Title: All the Way to the Shore
Author: C.J. Elliott
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (181 pages)
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥ 4 Hearts
Blurb: Jonathan Vallen has never felt good enough. A gentle musician who loves to garden, he’s woefully unsuited to running Vallen Industries, the family business. When his father hires a hotshot executive, Marco Pellegrini, to save the company, Jonathan moves away and leaves his humiliation behind. A year later and forty pounds lighter, Jonathan runs into Marco on an LGBT cruise. Marco doesn’t recognize him, the sparks fly, and Jonathan pretends to be someone else for the week—Jonah Rutledge—someone good enough to be loved.
Marco Pellegrini has always been driven. He rose from poverty to the pinnacle of business success, and he’ll do anything to protect his reputation—including hiding his bisexuality. Having saved Vallen Industries, he’s weary of the rat race and ready for a more meaningful life. When Marco meets his soul mate for that new life—Jonah Rutledge—on an LGBT cruise, he prepares to stop hiding and start living.
Back on land, the romance crashes when Marco discovers his perfect man is not only a lie but the son of his boss, Frederick Vallen. Jonathan resolves to win Marco back, but Frederick takes vengeful action. Jonathan and Marco must battle their own fears as well as Frederick’s challenge to get to the future that awaits them on the horizon.
ISBN: 9781634778190
Product Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/all-the-way-to-shore-by-cjane-elliott-7789-b
Reviewer: Veronica
Review: Jonathan Vallen has always been trying to prove himself to his father since his older brother died, and he thought that he can take the place of his brother, so that his father can be proud of him. But it’s never happened and it never will. His father is trying to groom him to take over the Family Business, but all Jonathan want to do is to live his life in peace and go back to what he loves best. Music. He can’t do that, with his father berating him at every turn.
His father hires hotshot executive Marco Pellegrini to save the company. Marco has always been driven. After rising from poverty to the pinnacle of his business career, he’ll do anything to protect his name and his past. He’s in the closet and dating a woman so no one would know his real sexuality.
After a year at Vallen Industries and the company is in the “Black” he decides that it’s about time that he takes some time for himself. He goes on a Gay cruise and takes his sister with him. There he meets the handsome Jonah Rutledge/Jonathan Vallen. Right away Jonathan recognizes Marco and he remembers when they first met, Marco was cold and calculating.
Jonathan is now forty pounds lighter and thanks to his cousin, he’s had a complete transformation from the person Marco saw a year ago. When Marco introduces himself, Jonathan pretends to be someone else, and although he doesn’t feel right about deceiving Marco, he continues with the charade. Halfway through the cruise Jonathan’s lie is revealed and Marco feels betrayed and he leaves the ship. Will Jonathan have to courage to find Marco and explain to him the reason for lying about who he is and why he lied.
The typical romance story, but I loved it.