Loving Him

Jan 08, 2013 Top 2 Bottom Reviews Interviews and More rated it 4 of 5 stars

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I’ve read several books by Ms. DeRicci before and I’ve really liked all of them. She has an easy style of writing that I appreciate and the chemistry between her heroes always jumps off of the written page.

As a reward for all of his hard work, Sam’s parents gave him a long vacation at an island paradise. All inclusive drinks and all the sun and fun he can handle should make Sam a happy man, but taking a vacation alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so for...more http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/

I’ve read several books by Ms. DeRicci before and I’ve really liked all of them. She has an easy style of writing that I appreciate and the chemistry between her heroes always jumps off of the written page.

As a reward for all of his hard work, Sam’s parents gave him a long vacation at an island paradise. All inclusive drinks and all the sun and fun he can handle should make Sam a happy man, but taking a vacation alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so for the past three nights he’s found himself at the same bar, drinking the night away. Every night, he’s noticed a very handsome man doing the exact same thing. Drinking…alone and looking both sad and angry at the world. On the third night, Sam decides to take a chance and sits beside him. He figures since they’re both lonely and alone, it wouldn’t hurt to find out the man’s story and maybe he’ll even make a friend in the process…right?

Hunter Reece is drinking his honeymoon away. It’s a honeymoon he’s taking by himself since his fiancée has decided to run off with someone else. Not bothering to do more than drink his sorrows and frustration away, he’s not too thrilled to be interrupted by some man named Sam who insists on being chattier than he’d like. But despite himself and with the help of liquor loosening his tongue he starts talking to Sam and soon a friendship starts to bud between them. But when an attraction starts to grow, this confuses Hunter because he knows he’s not gay. As he hangs around Sam more and more the attraction grows and Hunter finds himself giving into his desires and soon he and Sam have connected on both a physical and an emotional level. But life in paradise is short lived, so what will happen to the budding romance once the vacation is over?

I really liked this book a lot. At first, Hunter is a very bitter man. (I don’t blame him) He’s unhappy and upset and pretty grouchy about it. But as his friendship with Sam develops and something special starts growing between them, Hunter is confused by his sudden attraction to Sam, but decides to just go with it. I did like this about him, but Hunter definitely has some communication issues that he must deal with. Because he’s not the most open of men, he often hurts the ones who care the most about him. This was one of the reasons why I had a harder time liking Hunter, but as the story continued, I began to see what Sam saw in him. I also liked how he came to recognize his faults and really tried to change and grow into a more confident man.

I totally fell in love with Sam. He’s truly a sweet and sexy man who seems to wear his heart on his sleeve a little. He’s very loved by his family and is confident about himself and his sexuality. I enjoyed watching Sam work on Hunter loosening up as well as the friendship that developed between them.

Loving Him is a fast-pace novel with two heroes that really lived and breathed off of the written page. I loved the descriptive storytelling ability that Ms. DeRicci has and was immediately swept up into the lives of her characters. Lovely and romantic, Loving Him is a book I’d recommend for those who believe that love has no boundaries and can conquer all. Recommended!

Reviewed By: Gabbi(less)

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Nov 09, 2012 Arthur rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars

Hunter was set to marry, but his fiancee bailed on him couple days before the wedding. Leaving him alone in their supposedly honeymoon trip. There, he met Sam, who was on the vacation place, also alone. They were attracted to each other, and Hunter realized that he's gay. There's one problem: Hunter lived in Pennsylvania, and Sam in Florida. So they went home to their respective state.

Sam was willing to have a long-distance relationship, but Hunter email did not seem to be the ones he'd...more

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Oct 18, 2012 Cindi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012, m-m

Hunter is dumped by his fiancee two days before his wedding. He makes the decision to go on the honeymoon to Aruba anyway... alone. He spends his days and nights wallowing in self-pity and drinking at a bar until he can no longer stand up.

Sam is on a belated college graduation trip. After watching Hunter drink himself into oblivion from across the bar for days, Sam makes his way over and starts a conversation. Sam is gay but he has no illusions of Hunter being anything other than straight, espec...more Hunter is dumped by his fiancee two days before his wedding. He makes the decision to go on the honeymoon to Aruba anyway... alone. He spends his days and nights wallowing in self-pity and drinking at a bar until he can no longer stand up.

Sam is on a belated college graduation trip. After watching Hunter drink himself into oblivion from across the bar for days, Sam makes his way over and starts a conversation. Sam is gay but he has no illusions of Hunter being anything other than straight, especially after Hunter tells the story of what brought him to the island. If they are both going to be drinking each night anyway, why do it alone? It doesn't take long before Sam wants more than the budding friendship. For Hunter to be straight as he claims, he also seems to want Sam. Hunter's self-esteem is nil. His former fiancee is a true bitch who knocked him down again and again during the last year of their relationship. When he finds himself feeling something for Sam other than friendship, it scares him but not enough to take a step back. There is exploration and then sadness as the two men are forced to go back to their real lives, several hundred miles away from each other.

