Leave

This is a long review. I don’t expect anyone to read it. But I loved this book, for so many reasons, and am nearing putting it on my favorites shelf.
First of all, this book has a content advisory for a reason. Heed it. It’s not just that the content is mentioned in passing, it is a major theme of the book. If this is at all triggering to you, this is not the book for you. And this is probably not the review for you, either.
Second of all, Witt knows military culture. I’ve never served a day in uniform, but I have worked side by side with the US armed forces, and much is exactly as is portrayed on these pages.
Finally, this book. We have Riley, dealing with homophobic microagressions from his family, and Nolan, a sexual assault show more survivor, banding together to support each other as they go into situations where these issues will be front and center. The support they show each other is evident, but I want to talk about how things are portrayed. As in the book, we’ll go with the microaggressions first.
Microaggressions (of every kind) are becoming a more recognized form of harassment. I get them about my profession, from the general public. Although the microagressions in this book are pretty blatant and frequent, what it does a good job at is conveying how much they hurt the person on the receiving end of the comments, and how they just keep coming. If it were just one comment, the response would be to educate and move on, but it’s a pattern of behavior that is unchanging and hurtful. It’s also not the responsibility of a gay man to educate every uncaring soul that thinks he simply “hasn’t met the right woman” that things just don’t work that way.
I might have a pet peeve about microaggressions.
However, Witt does as excellent job of conveying how they are just as hurtful as many other things, and what the response options are in your personal life. Riley has Nolan to support him, and this part of the story is beautifully written.
Now, being a sexual assault survivor. I am not a sexual assault survivor, but I imagine the trauma responses that are littered throughout this book are authentic. And they’re scary. Riley is a very protective, supportive partner during this part of the book, and it’s beautiful to see that support, while scary to see the reactions and emotions of the victim that play out for Nolan. If more cops were like Riley, we wouldn’t need so much “believe the victims” rhetoric around reporting sexual assault.
Finally, the book itself. I read so many books where there’s basically just two characters, the two people that fall in love. Maybe a cardboard cut out of a best friend or family member. This is not that book. The ambiance, the supporting cast, the food, everything about the places Nolan and Riley live and travel is real, and the people they meet are real. Okinawa is different from Southern California and they’re both different from the Seattle suburbs. This is such a welcome change from the usual that it deserves a special mention.
As a subset of the above, I must mention the cats. There are three of them, or four, because there is one later, and they all have distinct personalities. Because cats are awesome like that, these cat personalities are all exceptionally cat-like, and absolutely perfect.
So, yes, I find that this is a realistic portrayal of something that could actually happen, the support the MCs show each other is great, they make a beautiful couple, and the cats are awesome. What more could we want in a book? show less

This will not be an easy read for some readers, so please pay close attention to the content advisory.
Riley and Nolan agree to be fake boyfriends at family events, but Nolan's dark past threatens their growing feelings.
Nolan and Riley are roommates on Okinawa. Riley is a Navy MP, and Nolan is a Marine. They have a "no strings, roommates with benefits" arrangement. Nothing heavy, but it works for them. Nolan receives an invitation to his brother’s wedding in Seattle, where he’s to be the best man. This is not the thing that is on the top of Nolan's "Things I most want to do" list. He's not been back home for at least 10-years or more...not for all the time that he’s been in the Marines. Riley wants to be a good friend and support show more Nolan, so he says that he'll go with him...and he’s hoping that Nolan can help him out too.

Riley has been avoiding going home to California but for entirely different reasons than Nolan. Riley's parents aren’t openly homophobic, but they keep mentioning different women, him settling down, and especially grandkids. He decides that by bringing home a “boyfriend”, which is of course going to be Nolan's role.... the hints might stop. Nolan agrees to go on this trip to visit both families. If you read many M/M Romance books, then you know how many ways this whole venture can blow up in their faces.

Riley does really like Nolan. He questions Nolan about his past and his boundaries because he has a LOT of "rules" for their coming trip. Riley asks lots of questions, causing Nolan to completely shut down. Since where they will be going back to is where whatever happened to Nolan happened, he has to tell Riley something... but what? How much is he willing to put out there? He finally just says that there is someone there that he wants to avoid, and Riley thinks that Nolan had probably been the victim of a sexual assault, but he doesn't ask Nolan for any details.

Their trip doesn’t go so well at first. Riley is simply...tired...tired of waiting most of his life for his parents to simply accept him. He and Nolan leave California and drive to Seattle. The trip allows them more time together and their feeling begin to multiply. Riley is really thrilled, because his feelings for Nolan are definitely getting stronger.

There's a couple of tense moments in the story when Riley makes an incorrect assumption.... but the truth is SO much worse than he could ever have possibly imagined. Nolan tells him the entire awful story which makes Riley extremely angry...not AT Nolan...but FOR Nolan and he vows to try and protect him from ever meeting the man from his past that still haunts him; both in his dreams and in his life. Now Riley understands Nolan’s boundaries and is willing to take whatever measures are necessary to protect him and help him move past his past.

This story line is not L.A. Witt's usual type: but the subject matter is honestly and beautifully portrayed; yet still, it's a horrible thing to happen to anyone of any sexual orientation. A little side research on my part says that sexual assault of any sex actually remains almost 95% underreported or entirely unreported, and this story really shows the reasons of why. There are also a few surprises in the story that the reader may not see coming but has been incredibly well researched. Please be aware that this is a story that will be hard for some readers to deal with, so I can't urge future readers enough to pay close attention to the content warnings in the front of the book. Otherwise, I highly recommend it...but it won't be something that all readers will be able to handle...and please be aware that this isn't a matter only concerning the gay community, but all walks of life. show less

This was such an amazing read; it was really difficult subject matter, and the journey that Riley and Nolan went on together was a lot. They definitely had hard roads to cross to get to their HEA, and even then it's not as though everything was perfectly wrapped up as past trauma never gets wrapped up completely; this was a gorgeous read which also has a much-needed PSA on a subject not discussed enough.