This is the first book in a new series with no mention of the plans for the second book. There are several secondary characters introduced that could be the subjects of that future book though. In this book, MCs Liam and Mason need to overcome fears, secrets and an outside powerful force in order to find love and happiness.

The book starts out slowly and I almost threw in the towel. There are continual references to the past and secrets and threats that are meant to provide mystery and suspense but instead become irritating. It gets to a point where I just thought “who cares? I’m done.” But I stuck with it and there was a decent payoff further into the book.

The story arc moves much too slowly as does the character development thanks to what I mentioned above. When the crisis moment comes it is so hard to feel sympathy for Mason because you just want to yell at him and scream for him to fight back. The villain is suitably awful and urges you towards craving violence. I was totally invested at that point, really wanting to see them get their comeuppance. The vehicle for the crisis resolution is interesting and could have been so much more. The ultimate ending is disappointingly anti-climactic, and the final chapter is written in a totally different voice and tense which is jarring.

I found several of the secondary characters interesting and am hoping any future books will avoid the things that disappointed me in this one as we will have moved past the barriers that slowed the story arc here.

As a result of the items mentioned above I gave the book three stars (in my rating system that means OK but with serious flaws but parts are very enjoyable.) The book also has quite a few typos and some editing issues.

*I voluntarily read an ARC and this is my objective review *