Seeing Red by E.L. Esch

ele_seingredTitle: Seeing Red

Author: E.L. Esch

Genre: Contemporary

Length: Novel (213pgs)

Publisher: Loose Id (16th July 2013)

Heat Level: Low – Moderate

Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥3 ½ – 4 Hearts

Reviewer: Pixie

Blurb: What would you do if you lost five years of freedom? If everything you’d ever known was torn away from you, all because the one person you counted on to save you didn’t come through?

This is the cruel reality for Gabriel “Red” Thatcher, convicted at age nineteen for the murder of his father. Now twenty-five and eight months out of prison, Red has nothing to his name and no one to help him. He is carrying close to him a rage hotter than white flames. Had his sister just testified on his behalf in court, he could have been spared the horrible things that happened to him in the doghouse. Things that’ll make him never look at intimacy the same way again.

Red can’t take swallowing his bitter rage alone anymore. Unable to kill the growing loneliness and ire with time, he heads into the Flower District in search of a gay bar to drown his sorrows. There he meets the bubbly, easy-on-the-eyes Silo Winters.

When Red learns that Silo did three years in prison for an accidental oil fire, he brings Silo home, not so much for a wild romp as to relieve his aching loneliness. Besides if anyone will understand Red’s pain it’ll be Silo, who’s gone through some of the same horrors he has. However, he definitely doesn’t count on Silo becoming so much more than a sexy shoulder to lean on. Now, if only Red can learn to let him in.

Purchase Link: http://www.loose-id.com/seeing-red.html

Review: For five years Red suffered in prison, everything he had was torn away from him because of one-act of protection and the one person who could help him kept quiet. Red has been out of prison for eight months and has been struggling to find his feet, his anger at his sister for not coming forward sooner is blazing, and his time in prison has left him emotionally scarred. When Red meets Silo in a bar, he takes pity on the man who is in a similar position to himself and lets the man stay with him for the night, one night becomes one week, and soon Red finds himself with a roommate who wants to be more. Silo served three years in prison and had many of the same experiences as Red did, but Silo refuses to let it haunt him. Falling for Red is hard as Red seems determined to hug his hurt to him and let it poison him, but Silo has fallen for the man and can only hope that he can crack the shell that Red has encased himself in.

This is a great story of two men who both suffered in prison but who have reacted differently to the experience. Red’s story will break your heart, it is a story that is fraught with injustice and a scared sister and the terrible experience that still lingers. Silo’s story is nearly as heart breaking, a stupid drunken prank that led to prison and the attentions of a demanding cellmate. These men come together at one of the lowest points in their lives but they both react differently to their pasts. Silo puts it all behind him and embraces the life he is creating, Red hugs his experiences to him and lets them guide his actions and emotions, but together these men begin to move forward more.

Both Red and Silo are great characters in their own ways; they complement each other and help each other just by being there. Silo is a bubbly character and hasn’t let prison get to him, Red is cranky, and his prison experience tinges everything. Silo is just the type of person that Red needs to heal his hurts but it isn’t easy for Silo to crack Red’s shell. Red at first believes that Silo is as affected as he is but soon realizes that he has been projecting his own troubles on Silo. It really is amazing to watch them together and to see Red heal slowly with Silo’s help. Their relationship progresses slowly from friendship to love and it is wonderfully done, while Silo was willing to go full throttle from the start Red held them back and it has a much better effect for their whole relationship.

I recommend this to those who love damaged men finding love after a long struggle, forgiveness, comfort, peace and a great storyline.  

 

 

Beauty in the Breakdown by E. L. Esch

Title:  Beauty in the Breakdown

Author:  E.L. Esch

Genre:  Contemporary

Length:  Novel

Publisher:  Loose Id (October 2nd, 2012)

Heat Level: Explicit

Heart Rating:  ♥♥♥♥4Hearts

Blurb:  Luke Martin Cleary isn’t out of the closet to his brother, and that’s always been okay since he isn’t involved. Then he meets Rowan, a fragile man with a dark past and one hot body. But Rowan’s heart and body are broken and guarded, and it’s going to take a lot of love to touch someone so completely untouchable. Literally.

Rowan Wilheim Nails is a man in pain. Ever since an abusive falling out with his ex-boyfriend, he’s developed a phobia of being touched by another person–a phobia of being hurt again. So when Luke and Rowan meet at a bar and end up at Luke’s apartment later on, Rowan is skeptical of spending the night in Luke’s bed. There’s only one thing he can do to make touching Luke’s skin bearable–get drunk.

Luke hates Rowan’s coping method, but how can he help change it when he doesn’t understand Rowan’s situation? By getting involved, he decides, even if that means divulging his secret to his brother. And so Luke begins breaking Rowan and his walls down, slowly and tenderly and maybe a little more roughly in the bedroom, but definitely without hurting him again. No matter how long it takes or how untouchable Rowan claims to be, Luke is determined to heal Rowan so that one day there’ll be nothing between their hearts but each other’s skin.

Product Link:  http://www.loose-id.com/beauty-in-the-breakdown.html

Reviewer:  Madison

Review:  Luke and Rowan hook up one night and both feel an instant connection. They want more than a one-night stand. The problem is they both have some serious baggage to overcome. Luke is still haunted by the death of his parents and the promise he had made to his dad not to reveal his sexuality to his younger brother, despite now being his sole caretaker. Rowan has just come out of a physically abusive relationship and can’t bear skin-on-skin contact without the aid of alcohol to numb the pain. Despite these obstacles, Luke and Rowan fall in love and work to heal old wounds.

The story took awhile to draw me in, but once the connection between Luke and Rowan was established, I felt for them. They were both fighters, both stubborn. Yet, they showed their vulnerability with one another. The way their relationship developed was sweet. I didn’t fully understand Rowan’s skin phobia, nor did I understand how he got over it, but I’m glad he did in the end. The story was well written with believable dialogue and likable characters.