This story asks two very interesting and extremely difficult moral questions. The traditional black-and-white answers are easy, but the author has created a set of characters, neither of whom conform to the traditional pictures of ‘good’ and ‘evil. The lines here are blurred, the entire area is gray, and that makes it very difficult to know what is right and wrong or to judge the men entangled in this web of their own making. An interesting moral dilemma to say the least.

First, there is Sean. His part of the story is all about what happens to the accessory of a crime who may blame himself for not helping a rape victim eighteen years ago, but has equally never faced up to the consequences of that crime. Sean is that man. He is now a sheriff, has become an ‘upstanding’ member of the community, but cannot enjoy the fruits of his labors because he still feels guilty. And, unless he can find a way to confess and be forgiven, he will never be happy. He cannot have close friends because they might find out and expose him. His is the life of a coward who lives in fear of his own shadow and, worse even than that, covers that fear with anger.

Second, there is Eden. He is not exactly the typical victim in the way he behaves. A fact that infuriates Sean, but then, it is not the sheriff’s decision to say what the ‘right’ and the ‘wrong’ way of behaving are. From everything we know about Eden, he was always a little on the flamboyant side, so it didn’t surprise me that he tries to cover up his pain by overcompensating. He behaves as if nothing happened. When he finally breaks down and we get to see the “real” him, the pain and desperation (not surprisingly) are enormous.

Both of these men have a deeper truth which is the cause of their inability to deal with each other. For Sean, it is his attraction to Eden, combined with the abject fear that he is gay. His truth is that of many a gay man in denial and he recognizes it as the rape is about to happen: “Sean knew deep down in the bottom of his psyche what this hatred and malice was about, and he hoped that beating it out of Eden would beat it out of himself.” For Eden, it is the attraction he feels for Sean and the resentment that Sean wasn’t his first; he puts it somewhat crudely: “No game," he said. Just that the one guy I would have been interested in taking it from that night didn't give it to me."

I am not saying that Sean doesn’t deserve to suffer. He does. But he also deserves forgiveness once he mans up and proves that he is sorry – in a way that is meaningful to the man he wronged. Painful as it is, that takes up the final third of the book and left me, if not happy, satisfied that these two men may, over time, be able to heal each other.

On the whole, this is a book that made me think about some of the “automatic” knee-jerk reactions we have, even to situations that aren’t as clear cut as we would like them to be. A love-hate relationship is always difficult to understand, but this story valiantly tries. It is not a light read, and doesn’t gloss over any of the raw ugliness of hatred and anger on both sides. But if you are interested in a somewhat unusual look at forgiveness and how tough it can be to obtain, give this book a try. ( )

Very well written story about two people dealing with the pain of the past and the complications of loving each other despite how much they've hurt each other. This is very well done and nothing comes easy for these guys. It's amazing that in such a short book Scarlet managed to pack in all those conflicted emotions and not make everything melodramatic. ( )

The Sheriff has kept a terrible secret to himself for years. Now Eden is back and the the secret is about to be exposed. This story is very powerful and the results are tragic. It's amazing what these men have faced and how they can still think about being together. Look forward to more of this series. ( )

I'm always a bit wary of victims falling for their rapist/bully tropes so I went into this with a bit of an attitude, tbh. No one is more surprised than I that I did like it. It's not an 'enjoyable' story. It's painful with lots of very flawed, human emotions. It's left on a hopeful note, but there is no fairy tale ending (for which I am eternally grateful to the author).

It's well written and the characters are all relatable. Paul was a little OTT for me, at first, but on reflection, his reaction is still one I can see happening given that he's protected Sean from the consequences of his actions for eighteen years.

This isn't as gritty as it could be given the subject matter, but I don't want to be destroyed when I read fiction so that was a relief. It's still raw and painful and I'm planning on reading the sequels ASAP. ( )