Review: Heartscape by Garrett Leigh
SYNOPSIS:
From award-winning author Garrett Leigh comes a gorgeous new romance in the True North world! Think: great food, burly men and good times. Beards are optional but encouraged.
I’m not the obvious choice to run Burlington’s coolest wine bar—quiet, brooding, clueless about tannin content, and always one wrong turn away from another downward spiral.
But no one seems to mind that I’m a wreck. Besides me. I just focus on getting through each shift until the night a beautiful stranger appears, looking as lost and damaged as I feel.
When a mutual friend calls in a favor, the sexy newcomer winds up crashing on my couch. I don’t know if it’s his melodic Cornish accent, or his ocean blue eyes, or the rock-hard body with the mysterious scars, but I get the feeling whatever happened to him runs far deeper than those wounds.
Having Jax in my home makes my chest warm. Makes me shiver. Makes me want more. But I’ve got a pile of baggage and I don’t want to be a burden on anyone let alone a man who seems to have enough demons of his own.
Our chemistry is off the charts. His arms feel like home. The last thing I want is to screw this up. Is it wrong to hope we can heal each other? Or will one of us die trying?
HEARTSCAPE is a heartfelt MM friends-to-lovers romance in the True North world, with a brooding bartender, a rugged outdoorsman, sweet angst and lots of Shipley cider. Triggers: contains mentions of depression, suicidal ideation and PTSD recovery.
REVIEW:
I enjoyed this addition to the Vino & Veritas world but I didn’t love it. This is my first Garrett Leigh book and while the story does tackle tough topics with skill, I didn’t really care for the moments of intimacy between Tanner and Jax.
As characters, Jax and Tanner are both beautifully broken. Tanner is reeling from his past and barely keeping his head above his depression. In contrast, Jax is trying to escape his past and start fresh. Their trauma creates an understanding between the two and a tension filled friendship blooms.
They are both steady and silent in their support of one another. But the sexual tension between them reaches a breaking point. And this is where I didn’t really care of their intimacy, everything felt rushed. Prep was practically a thing neither needed even after years of not being intimate. And then they suddenly decide protection wasn’t needed either. Every scene like this took me out of the story I was immersed in.
Otherwise, I really enjoyed the bond Jax and Tanner shared. I liked both characters internal struggles but the fact that these struggles bond them instead of tearing them apart. The closure and family atmosphere surrounding these men was adorable. They both grew so much over the course of the book and the ending left me with a smile on my face.
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