Its finally here!! LOVE YOU SO MADLY, the second book in the Love You So series!
Will Ben give up a lover who drives a Ferrari for one who rides the bus?
Love You So Madly
By Tara Lain
(Love You So Series, Bk 2)
Blurb:
Ben Shane has it all… and he’d like to give some of it back. While he loves his job heading a foundation that funds worthy causes around the world, his engagement to one of America’s wealthiest men leaves him feeling more like a trophy wife than a valued partner. The first warning that his relationship might not be designed to last is his irresistible lust for Dusty Kincaid, the golden-haired, bright-eyed handyman for his company.
Though Dusty is odd for a twenty-three-year-old—no liquor, no sugar, and he can’t even drive—the more Ben gets to know Dusty, the more he admires him. But is Ben going to give up a guy who drives a Ferrari for one who takes the bus? He must be mad. Dusty knows he and Ben can never work.
After all, Ben’s perfect… and Dusty isn’t. But Ben might surprise everyone with proof that he’s only madly in love.
Available for purchase at at
Kindle | Dreamspinner Press | iTunes | Nook
4 out of 5 stars
Love You So Madly is a contemporary m/m romance. While this is part of a series it could be read as a standalone.
Love You So Madly is a sweet, slow burn romance story featuring two very different men who are both draw close to each other despite their differences. Ben is settled in a long term job with a foundation doing charitable works. He loves his job, loves the people he works with, and knowing that he's doing something to help others. However his life outside of work is not going as well. He's with someone who doesn't like that Ben has his own job and own life outside of what he can 'give' Ben. Well Ben isn't so sure that he's on the right track with his relationship and questions his fiancee every time he gives Ben the 'you need to cut back on your job' speech.
Then Ben sees Dusty one day at work and is attracted to him.. but obviously he's in a relationship so he doesn't do anything. He does however start to get to know Dusty and really likes this very different young man. Ben also realizes that Dusty is very different than most young men his age. Even though there isn't a huge age gap between Ben and Dusty, it too gives Ben a reason to try not to pursue anything with him. Until he realizes that his relationship with his fiancee really isn't going to change until HE changes things. And he does... in a drastic way after something happens one day at work. This leave things open for him to explore things with Dusty.
This is a very sweet, story with not a lot of on screen relationship time with Dusty and Ben, at least not for this reader. There was a lot of them spending time together but not in any romantic way, mostly at work, or at Ben's house, and a few times while eating, etc. I don't know that I saw enough relationship development between them but I liked them both as characters. I think Dusty had a lot of potential but most of the story focused on Ben's life. Now this really didn't detract from the story, it was still a typical Tara Lain book with a good storyline, characters that hook you in, and a solid HEA. So in that aspect it's still a good book, just for me I wanted a little more to the characters definition to fill them out.
I will say this is a great read for the summer to take with you to the beach or the pool, or the perfect getaway weekend read.
Excerpt
“What happened? When you came out, I mean?”
“Some friends dropped me. Some didn’t. I got quietly pushed off the
baseball team, even though I was a really good player.” He felt his lips turn
up. “But I didn’t care. My folks had already guessed, so little drama there,
and the boy I liked, liked me back. Oh yeah. He had a fair amount of experience
for a sixteen-year-old, and he spent the summer teaching me what all my
adolescent hormones were for. I didn’t mind at all.” He looked up at Dusty, who
gazed at him with glassy eyes. He slowly wet his lips. Ben cleared his throat.
“Uh, what about you? When did you come out?”
“Oh.” He raised his shoulders and dropped them. “Never, I guess. I
always knew, so I just told people and that was all.”
Ben mimicked Dusty’s words from earlier. “Did you have a really
tough time in high school?”
A look of pain crossed his face. “Not because I was gay, really.”
He sucked a breath. “Back to work?” He pushed away from the counter.
“All right.”
In the bedroom, Dusty grabbed the bucket and carried it out,
returning a couple of minutes later with clean water smelling like vinegar.
Ben wrinkled his nose. “You made a salad?”
“White vinegar’s great for cleaning wood floors. I found a bottle
in your pantry and added a little to the water. You shouldn’t use much regular
chemical stuff on these nice floors.”
“Anything you say.” He flashed his teeth again at Dusty, turned the
music back on, and they went to work.
A few strokes in, Dusty glanced over at Ben and sped up his
mopping. Ben got faster to match Dusty, and then added a little more speed.
Dusty started mopping like crazy, and Ben copied him, stroke for
stroke. Dusty giggled as he wrung out the mop with super speed and went back to
his mad moparama.
Ben gritted his teeth, slopped some water on the floor, and spread
it around at double time.
Dusty yelled, “No fair. You can’t splash water on this floor!”
“Okay, okay.” Ben grabbed a cloth and dried the floor as Dusty got
ahead of him in the race to the door. Ben grabbed his mop, wrung it out, and
went into overdrive, swiping like a Mr. Clean fanatic.
Dusty laughed, and Ben laughed with him as they backed toward the
wall, angling toward the door.
Dusty yelled, “I’m winning.”
“Don’t even dream it!”
Adrenaline rushed through Ben as he cleaned his last few feet of
hardwood. His butt hit something hard and soft at the same time that turned out
to be Dusty’s perfect ass. Dusty yelped and spun, thrusting forward his mop
like a rapier. Ben met him and they began to fence with crossed mops, howling like
loons.
Aluminum handles clanked and beads of water sprayed all over them
as they danced around the room.
“Oh!” Suddenly, Dusty’s foot hit a damp patch, his arms flew up as
his feet slid out from under him, and he pinwheeled backward, arms and mop
flailing.
Ben dodged the swinging cleaning device and grabbed Dusty just
before his head hit the wall. Dusty fell forward and landed against Ben’s
chest, throwing him off balance despite the size difference, and the two of
them careened backward like the tree that fell in the forest when no one was
listening. Ben reached out an arm behind him and managed to hurl his body,
still holding Dusty, toward the bed that had been pushed against the wall.
His butt hit the mattress, legs still flailing, but he managed to
keep Dusty from landing on the floor by hauling him against his body.
“Whoa! Holy crap, that was close.”
When Ben realized they were both okay, he started to laugh—until
his current position soaked in, and in, and in.
About the Author
Tara Lain writes the Beautiful Boys of Romance in LGBT romance novels that star her unique, charismatic heroes. Her best-selling novels have garnered awards for Best Series, Best Contemporary Romance, Best Erotic Romance, Best Ménage, Best LGBT Romance, Best Gay Characters, and more. Readers often call her books “sweet,” even with all that hawt sex, because Tara believes in love and her books deliver on happily-ever-after. In addition to writing dozens and dozens of romance novels, Tara also owns an advertising and public relations firm. Her love of creating book titles comes from years of manifesting ad headlines for everything from analytical instruments to semiconductors. She does workshops on both author promotion and writing craft. Together with her soulmate husband and her soulmate Dog, she recently realized a vision to live where there were a lot more trees and a lot fewer cars by moving to Ashland, Oregon. She hasn’t stopped smiling since.
Hi my Wicked Faerie -- Thank you so much for welcoming my guys to the blog and for reading the book!! : )
ReplyDeleteYou're welcome!
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