Title: Room to Grow
Author: Kate Sherwood
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novella (81 pages)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing, Ltd. (August 7th, 2012)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥4Hearts
Blurb: Cole Wheaton is a high-end garden designer just getting out of a difficult relationship with a deeply closeted architect. David McLean is just coming out of the closet himself. Cole befriends him, but won’t get any more involved, because David is a risky proposition, and Cole wants something stable. They finally get close enough to try for something more, but then David’s ex-wife pulls him back into her life, and it may end up pushing Cole away.
Product Link: http://store.samhainpublishing.com/room-grow-p-6957.html
Reviewer: Showme
Review: First off, let me say, I adore Kate Sherwood and her writing. Her Dark Horse series are the only books about three men in a relationship I have ever truly enjoyed. She writes real characters that I fall in love with. So yeah, she’s on my automatic buy list. If all that wasn’t true then the beautiful cover on Room to Grow would have drawn my eye.
Cole Wheaton designs beautiful landscapes for a living. He’s creative, successful and openly gay. Cole is just coming out of a relationship with a man who isn’t coming out of the closet anytime soon. He hurt Cole and treated him like he was a dirty secret while Cole had real feelings for him. So the last thing Cole needs is to be attracted to a married man who is just admitting to his preference for men.
David McLean is married to his best friend, Stephanie. He loves her, but he just can’t make himself love her like a husband should love his wife. Her latest project, the backyard, is an attempt to find some common ground with her husband, but brings Cole Wheaton into their lives. Cole and David find they enjoy each other’s company and David is strongly attracted and develops feelings for Cole. Cole doesn’t want to get involved with a newly out of the closet man coming out of a marriage to a woman. He’s still doing Stephanie’s yard and would prefer to keep it professional but Stephanie asks him to help David through his transition. Things start out friendly, but the attraction proves too much for the guys.
I was a little worried in the beginning that I’d find it strange for Cole to get together with his clients soon to be ex-husband, but Kate made me want a HEA for them. The book does move at a slower pace, but that may be what makes the progression of the relationship between Cole and David more palatable while working for his lover’s soon to be ex-wife. She’s not demonized either, which I appreciated. I loved the descriptions of the yards and Cole’s descriptions helped me get to know him better. It was almost too short and I would have liked a little more fleshing out the guys going from resisting the temptation to falling in love. In the end, this was not my favorite Kate Sherwood book, but well worth the time and money.