Rescued from Paradise by H J Perry

Rescued from Paradise by H J Perry

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Blurb

Two hot men. One deserted tropical island.

Mr. Don’t-Touch-Me Wade O’Rourke has never allowed anyone to get close to his heart, or into his bed. Perhaps he’s not wired that way. He’s not gay. He was brought up to know it’s not possible in his family. But he’s not attracted to women either. He keeps up appearances for the sake of his family because it’s the thing to do— never mind his family traumas or that he hates his life. And he has reasons to hate his homophobic uncle, too.

Outgoing, optimistic, and carefree Adam Bennet comes from a long line of earthy people— gardeners and farmers. After his parents died, he was raised by his wise grandmother. He helps her run her shop.

When Wade and Adam meet on an airplane, they don’t quite hit it off. They survive a crash landing on an island paradise where they have to join forces to survive. Will Adam take a chance on love with the seemingly straight man? When love blossoms, can it survive the rescue and return to their American small town?

This full-length, standalone novel contains: Two hot guys and a deserted island. A man damaged by his homophobic upbringing. A virgin who never thought he’d want to be touched that way. Coming out in a small town. Steamy man on man love action and a happy ending. ***58,000 words.

Buy Link

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Review

At first, this book made me uncomfortable. Maybe it was the whole airplane crash thing. (This is not a spoiler. It’s right there in the blurb, and it’s in the first part of the book.)  I’m terrified of flying and like Wade, takeoff and landing are the worst times for me.

Or maybe it’s the trope. When I first started reading the book, the gay-for-you vibes were strong with this one and the gay-for-you trope has come under some heavy criticism. A decent percentage of that criticism has been justified. As I kept reading, though, it wasn’t hard to see that Wade wasn’t really straight. Wade had been in hiding, for good reason, and I’m the last person in the world to cast stones about it.

The romance plays out exactly the way one might expect. It’s not like they have anyone else, but it becomes something beautiful. There on the island, Wade can be himself and he can blossom apart from his frankly wretched family. And maybe it’s unfair for Adam to have to take four months of his life to play parent and therapist to Wade, but it does work. It works beautifully.

Of course, they do get rescued. This is also not a spoiler, it’s right there in the title. Adam has maintained his faith that the universe would come through for them, and it does. Unfortunately, being marooned on a deserted island doesn’t solve their (Wade’s) problems back in the States. When they return to their small town, they return to the status quo.

A very sad status quo. If you were to diagram their arc at this point, it would look like a circle.

Thankfully, an outside force acts to push them out of this misery and they do get their happily ever after. The thing is, when they returned to the States and they had their dark moment, I couldn’t even be mad at Wade. Perry did such a fantastic job of showing me what was going on with him prior to that moment, I understood perfectly. I was sad, and I hurt for Adam (and for Wade), but I couldn’t hate him for it. As an author myself, I can only hope to communicate that well.

This is a quick read, so there’s no real excuse not to pick it up and give it a go.