Book Talk Review; Lust & Longing

I adore Noah so much

Twenty years ago, Noah fell in love with his best friend, Ian Osborn. Noah had mapped out their entire future together only for Ian to throw it away. Unable to reconcile the starkly different path Ian forged for himself, Noah broke his own heart when he walked away.

Moving on hurt, but Noah managed. He had friends, a career, he even found love. But time and circumstance dragged him back home to Silver Springs. With a couple of friends by his side, Noah finds happiness for the first time in years.

At the annual Peach Festival, Noah sees a familiar face across the crowd and his entire world folds in on itself. Ian is back and he wants to make things right with Noah. He asks if they can be friends again. But Noah isn’t sure he can spend any time with Ian without giving the man his heart again.

Nothing worth having ever came easy. First loves struggle to make it last forever, but has time healed all wounds or has two decades of lust and longing ruined them forever?

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I'll be honest here, it takes a lot for me to pick up a second chance romance. It's a trope that I really have to be in the mood for because more than anything, I need to believe and feel that the characters deserve a second chance with one another. EM Denning not only gives me that, but she also gave me a character that I absolutely adore. 

Noah and Ian fell in love as kids. They had an idyllic love story that blinded them to how hard life and love is. When things start falling apart for them they lose what is one of the most important things—communication. Ian doesn't communicate with Noah and this leads to broken hearts, and twenty years of separation between them. It also leads to one of my biggest pet peeves, which is miscommunication/misunderstandings. I'll forgive them because they're barely eighteen, they don't have everything figured out, in fact, they're going out into the world to figure themselves out. So I can't really blame them for falling away from each other.

This is written solely in Noah's POV. I am normally a huge fan of Dual POV. Single POV, to me, feels too much one-sided, however, I am really glad that we only get Noah's POV in this book. I'm not saying that Ian's story wasn't as important or didn't shape him, but a lot of this book was Noah's journey and he went through so much my heart just ached for him. From his discovery of kink, to having his heartbroken for a second time, Noah learns and grows into a man I just adore. Through it all, Ian has been in the background. While the pain and longing faded, the love never did.

Ian had his own ups and downs, from the decision he makes that leads to their break, to trying to find love again, to moving back home, Noah was always there. He might have been the one who started them on their rocky path, but his love for Noah never left. They were so young, so naive, their heartbreak happened faster than it would have had Ian not made the choices he did. Without them breaking up and going their separate ways, they wouldn't have been the people they needed to be in order to be together.

Noah and Ian aren't perfect, far from it. Their relationship is messy and complicated and that is why I love it so much. If they came out of this "perfect" and all of their issues were resolved because their love proved to stand a long separation I would have been upset, to be honest. That's where other second chance romances lose me. I'm not saying they're not good in their own way, we all have our preferences, but for me, I want to see the struggle. I want to see them fight for their love and acknowledge that they did things wrong and don't take this second chance for granted. There are a lot of things these two need to work on, but they learn and grow, not just apart but together.

This is a standalone and while I wouldn't say no to stories written for some of the side characters I am glad that this book is the well-written, adorable love story that I devoured. Ian and Noah might not be perfect, but they showed that messy and complicated can be perfect if you're willing to put in the work. It was a true love story that gave a wonderful ending that these two deserved.

*Quote-

"To him, Ian felt warm, like he'd been permanently heated by the sun. He felt like home."

"Promises were hard to keep, but anything was worth it to keep Ian. And being his dom wouldn't be a hardship. Not when he wanted to be his everything."

"Their love felt like fire. Sometimes it was wild and consumed everything in its path, and other times, it was the smallest flame that needed to be nurtured."

"It was like he was being rebuilt brick by brick with every breath he took, every second that passed as his world collided. Man and dominant. Past and Present. It didn't matter who he was or who he'd been; he was Ian's. He belonged to Ian as much as Ian belonged to him."