First off, even though I liked the names of the MCs, I felt the author tried too much. As a matter of fact, she tried too much with the names of all her male characters in this series: Ethan; Aidan; Devlin; Garrick; Wyn. Then again, the majority of the male characters in her other novels have pretty distinct names (Rhone, in [b:Finding Home|3813926|Finding Home (Quinn Security, #1)|Cameron Dane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1216517363s/3813926.jpg|3858202]; Greyson and Sirus in [b:Grey's Awakening|6235223|Grey's Awakening (Cabin Fever, #2)|Cameron Dane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1245112569s/6235223.jpg|6417892]; Logan in [b:Breaking Logan's Laws|9975057|Breaking Logan's Laws (Quinn Security, #4)|Cameron Dane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1297190260s/9975057.jpg|14869414]; Canin in [b:The Ultimate Kink|5850158|The Ultimate Kink (Quinn Security, #2)|Cameron Dane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1227346500s/5850158.jpg|6022299]; Rodrigo and Braden in [b:Something New|8477800|Something New (Foster Siblings, #2)|Cameron Dane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1278592381s/8477800.jpg|13342742]; Connor, Cain, Cade, Duke, Tyler, Caleb, Jace, Jasper, and Hunter in the Quinten, Montana series. Anyway.The reason why the two characters had to stay apart for so long was more convincing here than in the first book ([b:Aidan and Ethan|5967448|Aidan and Ethan (Seeking Redemption, #1)|Cameron Dane|http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1322345436s/5967448.jpg|6140382]). What I still can't swallow though is how the character that was forced to stay away from Redemption and the love of his life (in this instance, Gradyn/Garrick) appears in the small town after years and years expecting his love interest to be fully available. Seriously? It's not a month. It's not three months. It's not even a year! The period is so long anything could have happened in between. From a committed relationship to full-blown marriage. Unless this was a historical romance taking place in the 1800s and I didn't realize. Garrick's ambivalence (I'm staying-I'm leaving, I'm staying-I'm leaving...) got on my nerves toward the end of the book and I found Devlin exhibited too much patience and trust and good will toward the man. Most of the time he (Devlin) came across as naive and juvenile.And what's with the kids? Why does a gay couple need to have some kids around to play dad in order to be happy in life? And let's just say, for the sake of argument, that Devlin and Garrick do need the kids to feel complete. In this instance, how could Garrick have developed such a strong fatherly love for those two kids after only a month in Redemption? And why was the dilemma "the kids or Devlin" even touched upon? You have been pining for the man for more than five years and you have finally come to find him and claim him and you allow your short interaction with a couple of neighbourhood kids be an issue? Right...But hey, these were special kids: the 11-year-old girl was able to tell that her new father figure was gay in a heartbeat and she also knew what a transvestite and a transgender person was. Wow.The sex was abundant and toe-curling good though. The scenes in the flashbacks were good but I liked the "present day" ones better. The one in the kitchen and the other one on the couch? Hot! One note though: Using a couple of ties to restrain your partner's arms and then telling them when to come does not mean you're a dom, in my opinion. But maybe it's just me. So. This one gets half a star for the cover, half a star for the story line and one star for the white-hot sex. I would have given it another star if I weren't for the kids.
