Finley is the first book in Ella Frank's new Sunset Cove series which is a spin-off of her Temptation series. Don't worry if you haven't read the Temptation series, Finley can be read as a complete standalone story and readers will be happy to know that there is no cliffhanger. I really liked this book and the characters and I think M/M fans will enjoy this story a lot.
Seven years ago Daniel Finley left Florida for Chicago to attend law school after being sent away by the man he thought he would spend the rest of his life with. But when he receives a note telling him it is time to come home, Daniel knows that he needs to return to Florida to see what made Brantley Hayes contact him after all this time. Daniel is no longer the same guy he was seven years ago though, and he will do whatever it takes to put the past behind him and move forward for good. But Brantley isn't willing to give up without a fight and is determined to show Daniel just how much he cares about and has never forgotten him.
I really liked both Finn and Brantley. These two had such a great connection and a ton of chemistry. It was obvious right from the start that what they shared ran so deep for both of them. This wasn't some fling between them, and my heart broke for all the pain and hurt they each felt. I understood why Brantley had sent Finn away, and yet I hated him a bit for it just like Finn did. It was so hard to see how much that hurt him and I was glad that he was able to ultimately see why Brantley had done it as well even if he didn't like it. The connection these two shared had never gone away, and it was great to see them reconnect and get to know who they were after seven years apart.
I did have a few things that kept this one from being five stars for me though. I thought that at times there was a lot of stuff going on while not much was actually happening. The story seemed to suffer here from not much plot, a ton of inner dialogue, and quite a bit of back and forth/push and pull. I also felt like at times the switch between past and present really removed me from the story. The transitions weren't as smooth as I would have liked and I sometimes wished that things would have just been explained or gone over in the present without an entire flashback to the past. We would be right in the middle of something and it would just suddenly switch to the past, which really messed up the flow and pacing of the story for me. I also found it confusing at times with the POV switching mid-chapter which of them was speaking. With a male/male story it can be tough to keep track of when the speaker is only referred to as "he" and I found that it happened quite a bit here and I would have to try and figure out who it was as it wasn't clear. I do think that these two were great and I liked them a lot. I just wish a few of these things had been handled a little different as I think that Finn and Brantley's story could have been a five star book had some of these things been done differently. I am excited to see what happens next in this series as Ella Frank did a great job of setting up such an interesting story for two of the secondary characters here. There was a ton of tension and a lot that has obviously happened, and I can't wait to find out more!
**ARC Provided by Between the Sheets Promotions**
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