Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

This Will Hurt I by Cara Dee

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

So, so good. This opener was everything I didn’t know I needed until I started reading, and I have ALL the feels.

The story opens with a Prologue which takes the reader back in time for a quick glimpse of how Roe and Jake met.

Then we get to go along with them over the next few years as their travel series picks up steam and success starts coming their way.

There’s a similar feel as with Cara’s If We Could Go Back, in that the friendship between them is definitely more than just the normal working partnership.

On the journeys they take, what you’re really getting is a beautiful insight into a relationship that is deeply involved, sometimes with hints that it could be more.

But Jake is straight, he has a son with his ex and he’s never had any sexual thoughts about any man.

After Roe comes out as bisexual though, the story changes as we get the feeling Jake has a lot of repressed memories relating to something his mother told him when he was a child.

I particularly loved how slowly this plot unfolds throughout the book. Cara has a deft hand at drawing you right into the heart of both these men’s heads and the genuine love that exists between them on a truly platonic way.

Neither is afraid to say that they love the other, but the sense of something lingering quietly is always there.

Of course, nothing is simple and there are decisions made that seem baffling at first glance, but you have to trust in the author and her ability to craft a narrative that you know will have a happy ever after eventually.

This is book one of a duet, don’t expect a resolution here, there isn’t one, there’s not even a relationship between them other than the incredibly close friendship.

Still, there’s expectation in the air, realisation things could be different, and hope that they’ll wake up to what’s really been a partnership in more than just business since the day they met.

I cannot wait for book two!

#ARC kindly received from the author in return for an honest and unbiased review.

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