Helpful Score: 5
The characterization and character development in this one was as delicious as the UST. It was like peeling layers of a rose and knowing that with each petal that fell you were that much closer to it's end and not caring that it would be so. You learn about Rob and Dean (who look a lot like Ron and Harry, btw) by their getting to know each other on their journey to clear Dean's name. While Rob's not trying to take advantage of the situation, his attraction to Dean and that of Dean's to him is evident from their first meeting.
This isn't another 'but he's straight' book, nor is it a 'make him gay' book either. It's a true romance that grows from camaraderie and a shared joy for the company of a like soul. When you find your soul mate, the ache you feel when they're gone is so strong that you'd rather die than live your life without them... Dean's in search of his soul mate and though the reader knows it's Rob, their journey toward one another while they traverse the English countryside, is a great backdrop for that realization within the characters.
The smut is more fade-to-black and UST than anything else, but done well and true to the era it is being written in. There's the drunken moment where the boys take advantage of their inebriated state to pet, touch and caress more than they would had they been sober and many moments of conversation that always reveal more than we'd like to reveal to another person we profess not to be falling for. But their actual night of total surrender to each other is done beautifully!
Pearson does a remarkable job in keeping to the era while still bringing you into the time without feeling like the jargon or times are that long ago. Then again, I have thing for men in knee britches, long waistcoats with dozens of buttons to go through. :D
This isn't another 'but he's straight' book, nor is it a 'make him gay' book either. It's a true romance that grows from camaraderie and a shared joy for the company of a like soul. When you find your soul mate, the ache you feel when they're gone is so strong that you'd rather die than live your life without them... Dean's in search of his soul mate and though the reader knows it's Rob, their journey toward one another while they traverse the English countryside, is a great backdrop for that realization within the characters.
The smut is more fade-to-black and UST than anything else, but done well and true to the era it is being written in. There's the drunken moment where the boys take advantage of their inebriated state to pet, touch and caress more than they would had they been sober and many moments of conversation that always reveal more than we'd like to reveal to another person we profess not to be falling for. But their actual night of total surrender to each other is done beautifully!
Pearson does a remarkable job in keeping to the era while still bringing you into the time without feeling like the jargon or times are that long ago. Then again, I have thing for men in knee britches, long waistcoats with dozens of buttons to go through. :D
