Review later

While I thoroughly enjoyed this book, I felt it feel just a bit short of the first one of the series. Having said that, I still loved this book. The MC's have real depth and the story is just as engaging as the first. I also love the fact that we get to revisit all the guys from book 1 and that we actually get to know them all a bit better as well.

Peter and Sean are both extremely interesting characters. Peter's mind is a very intriguing place to dwell lol, with the way he seems to be overthinking so many things (and then of course blurting it all out without a filter). Sean also seems to be a very deep thinker, and also very private. I felt, however, that we didn't get to know him as well, which was slightly disappointing.

But overall this was a fantastic book, and I'm glad I've got the next one loaded and ready to read.

after reading After Ben, I was excited to jump right into Saving Sean. I was glad to see familiar characters as well as some new ones.

Peter is an EMT who seems to have a thing about saving people, and it seems like he has to look at things differently to figure out what Sean really needs from him.

In helping Sean, Peter also figures out some things about his own family. I was very happy to see him reconnect with his dad, and realize that his dad was actually proud of him, and maybe hadn't known how to show that before.

I'm looking forward to the third book. I wonder who that will be about. Aidan, maybe?

While I really enjoyed the romance part of this, all the files, rezoning and development stuff got really tedious, especially at the end.

Cross-posted at Shelf Inflicted and at Outlaw Reviews

I was debating on whether I wanted to continue with this series or not, as my feelings about After Ben were rather lukewarm.

Though the first story was mainly about Theo recovering from the death of his partner, Ben, and finding love again, there were interesting secondary characters, such as Peter Morse, a paramedic who fell for Theo at the wrong time, and Maggie, Theo’s personal assistant and friend, who was instrumental in supporting him through the worst of his grief. It was my interest in Peter and knowing that he too will find love, that gave me the push I needed to continue reading.

While [b:Saving Sean|15832099|Saving Sean (Seattle Stories, #2)|Con Riley|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1345156679s/15832099.jpg|21567686] features characters from the first book, the focus of the story is on Peter and Sean, a young conservationist reeling from the death of his estranged father and coping with the results of his hoarding disorder. He is also a brother to Maggie.

This story shared a lot of similarities with the first one, making it feel somewhat formulaic. In spite of the fact that Theo’s partner was 10 years older, Theo was still very much hung up on age differences, even when he became involved with a considerably younger man. Likewise, Peter is hung up on a physical type. Even though Sean, with his lean build, long red hair, and pale complexion wasn't exactly Peter’s type, Peter fell for him hard and fast, leaving me feeling unconvinced that their relationship is destined to last.

Peter is a smart guy with mostly sound judgment. He worked for 15 years as a paramedic and now travels around the country training firefighters and medical professionals in emergency response. Though he deserves a nice guy in his life, I’m not convinced that Sean is a suitable companion. His unstable personality and erratic behavior annoyed me to no end and made me wonder just what exactly did Peter see in him. Sean didn't need a boyfriend; he needed a therapist. His obsession with his father’s hoard and inability to focus on the task of separating trash from items of value even though he risks losing his home led me to think it was possible he inherited the hoarding gene. Instead of being firm with Sean, Peter allowed himself to become a hostage to his unpredictable emotions. He avoided becoming angry with Sean when he frequently ran away from problems. A healthy relationship this is not. Yeah, I know Sean’s father died before they had a chance to mend fences, but that doesn't give him the right to be a selfish, whiny jerk and be ungrateful to Peter, their friends, and his boss, Vik, who are helping him manage the hoard before his home is condemned.

““It's not all garbage. It's not. There's really important stuff in dad’s office, and they're acting like it's junk.” His face twisted. “He’s acting like it's dirty.””

This made it easy for me to side with Vik’s point of view:

“He’s always looking for reasons. It makes him an excellent researcher – I was sorry to lose him to his own project – but sooner or later he’ll see the bigger picture. He won't be able to save every forest, and he can’t hope to figure out how his dad’s mind worked. Some things are inexplicable.”

Where this story shined for me was the growing closeness between Peter and his dad. While I didn't understand why Peter kept his distance from him for so long, I’m glad they developed a warm relationship. Their interactions were deeply moving.

“I felt like we were on a road trip together. Maybe we should have done that for real while you were younger. It just always seemed like there wasn’t enough time. But I guess that this way, every time you sent another postcard, it was like picking up from the same conversation. Are you home for a while, son? I’ll miss hearing from you if you are.”

His dad was withdrawn since his wife's death, spending hours in his workshop, and while he didn’t openly accept Peter’s sexuality, he certainly didn't condemn him for it. It seems to me that Peter should have been adult enough to establish communication and work past this way before now.

I found the sex scenes between Peter and Sean repetitive, lacking in sensuality, and too frequent, especially towards the end of the book. Maybe it’s because I mostly saw Sean as a child in a man’s body. I didn’t care for the way the hoarding issue was addressed, and I wanted more communication between Sean and his sister. The ending felt forced and unrealistic.

