RELEASE DAY REVIEW: 'Where We Left Off' by Roan Parrish
Title: Where We Left Off
Series: Middle of Somewhere #3
Author: Roan Parrish
Cover Artist: AngstyG
Published: September 26, 2016
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 260 Pages
Tags: Gay, M/M, Heavy Angst, College, New Adult
BLURB:
Leo Ware may be young, but he knows what he wants. And what he wants is Will Highland. Snarky, sophisticated, fiercely opinionated Will Highland, who burst into Leo’s unremarkable life like a supernova… and then was gone just as quickly.
For the past miserable year, Leo hasn’t been able to stop thinking about the powerful connection he and Will shared. So, when Leo moves to New York for college, he sweeps back into Will’s life, hopeful that they can pick up where they left off. What begins as a unique friendship soon burns with chemistry they can’t deny… though Will certainly tries.
But Leo longs for more than friendship and hot sex. A romantic to his core, Leo wants passion, love, commitment—everything Will isn’t interested in giving. Will thinks romance is a cheesy fairy tale and love is overrated. He likes his space and he’s happy with things just the way they are, thank you very much. Or is he? Because as he and Leo get more and more tangled up in each other’s lives, Will begins to act like maybe love is something he could feel after all.
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
I have been eagerly awaiting Where We Left Off, the third book in Roan Parrish’s Middle of Somewhere series, mainly because I fell in love with Leo from the start. If you’re wondering if you can read this installment as a standalone the main characters meet during book one, In the Middle of Somewhere, so I think it’s important to have read that book to appreciate their journey.
At the start of the series Leo has lived in Michigan his entire life. When he first meets Will, who happens to be visiting, it’s “lust at first sight”. Will is older and has an air of sophistication about him that makes him appear untouchable and Leo falls hard. They share a kiss during In the Middle of Somewhere that Leo holds onto with both hands. Fueling a sudden desire to attend NYU just to be close to Will.
In that book I felt an immediate kinship to Leo because he’s such a romantic. He’s got stars in his eyes and all he can see are the possibilities with Will. The possibility of a relationship Will has no clue about.
As Where We Left Off begins Leo is in New York, headed to NYU. Having spent a year at community college in Michigan due to financial hardships, he’s arrived and is ready to start his life.
Up until now Leo has spent his young existence constantly trying to blend in with other people, going along with what others thought. So when he develops a great community of friends he bonds with I thoroughly enjoyed watching him navigate those relationships, interact with them and open up. He even has a few sexual experiences that I think are important.
As someone who loves reading a story when it’s told from the MC’s point of view, it was great to be able to hear Leo’s every thought and feeling during this time.
Will on the other hand is a hard character to like and sympathize with. He had a truly horrible home life with absentee parents and a bipolar sister of whom he has now become her caretaker as well as his nephew, putting great concern and pressure on him. Not to mention he is gorgeous and gets incensed when people refuse to see beyond his looks. As a result of his experiences in life he is very aloof.
I just want to add here that I had a hard time with the way Will’s sister’s illness is dealt with. She clearly needs professional help, and even though they went down that route before with less than stellar results, Will is clearly not equipped to deal with her or his niece and nephew. I admire him for wanting to take care of them but he can’t do it alone and I think it would be best for all involved if he were able to get the proper assistance, especially when there are children involved.
Watching Leo and Will’s relationship transpire, knowing their head space, created a war of emotions for me.
The times that Leo and Will hang out together are beautiful and I could see Leo flourish and grow up; he was free to be himself and speak his mind. Yet on the other hand I felt bad for him. Will is very upfront, and brutally honest, about boundaries and that he “doesn’t do relationships”. But this doesn’t seem to stop Leo from hoping and wishing that Will might miraculously change his mind.
Leo wants to be with Will so much he’s willing to sacrifice his own feelings to have him, to the point that he believes after they have sex Will is going to magically fall in love with him and everything will be hearts and rainbows. The way Roan describes their sexy times – so very hot and at times so sweet – I could almost believe it too. Parrish definitely knows her way around a sex scene.
The writing in this story is right on par with the first two books in the series.
Roan Parrish has a way of developing her MC’s that wraps you right up in them.
Her characters have layers and as you read you gently peel back each layer to discover these beautiful, messed up creatures.
In fact my first impression of Will was less than stellar. To be blunt I thought he was a dick. But reading this story I learned that not all is black and white. Parrish does that with her characters. They’re not always “what you see is what you get”. She slowly envelops you into their world and shows you why they are the way they are.
Will totally makes up for being a jackass by the end of Where We Left off. Not just in the eyes of Leo but to me as a reader with this one quote that made everything the two of them went through very satisfying:
“I knew it would all go to shit and I would be mad at you and I would miss you and it would suck, and I did it fucking anyway …but I just...I want you, Leo. I always wanted you.”
My heart literally melted at the close of Where We Left Off. Will has always come across as closed off and hides behind a mask of indifference, but throughout I got glimpses of who he truly is and for me I was just waiting for that grand gesture: The declaration or realization of how stupid he was being. And with that heartfelt delivery it was presented in spades and made the whole entire story worth it!
An advanced reader copy of Where We Left Off was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreamspinner Press, in exchange for our fair and honest opinion.
If you enjoy Where We Left Off you might also enjoy Five Times My Best Friend Kissed Me and One Time I Kissed Him First by Anna Martin.
ROAN PARRISH lives in Philadelphia. When not writing, she can usually be found cutting her friends’ hair, meandering through whatever city she’s in while listening to torch songs and melodic death metal, or cooking overly elaborate meals. She loves bonfires, winter beaches, minor chord harmonies, and self-tattooing. One time she may or may not have baked a six-layer chocolate cake and then thrown it out the window in a fit of pique.
She is represented by Courtney Miller-Callihan of Handspun Literary Agency.
http://handspunlit.com/
