Title: Tats of Honor
Series: N/A
Author: Vona Logan
Genre: MM / Contemporary
Length: Novella
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (May 15th, 2013)
Heat Level: Low
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥3 Hearts
Reviewer: Thommie
Blurb: Kegan Andrews wears his heart on his sleeve, or rather his skin—his tattoo is a testimony to those he’s loved and lost. The losses are piling up—like his young cousin’s suicide and his fiancée’s betrayal. He needs perspective, and the New Zealand trip he planned months ago seems to promise him that. Then Kegan meets Dominic, a man wrapped in so much grief and guilt it’s as if his own heart died two years ago with his long-time partner.
Dominic can’t move on—can’t even imagine it until Kegan jumpstarts his frozen heart. Dominic knows Kegan isn’t gay, so he fights his growing feelings, but Kegan embraces his new self-knowledge about whom he might love. Will Dominic stay mired in the safety of past heartbreak and become a distant memory etched into Kegan’s skin, or will he risk himself for the promise of a new beginning?
Product Link: http://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/store/product_info.php?products_id=3803
Review: This was quite a sweet and emotional story that follows Kegan and Dominic and their journey through pain to love.
Kegan has recently lost his cousin, who was also his best friend and more like a brother. His pain has overwhelmed him, but he knows that the only way to go is forward, moving on and appreciating life while he still can. Two months later, while boarding on a plane for a trip to New Zealand, he is left taking the trip alone while his fiancé abandons him at the airport. Yet as furious and disappointed he is with his life, his mind doesn’t fail to recognize that all he has to do is keep going and live life as if every day is his last.
Dominic has been a living dear for two years ever since he lost his partner of fifteen years partner in a car accident. Not only hasn’t he moved on, but he doesn’t really want to, feeling a sense of guilt doing so when his one and truly love has died. Thus, it takes him completely by surprise when he crosses paths with Kegan and the man’s easy going nature and love of life stir something in him. Scared he tries to push these unexpected feeling away and continue his lonely life, but it’s nearly impossible resisting Kegan’s charm. But, shrinking away from life for so long becomes a habit and it’s not easy moving on.
These two characters were very interesting. both plagued by death each dealing with it a different way and their personalities come crashing with each other when they meet. It was sweet, yet agonizing seeing Dominic overcome his pain and muster his courage to face life again. It was almost devastating witnessing Kegan loses the most unexpected love, and yes, I don’t mean his fiancé.
However the story lacked a certain passion for me. While I liked it, I didn’t get engrossed in it. In addition, I somehow felt a wonder with the approach on Kegan’s character as he has been a straight guy all his life, except one night in college. So his behavior, how in stride he took his attraction to Dominic and their first time together somehow baffled me. Plus the insta-love plot is not really much of an appeal to me.
Still the story was well written with highs and lows at times, some emotional parts and some fun. If you like that kind of story and have a curiosity about being a tourist in New Zealand this read offers quite some interesting descriptions of the place where a very sweet love-story begins.