Title: Determination
Series: Waiting For Forever, Book 3
Author: Jamie Mayfield
Genre: Young Adult
Length: Novel (336 pages)
Publisher: Harmony InkDreamspinner Press (August 1st, 2013)
Heat Level: Mild
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥5 HEarts
Blurb: Brian McAllister and Jamie Mayfield have risked everything in a desperate escape and are finally together. Jamie is free of his tormentor … for the moment. But Brian and Jamie know that one wrong choice could lead him to their door.
The long, lonely hours in their safe house leave Jamie with nothing to do but think. He thinks about Brian, about the direction their lives should take. He thinks about his parents. Mostly, he thinks about drugs. Jamie wants to feel good again, forget about his self-hatred, and stop the gnawing cravings that prey upon his mind and body.
One moment of weakness may prove fatal for them both.
After being reunited with his father, Jamie attempts to put his life back together amid rehab, seizures, and the gutting loneliness of Brian’s rejection. As he tries to cope, he finds that relying on his friends isn’t as difficult as he’d imagined, and soon he can stand on his own feet. Jamie starts college, working to become the man Brian needs. Unless he earns Brian’s forgiveness and wins back his trust, their love will be sacrificed on the altar of Jamie’s demons.
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=4042
Reviewer: Tams
Review: Brian and Jamie have been to hell and back so many times on their journey, and all they ever wanted was just to be together.
In Determination, Brian has finally managed to get Jamie away from Steven and the two are tucked away in an apartment struggling to find a balance and live a somewhat normal life. Brian is still working in the porn industry, but has plans to buy into the business and move behind the camera. Jamie faces the daily battle of an addict, living in fear that Steven will find him or worse, find his friends and possibly hurt them to get to him. In a moment of weakness, Jamie breaks and goes in search of a fix, inadvertently leading the devil straight to their doorstep.
When the dust settles Jamie is reunited with his father, but has he lost the person he loves more than anything in the process? Jamie faces a long, hard road in the aftermath of his addiction and the damage the drugs have done to his body. He does the best he can to pick himself up and works hard to become the man that he needs to be, not just for Brian, but also for himself.
As difficult as these books were to read at times, I couldn’t put them down. By the end of the first chapter of the first book, I was fully invested in the characters. To say they are flawed would be an understatement, but their flaws gave them a level of depth and realism that I haven’t read in many books. The shit they had to deal with along the way will blow your mind. The books read like a journal written by these two young men. A chronicle of two lives that were woven together when they were children, two lives bound together regardless of the obstacles they had to face to have their happy ending.
As I said, there are parts of these books that were difficult to read, but I wouldn’t have missed this series for the world! I highly recommend this series. Brian and Jamie face some volatile and dangerous situations, half the time from people they love and trust! Over the years, they survive ‘straight camp’, gay bashing, an abusive lover, drug addiction, a mother that should be burned at the stake and being separated among other things. But they’ve also grown into strong and loving young men. They learn the definition of trust and friendship. They fight through insurmountable odds, hatred, and bigotry to come out the other side right where they were meant to be, together!
Thank you so much for taking the time to read and review the Waiting for Forever series. I’m so incredibly grateful, and I’m thrilled that you liked it.