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A review by bookish_notes
The Boy Who Belonged by Lisa Henry, J.A. Rock
4.0
A Christmas story! Well, kind of. This takes place during December. Lane and Derek have have been together for a few months now, and their relationship has progressed. They are so adorable together and now they've adopted the cute little dog, Andy, who had trouble bonding with humans before he met Lane. The foul-mouthed macaw, Mr. Zimmerman, is in this book and is absolutely hilarious. Lane's in a happier place now than he was in the first book. He's happy with his job at Taco Hub, he's studying at a community college, volunteers at a dog shelter, and has a boyfriend at home. He has friends with Brin and Ferg, and even his co-workers at Taco Hub. But he also has a lingering fear that it'll all go away. His mother and father are in prison, and he receives a call from his mother's lawyer that could change everything.
His parents orchestrated a Ponzi scheme, and while Lane was declared innocent when his father confessed Lane didn't know anything, the general public don't quite see it that way. In order to get off with less years, his parents want to do a series of TV interviews to put them in a better light, even if they were the ones who started this mess in the first place and lost a lot of people a lot of money. He's not sure if he wants to do the interview, especially since his parents are guilty of the things they're being accused of.
Lane still has pretty bad social anxiety, and an interview isn't what he needs at all. But Lane's a total sweetheart and still wants to help his parents out. It's...manipulative. His mother in particular is nothing short of manipulative and will do and say whatever it takes to make herself look better. Even at the cost of her own son's happiness. I hate Lane's mother. She would deserve Lane yelling at her and letting her know what a terrible mother she is for hanging him out to dry. I would have loved for him to have told her about Acton, but I guess in the end, she doesn't deserve to know Lane at all.
This book is an interesting look into the life of Lane and Derek now and how they've managed to make their relationship work. Derek has always seemed so selfless in the first book, and this is where we see that even that has its limit sometimes when he just wants to vent about his photography job. He loves what he does, but sometimes, like when he has to take pictures of uncooperative kids sitting with Santa at the mall, he just wants to vent. But Lane is still fragile and not used to fighting or talking back.
Lane breaks my heart. He's just been through so much and deserves the world. Luckily, he has Derek and they're still learning. What they're totally good on is when it comes to sex. This book has a lot more sex sex scenes than the first book, and everything is definitely more intense in this book as Lane and Derek take things up a notch. With this book, I was all, do I Google that? The sounding scene was well-written and the first I've read a scene like that in a book (I mean, I guess it happened in Fade from the ICOS series too, but that situation was very different). There's a lot of trust between the two characters, and of course, consent plays a bit role with all their scenes.
I'm not used to reading sequels when it comes to romance, but this story doesn't seem forced. Just a continuation of the story between Lane and Derek. We are left hanging a little bit at the end of this story. There's definitely a potential for more, but I don't really see that happening since this was published in 2013? Some things are left open, but Lane and Derek are in a good place at the end of the story and I can accept this book as a HEA between the two characters. I would highly recommend this series for anyone looking to read a D/s BDSM m/m book.
His parents orchestrated a Ponzi scheme, and while Lane was declared innocent when his father confessed Lane didn't know anything, the general public don't quite see it that way. In order to get off with less years, his parents want to do a series of TV interviews to put them in a better light, even if they were the ones who started this mess in the first place and lost a lot of people a lot of money. He's not sure if he wants to do the interview, especially since his parents are guilty of the things they're being accused of.
Lane still has pretty bad social anxiety, and an interview isn't what he needs at all. But Lane's a total sweetheart and still wants to help his parents out. It's...manipulative. His mother in particular is nothing short of manipulative and will do and say whatever it takes to make herself look better. Even at the cost of her own son's happiness. I hate Lane's mother. She would deserve Lane yelling at her and letting her know what a terrible mother she is for hanging him out to dry. I would have loved for him to have told her about Acton, but I guess in the end, she doesn't deserve to know Lane at all.
This book is an interesting look into the life of Lane and Derek now and how they've managed to make their relationship work. Derek has always seemed so selfless in the first book, and this is where we see that even that has its limit sometimes when he just wants to vent about his photography job. He loves what he does, but sometimes, like when he has to take pictures of uncooperative kids sitting with Santa at the mall, he just wants to vent. But Lane is still fragile and not used to fighting or talking back.
Lane breaks my heart. He's just been through so much and deserves the world. Luckily, he has Derek and they're still learning. What they're totally good on is when it comes to sex. This book has a lot more sex sex scenes than the first book, and everything is definitely more intense in this book as Lane and Derek take things up a notch. With this book, I was all, do I Google that? The sounding scene was well-written and the first I've read a scene like that in a book (I mean, I guess it happened in Fade from the ICOS series too, but that situation was very different). There's a lot of trust between the two characters, and of course, consent plays a bit role with all their scenes.
I'm not used to reading sequels when it comes to romance, but this story doesn't seem forced. Just a continuation of the story between Lane and Derek. We are left hanging a little bit at the end of this story. There's definitely a potential for more, but I don't really see that happening since this was published in 2013? Some things are left open, but Lane and Derek are in a good place at the end of the story and I can accept this book as a HEA between the two characters. I would highly recommend this series for anyone looking to read a D/s BDSM m/m book.