The Rebuilding Year by Kaje Harper

4 STARS

Oh, it was good. :) A true romance, I thought. I fell for both main characters, 

John and Ryan and even though the whole 'gay for you' usually makes my back teeth itch, it was okay this time. Both men were damaged and even though their Rebuilding Year went a long way towards healing, I was left with the impression - a good impression, mind you - that there were still going to be 'things' to crop up. (Maybe John and Ryan are whispering to Kaje that they have more story to tell? I could hope!)

So yeah, lovely main characters, a believable development of the relationship, a kid that wasn't annoying and out of place and a tantalising glimpse of Ryan's family - all very good things. And I like how Kaje writes, it's full but it's easy to read, the flow is really good. The sex and love scenes are hot and steamy and the moments of tenderness and affection plentiful - something I like very much. 

I enjoyed the secondary plot of the kids and the drugs etc, it didn't seem overdone and gave an added depth to the story. The climax of the story, where Ryan has to face his fears, I really enjoyed. For action scenes it worked really well for me, there was an urgency and a tension that sometimes action scenes in books don't have. 

The one thing that bugged me was John's ex and her new husband when they came to the house. Up until then, they were working for me, but I found the sudden anti-gay ranting and raving using all the panicked, uninformed clichés to be jarring. Okay, the reason they are clichés is that they happen all the time, I get that. I have no problem with their worries that Mark living with his gay dad and his lover was going to be bad for the boy, I just thought the ignorant hysterics took away from the character. I didn't want to hate John's ex because dammit, he did love her for a long, long time, but this argument seemed geared towards making the reader despise the couple. I'd rather have just despised the new husband. :)

So, I'm hoping that Kaje has more tales of John and Ryan to tell and would highly recommend this book to anyone who enjoys a good, heart-warming tale. :) Oh!!! And Kaje originally comes from Montreal!! Like me!!