Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn is truly a spectacular story that will leave you emotionally drained but incredibly happy by the time you read the last page. Follow Oliver’s journey through grief after losing the love of his life. Then watch him realize that his friend Thomas may be more to him than he ever realized was possible. I received one copy of this book at no charge in exchange for my honest reviews but all opinions expressed here are my own. This post contains affiliate links.
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Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn
Purchase Links: Amazon
Title: Patchwork Paradise
Series: N/A
Author: Indra Vaughn
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (March 28, 2016)
ISBN-13: 978-1626493810
Genre: M/M, Contemporary
Length/Format: ebook, 275 pages
Heat Rating: 2
Star Rating: 5
About the Author: Learn more about Indra Vaugn by checking out the author’s website or following along on Facebook or Twitter.
Book Blurb:
Oliver and Samuel’s relationship is fairy-tale perfect. They share a gorgeous house in Antwerp, go out with their friends every weekend, and count down the days to their dream wedding. But their happy ending is shattered one late night, and just like that, Ollie is left bereft and alone.
The months that follow are long and dark, but slowly Ollie emerges from his grief. He even braves the waters of online dating, though deep down he doesn’t believe he can find that connection again. He doesn’t think to look for love right in front of him: his bisexual friend Thomas, the gentle giant with a kind heart and sad eyes who’s wanted him all along.
When Thomas suddenly discovers he has a son who needs him, he’s ill prepared. Ollie opens up his house—Sam’s house—and lets them in. Ollie doesn’t know what scares him more: the responsibility of caring for a baby, or the way Thomas is steadily winning his heart. It will take all the courage he has to discover whether or not fairy tales can happen for real.
My Review:
Patchwork Paradise is truly a phenomenal story and you should not even pick it up unless you have an entire box of tissues and about 4 hours of free time. I could not put it down and probably spent the first half of the book with tears in my eyes. If you are looking for lighthearted romance where boy meets boy and they have lots of fun and sex and everything is perfect, this is not the book for you. But the story itself will just grab you and make you feel incredibly sad…then hopeful, and then happy at the very end. And it is well worth the tears when you finally get to see Ollie’s happily ever after.
I admit, I was really hoping to not have to read about Sam and Ollie’s perfect life before Ollie is left horribly and tragically alone. I don’t deal well with grief in my stories but you get the first 5% of the book to fall in love with Sam and Ollie as a couple. And then tragedy strikes and Ollie is alone and you will cry big ugly tears at the injustice of the whole thing.
I loved Ollie’s character and he was just such a happy, loving life kind of guy when the book starts. To see how far down he spirals into grief is just devastating. The author does a superb job of leading Ollie through his disbelief, grieving, anger, and finally his very slow healing process. It is not a fast process. Half way through the book I am still brought to tears at times over his emotional state but you start to see tiny hints of life and happiness coming back to him.
The relationship that develops between Thomas and Ollie is incredibly slow. They were good friends for years and while Ollie grieves, Thomas is a supportive friend. You have to wait quite a while before they finally get together. There are some hurt feelings to deal with and attempted relationships with other people as they figure out what is between them. Even when they finally get together, things aren’t perfect. I must admit, I wanted them to gaze into each others eyes and have everything magically fall into place but it didn’t work like that. They get there slowly and the author does a great job of keeping you engaged all the way til the very end of the story.
The secondary characters in Patchwork Paradise were well developed and played a large role in the story. I think I would have liked to see less drama in Cleo and Imrand’s relationship just to lighten things up a bit since the rest of the story was emotionally heavy. But, I loved the lightheartedness that came to Thomas and Ollie as they tried to figure out the whole taking care of baby thing. I am a sucker for two guys and a baby!
Patchwork Paradise by Indra Vaughn is truly a spectacular story that will leave you emotionally drained but incredibly happy by the time you read the last page.
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