn into years, and he remains frozen, unable to take a breath. At his wit’s end, he retreats to the mountains, but it does little to stir his creativity. He continues to hide from life and avoids his overly nosy neighbor, who insists on planting himself at Arden’s doorstep at every turn. Making friends is the last thing Arden wants, but annoying or not, he can’t get the damn man out of his mind.
Finding peace in their isolated surroundings, the two lonely men forge an unlikely friendship where they realize they’re more alike than different and better together than apart. With Ross’s help, Arden begins to rebuild the shattered pieces of his life, while Arden gives Ross the strength to face his fears and find his way home. When love comes calling you can choose to hide from hurt, loss, and pain, but if you take a chance and open the door, you might discover that running from your heart is the last thing you'll want to do.
This book can be read as a stand alone but you may remember Ross, Foster's best friend from Broken Silence, Book One of the Rock Bottom series.
Review
I want to shout: What an impressive story. The author did a good
job creating a bubble where grief lives, where all the perspectives are so
different, like living in a parallel world. More than once I was in tears over
emotional parts. It was all so very real!
When two mens’ lives collide under heavy circumstances it can’t
be better described other than it makes the earth move.
Ross has withdrawn himself from his dear friends, away from the
glitter of his Hollywood life. He is mourning after the loss of his
husband six years ago, he can’t and doesn’t want to get attached again
with life.
Arden has lost his reason to live when everything he loved got
killed in a car accident five years ago. Mourning, grieving, he runs from his
life, to live in a cabin far away in an isolated place in the mountains, not
able to write another book anymore. Ross is his nearby neighbor. Arden doesn’t
want anything to do with hi., Only Ross is persistent to get involved and to
open up the grumpy withdrawn man.
What was revealed before my eyes was something special, very
special.
Both men have deep scars and a story to tell. At times it was hard.
I even had to stop reading further. The way they try to survive and overcome
was so well developed.
“But maybe there’s someone who can live inside the other piece
of your broken heart.”
A dear place in this story is taken by some beautiful friends
reaching out and accepting the fact that everyone grieves at their own pace.
There are stories where I try to visualize the characters by
looks. In this story, I didn’t. I just saw souls, souls who are hurt, with
walls around them to protect, sometimes with a crack to let the light in,
sometimes they grow big and radiate glowing light and, sometimes they deflate
into nothing. With all this, mostly they want to live and feel.
The way they seek each other and come closer was an emotionally
cautious one.
The whole process they went through was wonderfully described, I
felt it all! Their interactions were one of a kind. Both men were
beautifully developed throughout the whole story. To see through the exterior
into their souls was breathtaking and very emotional! To see them laugh and
make love was the icing on the cake.
It was heartwarming to see everything come around. I highly
appreciate the fact the author gave them peace, to make it all good and right.
I know it is fiction, only it felt so real. The road they had to walk was as heavy
as lead, they’ve come far and had to go deep, but thank goodness they made it.
I was immensely content they got their deserved HEA.
The author did a tremendous job to give this story the right
balance.
I was heavily impressed by this story!
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