Once again, I’m left with a lukewarm feeling. Despite this, I will read the next story featuring Aiden and Marco, even though I’m expecting more of the same. I must be a glutton for punishment.

Thanks to Katie from Bookie Nookie's Erotic Lending Group for lending this to me.

4.5*

Not sure what happened to my original reviews of Con's books, only Must Like Spinach seems to have survived.

Anyways, Saving Sean is being re-released shortly with a new cover and a bit of a re-work but it's not changed enough to take away from this glorious romance which is one of my favourites from Con.

Saving Sean is as much about Peter finding a new direction as it is about the titular character. But it's so much more than just a romance. It's about finding acceptance, it's about learning how to move on, it's about putting the past to bed and looking to the future.

It deals with the mental illness of a character who has died at the time the book starts and it examines how just one small thing can push someone over the edge (don't worry there's no trigger warnings necessary imho

Spoiler

it deals with OCD rather than suicidal impulses.)

And, while this book takes place over a super short time period, it never feels it. To me, it's like time stretches out across infinite days while Peter and Sean fall in love at the same time as they fix up Sean's cabin and work out both of their complex feelings for their families' past lives.

Peter and Sean connect on hundreds of levels, but I think one of the main ones is that they both understand how the other became disconnected and they're both determined to move beyond and try to make a difference.

I loved how Con's other interconnected couples get involved here as well, I'm a big fan of Joel and Ethan, although Aiden's a bit of a pratt at first in this one. We do see the genus of his own story and his relationship with Marco begin in this book though and it's lovely to know what's coming next if, like me, you've already read [b:Aiden's Luck|38738001|Aiden's Luck (Seattle Stories #3)|Con Riley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1519505681l/38738001._SY75_.jpg|22279625]

If you read Saving Sean before, then I'll just say Con's tidied it up, made it more linear and with less jumping around, and it's had another edit, but the same beautiful love story is still at its heart.

I had the privilege of proofing this new edition for Con. The review is my own honest and unbiased opinion.

I could barely finish this and I liked the first book in the series. Well, this one again had probably an interesting novella hidden inside a longer book. Only this time the extra pages added absolutely nothing, and the solution to the novel's central problem was underwhelming. But there is lots of sex! Only I didn't care to read it because I was skimming so fast. So, you know, if you like a lot of sex, a little plot, and a lot of words maybe this is the book for you. I just know that I was disappointed. Two stars for the interaction between Peter and his father, which was well-done.

This book opens with characters from the first book in Con Riley's "Seattle Stories" series. I love it when I read familiar names... it's like returning home when the story was good! After Ben, the first book in the series was a lovely story with a little bit of a mystery. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

When Saving Sean beings, Theo is asking his friend Peter to do him a favor. The thing is ... as much as he might not want to do the favor, Peter already knows he's going to do it. He had feelings for Theo in the first book. He's moved on, but he has a soft spot in his heart for Theo. The next thing Peter knows, he's driving out in search of Theo's friend's brother. He comes upon Sean quickly... by accident... after an accident. The paramedic side of Peter kicks in... the caretaker in him. Soon, he's in too deep with Sean and is risking everything to help him.

Sean is a conservationist. He's political, probably some kind of genius and still dealing with the shock of his father's death. It turns out that he's come home to his father's cabin only to find it full of papers, boxes, information... and he can't make sense of it. Sean isn't just grieving his father, he's also beating himself up because he can't find any meaning in the piles and piles of papers and all of his father's research.

There's an ongoing theme in this book of characters dealing with mental illness. It's clear early on that Sean's father lived with OCD. Ultimately, the man's challenges tore the family apart. Sean is estranged from his sister because he fled the chaos that was their family home. Riley does a really good job of showing how mental health issues can affect everyone in a family. As Sean and Peter begin to get to know each other it becomes clear that some of what makes Sean so great at being a researcher and conservationist is that he has some of his father's tendencies towards being obsessive. I really appreciated how Sean was a complex character and mental illness was represented as being something that could be an advantage as well as a challenge.

Peter is certainly on his own journey in this book. As he learns more and more about Sean and his father, he begins to understand more about his relationship with his own father. Even the supporting characters in this story seemed to be on their own journey. I like that all of the characters seem important.

There were times when I got a little taken out of the plot by the fact that almost everyone is gay. But, that's what we're here to read, right? So, it's not really that big an issue.

This series is a great set of contemporary gay romances. These books are well-written, enjoyable and the characters read as authentic.

I was so excited to read about Peter after meeting him in After Ben. It was amazing to see more of who he is and read about his work. Sean, on the other hand, was a complete mystery to me for a while, but the more I read about him, the more I adored him.

I'll write a proper, longer review after a reread but I just wanted to say that I adored the book, and was also grateful that while it deals with tough topics, it did not make me cry as much as After Ben did :)