Honeymoon for One

What happens when you have devastating news the day before you’re supposed to get married? What if that betrayal cuts so deep that leaving is the only alternative? Ethan had every right to walk away from his impending nuptials, and I give him credit for opting to go on the honeymoon solo. It’s doubly brave because Ethan is hard of hearing. Things that most of us take for granted are challenging for him. He’s learned to deal but it doesn’t make things easier for him and without his fiancé, he struggles. He’s from New York City, although Buffalo originally. He’s been through some tough things, to be sure, but going on a solo trip to Australia ranks up with one of the biggest challenges. The tour he chose turns out to mostly be older people, couples in particular. He believes they are feeling sorry for him and perhaps at first some of them are. Others recognize the bravery it takes. The tour guide Shiv is friendly, but it’s the bus driver Clay who really makes an effort to help. He takes the time to get to know Ethan, way above and beyond any call of the job. But Clay sees Ethan in a way most people don’t. He sees beyond the hard of hearing aspect and into the lost soul Ethan is. He sees a bit of a kindred spirit. Clay’s twenty-something-year marriage ended recently and he also experienced loss, although it was gentler – if that kind of betrayal can be. He’s remained on good terms with his ex and has two children he adores. Children who are almost Ethan’s age. Something Clay…

But this book was great. I loved the relationship between the MCs. And I especially loved the MCs themselves. How different they were from the normal "young and hot boy" meets "older and more experienced silver fox" types you tend to find in May/December romances. The addition of Ethan's hard of hearing was also a very nice, refreshing twist. I haven't experienced anything like that, but I had a friend that was deaf of one ear and I could definitely see a lot of the little habits and gestures my friend had in Ethan. I love the way Keira is able to make us readers feel like the characters do and experience what they do. I had a complain about another book I read, where one of the MCs was supposed to be Scottish and the author thought that just because they threw the words "bloody" or "telley" in every seven chapters or so, we readers would buy that the character in fact was Scottish. But the answer is no. No, mate, we don't buy your bullcr*p. We need more than a couple of isolated words to locate ourselves and create the world you're setting up in our heads. Keira does this wonderfully. She has a way of making the reader believe and imagine the world and the characters she builds, that I really love. Two of her books are by far my favorites in Gay romance because of that. Here in this book I totally believed and didn't forget for a second that Clay was an ozzy man. Because KA used the slang, used the words and the expressions, not only when Clay was speaking, but also…