This book is part of the Bluewater Bay (mm) series from Riptide Publishing, and it’s my first foray into the series. The series has an interesting premise—a Hollywood crew sets up residence in an old logging town on the Olympic Peninsula in Washington to film a popular TV show about shifters. This particular book features Nate, who’s on the show crew, and Seth, a local bartender.
The book’s a definite slow burn, as a friendship turns into a relationship, even though the attraction is there from the beginning, at least on Seth’s side. Nate, on the other hand, is “grace”—or gray asexual, which means (basically, and in this case) that he’s rarely sexually attracted to people, and has to develop a sense of closeness with someone first. In Nate’s case, that’s only happened a couple times before, and each turned into a long-term relationship. His most recent one ended after his boyfriend cheated, so he’s still recovering from that. He’s also got other baggage in the form of a strained relationship with his mom.
Seth’s got his own baggage. He’s got a complicated family. It’s one of the oldest in town and consequently his family is a part of all the early town stories, and his uncle in particular wants to protect their image. At the beginning of the novel, he’s living on and taking care of the grounds of the “big house,” as it were—where his grandmother still lives, even though she very much wants to move. Somehow, Seth’s grandfather set up his trust so that his father and uncle are in charge of the house and her money in general, and they refuse to let her sell it. Seth’s sort of in the middle of finding himself, so he’s starting a new job as a bartender.
The night before Seth’s new job, he meets Nate and after some confusion about intentions, a friendship begins. They bond over town history, of all things—Nate’s into local history and Seth is local history, so it works out. I also have to mention that it’s totally dorky, but I enjoyed it anyway. Between the two of them, they send the family into upheaval, which is good for all the good guys—Seth, his grandma (who’s great), and Seth’s dad. Plus, of course, Nate—once they finally work things out.
As mentioned, it’s a slow build, but the main characters are well-drawn, there are enough subplots going on to keep things interesting, and I enjoyed the grace angle (many people will appreciate that making it into another book). Also, there’s a dog. The book’s not super-sexy, so don’t look for that (though it’s definitely far from sweet). Give this one a chance if you’re looking for a nice mm romance or even if you’re just curious about gray asexuality. I’ll definitely be checking out some of the other books in the series.