Rare (Roads #2) by Garrett Leigh
Summary:
Paramedic Pete Adams lived through the year from hell watching his lover, Ash, fall apart, and the precarious balance between work and home is becoming more strained. His heart is always home, with Ash, but the dark side to his job is weighing him down.
Tattoo artist Ash Fagin is recovering from a nervous breakdown triggered by revelations about his traumatic childhood. His battle with mental illness is far from over, but with Pete by his side, he’s feeling good again, so good he doesn’t notice something missing until it walks right into his living room.
Ash believes he’s had enough coincidence in his life, but when a voice from the past comes looking for him, it takes the devastating injuries of the one he loves most to convince him to let a ghost become the family he never knew he wanted.
My Review:
There is something I rarely do; read authors back to back or a series back to back. I just don’t do it. Maybe it’s my OCD or maybe it’s to take a break so I don’t take the writing or authors style for granted and/or get bored. of that maybe, but with this author and this series, I read both books and both shorts back to back. It’s odd but I couldn’t stand to be away from these boys.
You two are so stubbornly in love with each other, you can face anything together.
If you saw my review for Slide you have a small inkling into my feelings about Ash and Pete. Those haven’t changed, they have only become stronger as I watched these boys grow both individually and as a couple. I do not think I have read a couple that is more perfect for one another. If you believe in the mysticism of a soul mate, of a piece of yourself that is missing until you find that one person and things seem to make sense. That is Ash and Pete, totally Ash and Pete. Don’t misunderstand me and think with saying that this book was all hearts and roses, it was far from that, so far but again so worth it.
Rare begins where we left off with Slide, Ash is with Ellie back in Philadelphia. The physical separation between the boys is so sweet to see how they deal with it. They have been to hell and back and survived and now is the time for them to settle in and live their life together. Oh if only that could be the case for the boys.
Ash wasn’t the same man who’d run away from me back then, and if the past year or so had taught me anything, it was that whatever life threw at us, there was always room for me to love him a little bit more.
Ash is still healing from his breakdown and Pete is in an emotional war with his job and the toll it is taking on him. Yet, the boys are in a good place right now; they are taking their time with one another and I love how they work so well. They are still so deeply in love with one another but they know their limits too. They know when to push to get something out and when to leave it alone. Not everyone can do that and it’s hard to do that in a relationship that is as passionate as the one with Ash and Pete. It’s so easy to get lost in that person, to let the love swallow you whole and you forget who you are. That doesn’t happen with these two; the love, strength, respect and faith they have in each other is astounding and gorgeous and it what makes them…them.
Ash was my best friend, my lover, and the closest thing to a soul mate I’d ever find, but in all the time we’d been together I couldn’t recall a time I’d ever considered us “dating.” He’d been the center of my world since the day I met him.
Now while they are in a good place, there are still the daily pressures of life that they have to deal with and when you combine that with surprise visits, a rescues of loved ones, a big change and a tragic accident. The boys are once again forced to rely on their love and faith in each other to see them through.
Once again this is told from both POV’s of Ash and Pete and while Slide led with Ash to set the story and let Pete carry us through, we get the switch with Rare and it is amazing. Pete’s POV held this vulnerability to it that gave me chills. You know everything he is going through at work and the love he feels for Ash grows stronger each day. They boys have never quite declared their sexuality but I love that they ventured out a few times and were able to be more public. Just the thought of them on the street together being able to simply be them gives me a total of emotions that has my hand to my chest with a deep sigh.
My relationship with Pete was about us, not words.
Ash, oh my sweet and troubled boy. This time your POV left me speechless. I love being in your head and seeing the world through your eyes even if it’s just to paint a wall. The things you have gone through, the things you have seen…and yet you are still here. From the simple things of taking a plane, a drive across town, navigating a bar or the ability to open up when you thought it wasn’t possible and fiercely take care of those you love. You, my dear Ash, are far and beyond the most beautiful boy who has no idea the strength you hold. You are exactly who/what Pete needs and even when the times get tough, you can do this.
He loved me, I knew he did, and God, I loved him. How had we come to this?
I can’t and won’t go into a lot of detail with this and what happens but I loved the angst and the build up to it. There was foreshadowing and though I knew it was coming it still hurt like hell. BUT along with that hurt you get to see how much these boys have grown, matured and really come into who they are. They are so perfect for one another and each hurdle they have to cross they do it together even when they think they aren’t strong enough to do so, they are. They so are and this shows it so well.
I have to add what I loved about this book and this series is while it’s a romance that focuses on Ash and Pete this story is about family. The family you are born in to but never connect with, the family you never knew you had or wanted and the friends that become your family. I loved how each character who supports the boys have their role and their place both alone and yet when they all come together it is this truly beautiful thing. The boys not only find each other but they find, build and slowly create this life as they grow and as they let each other in deeper so does their enrichment of those around them.
Rare was a fantastic end to the story of Ash and Pete. Though I have gone on to read the free story that follows this, these boys will be beyond hard to say goodbye to. I have fallen in love with their love, their strength and their ability to trust even when the thought they have lost it.
The Risqué Redhead Reads 