Review: Four Ever by Sloane Kennedy
SYNOPSIS:
Surrounded by a group of devoted four-footed and two-winged family members, Zak and Killian have built what should have been a dream life in their countryside farmhouse. But a cruel twist of fate and the re-emergence of old demons has frayed the edges of the men’s seven-year relationship until just one wrong move could end up severing their bond for good.
Seemingly content to walk on eggshells around one another, things come to a head when ER nurse Zak brings his work home with him… literally.
After being forced to leave their posh Southern California lives, homeless stepbrothers Liam and Noah are slowly losing themselves to the streets they can’t seem to escape. When twenty-one-year-old Liam is beaten up while protecting his younger “brother,” the pair find themselves being welcomed into a home where being a stray is considered a good thing. But Liam and nineteen-year-old Noah have learned the hard way that nothing is given for free and there’s no such thing as the kindness of strangers. Survival means only counting on and trusting in each other.
Will Zak and Killian’s offer of a no-strings-attached place to heal end up being more than any of the four men bargained for? Especially when feelings between Liam and Noah begin to crawl to the surface and the truth of what Zak and Killian’s relationship has turned into becomes harder to deny?
And what happens when lines begin to blur and needs start to change? Will Zak, Killian, Liam, and Noah end up going their separate ways?
Or will they learn that love doesn’t always come in twos?
REVIEW:
So Sloane Kennedy is another new to me author, and while I didn’t hate this story, I didn’t love it either. There was nothing wrong with the story that I can place my finger on. I think what I didn’t like was that the story was heavy. It was so emotionally heavy and gutting, like no character had happiness or a moment of peace. I thought for sure with four different POVs, at least one of these men would be somewhat okay, but each man was carrying around a truckload of baggage.
I really liked the relationship building here, it was a necessary slow-burn. Things weren’t rushed but the characters actually had time to get to know each other and form bonds before any intimacy started taking place. Each respective ‘couple’ is trying to navigate through their own internal relationship drama. But all problems in this book stem from trauma and then a complete breakdown of communication. I found Liam to be hypocritical, he was constantly calling Zak and Killian on their relationship issues, when his were much the same.
After the four of them end up getting together, there is still a lack of communication. Once was a ‘fun’ time but after a few weeks no one was going to discuss WTF they were all doing together?! It just felt like the plot was dragging on at this point. They all start working through their personal relationships but it really took till the end of the book for Noah to deal with his trauma.
At that point, I didn’t even get to see a true HEA. It was like well everything is cleaned up, we all love each other, and we are going to stay together, the end. And after reading however many pages of theses characters going through h*ll, I couldn’t even get a few chapters of bliss? Sigh, I think I will give Sloane Kennedy works another chance, just not today.
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