Dating in Retrospect (States of Love) by Lila Leigh Hunter Published by Dreamspinner Press on February 15th 2017
Genres: mm romance
Pages: 107
Format: ebook
Source: Goodreads
Goodreads
Giving the commencement speech at his alma mater doesn’t fit Clay Keller’s meticulous schedule. As Chief Executive Officer of Travel Mogul—the largest travel connoisseur company on the West Coast—he has no time to get back in touch with his country roots. He left fifteen years ago without a second look, but a medical scare makes him change his mind about the speech and brings him face-to-face with his only regret.
Time always moves slower in Southeastern Iowa, and Aaron Grant loves it. He’s added solar farms to the Grant Lanes portfolio and has been teaching at the local university for a decade. The last thing he needs is to have his tenure application compromised by the return of his ex-boyfriend. If he had known who the commencement speaker would be, he would never have volunteered to be the administration liaison.
A proposal—to date for a year—will help them discover that time changes a person, even when everything else stays the same.
*Dating in Retrospect (States of Love) was graciously provided to me by IndiGo for an honest review.*
“Everlasting Love”
Love. Or, should I say LOVE? Many things come to mind when I think of this emotion-filled word. Devotion, adoration, heart flutters, soul mates, and passion are only some of them. These wonderful words describe what exists between the two main characters of one of the most beautiful stories I have read in a long time. Dating in Retrospect. I adored Clay and Aaron’s story. I loved the cover, it’s what drew me in. And, boy, did this book bring about the feels, the FEELS, to the surface. It’s a story about love. Of a second-chance kind of love that was written in the stars for these two young men ever since the beginning of time.
Clay Keller and Aaron Grant had been attached at the hip when they had attended college. They did everything together, supported each other as loving partners, even planned their future together. As it very often is for individuals, graduation came and proved to be a scary and unknown endeavor. No one truly knows, for sure, regardless of all the planning that is done, what’s to happen, once they throw that celebratory cap up into the air. Even so, as both lovers prepared to take that first step out into life, they did so with a whole lot of confidence, that they had it all planned out. They sure did. Well..*sad sigh*..no amount of four-leaf clovers could have been enough to prepare them for what was beginning to take shape in both of their horizons at the time of graduation.
As I read their story, I did so needing, and I mean NEEDING, to know what would ultimately be in the stars for these two lovers. I was scared. I really was. As I saw, and felt, the kind of desperate love emanating from Clay, I understood where he was emotionally, mentally and physically coming from. I felt the pain that not only Aaron had felt for years, but also the sadness that both had felt, to have had the inexplicable deviation in their lives, regardless of their initial promise, for reasons not truly known to both.
“I Want Our Love To Last Forever”….Clay to Aaron
And, then..my heart broke. I cried. I needed them to be ok, in more ways than one. They deserved it, and, so much more.. The relief felt by all that true love had held their hands through their long and winding road of pain, that had actually guided both Clay and Aaron down their continued road of love and devotion, after all those years..was sublime .
While I loved reading Dating in Retrospect, I began to get confused with the sequence of events due to the flow of the writing. I wish it had been written completely as a story rather than one mixed with diary-like entries. I did notice that I had to scratch my head often because I didn’t understand completely what was written, nor did I understand the placement of certain secondary characters. Speaking of which, I liked some more than others, and some just grated me the wrong way. And, can I just say, that, I wanted to give Drew and Danny SUCH A BIG HUG!? 🙂
However, while the aforementioned did exist, for me, this book was a great read. I loved reading it. Have I already mentioned that? Well, it deserves to be said again, I loved Clay and Aaron’s story. I wish them the best. Clay Keller and Aaron Grant are soul mates who have such an unbound amount of adoration and passion for one another, that they deserve only the best. Because you know..LOVE..:)
*star rating: 3.75