This was a fairly good story with the exception of a couple of things that I will come back to. There is an "insta-love" vibe going very early on. While I'm not completely against it in a story, I found it to be quite unbelievable (more so than most) in this one. Also, for Hunter to be so nonsexual (his words) I found it odd that he was so eager to jump into that type of relationship... with a man... when not only has he never been with a man but he's never even considered it. He is 27-years old so it's not like he is a teen still struggling with his sexuality. I'm not saying this could not happen. I am only saying that it did not ring true with this particular character.

Having said that, I was still thoroughly enjoying the book until the two men went their separate ways after their respective vacations. That is when the story took a dive for me. There is (in my opinion) too much time jumping for me to stay invested in the story. And after those time jumps, there is very little explanation in regards to what happened during those weeks or months. One of the characters, who I liked early on, came across as a bit too clueless and insensitive for my taste. I know that some men are bad about communicating but come on! This guy takes "lack of communication" to a whole new level. By the time he was finally ~~forced~~ pushed into doing something, I had already lost complete interest in him and did not care at that point whether he fixed things or not. Had he handled other things (mentioned in below spoiler) a certain way he may have redeemed himself in my eyes. He didn't so there you go.

(view spoiler)[Hunter's fiancee, Stefani, dumps him two days before the wedding that they had been planning for a long time. She dumps him because she has been having an affair with a coworker for over a year. During the last months of the relationship, Stefani criticizes Hunter constantly in regards to his lack of enthusiasm in the bedroom. She laughs at him for not being able to get or maintain an erection... therefore making a jab at his manhood. Once she finally gets around to breaking up with him, she tells him that "I didn't know how bad it was with YOU or how bad YOU are in bed until I got it RIGHT with Tim." I'm paraphrasing.

Sam and Hunter go back home after the vacation. They exchange email addresses only... no phone numbers or addresses or anything. Hunter sends a few messages here and there to Sam but gives no indication that he is interested in anything with him anymore. Two months go by.

Hunters' emails to Sam:

Stefani and I are working things out.

She's awesome.

Stefani has forgiven me.

Okay then!

1. Why work things out with the woman who demeaned you and cheated on you for a year? Why even bother with friendship? She killed your self-esteem, made you feel like less than a man, and then threw her new lover in your face?

2. In what universe is forgiveness needed FROM the person who did what Stefani did to Hunter? I never understood any of that. Quite a bit of the book was about Stefani finally forgiving Hunter. For WHAT? Being gay? For not being good enough in bed? HUH? Stefani should have been on her knees begging forgiveness from Hunter, not the other way around. Hunter never cheated on Stefani during their relationship but yet he's the one who had to be forgiven?

3. The emails to Sam looked exactly like they were supposed to... like Hunter was back with Stefani and that he only saw Sam as a piece of ass (or whatever) during the trip. He only goes to see Sam to "fix" things after Sam's brothers strong-arm him into doing so.

Had the author made the point of Hunter forgiving HIMSELF for lying to himself his entire life, I would have liked the story more. Instead, it was all about being a doormat and forgiving the lying, cheating bitch that he had been engaged to. There was no coming back for me when that happened. (hide spoiler)]

Overall, an okay story about two men who meet up in paradise and end up falling in love. I know that I am the minority but I can't say that it was more than just okay. I found myself skimming toward the end. The author left something hanging in regards to Sam's best friend, Paul. I hope to see his story in the future. My lack of love for this one will not prevent me from reading more by her as I've enjoyed others in the past.(less)

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Jan 08, 2013 Gabbi rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: angst, bisexual, diana-dericci, gay-for-you, gay-romance, top2bottom-reviews, mlr-press, mlr-press-spotlight

http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/

I’ve read several books by Ms. DeRicci before and I’ve really liked all of them. She has an easy style of writing that I appreciate and the chemistry between her heroes always jumps off of the written page.

As a reward for all of his hard work, Sam’s parents gave him a long vacation at an island paradise. All inclusive drinks and all the sun and fun he can handle should make Sam a happy man, but taking a vacation alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so for...more http://top2bottomreviews.wordpress.com/

I’ve read several books by Ms. DeRicci before and I’ve really liked all of them. She has an easy style of writing that I appreciate and the chemistry between her heroes always jumps off of the written page.

As a reward for all of his hard work, Sam’s parents gave him a long vacation at an island paradise. All inclusive drinks and all the sun and fun he can handle should make Sam a happy man, but taking a vacation alone isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, so for the past three nights he’s found himself at the same bar, drinking the night away. Every night, he’s noticed a very handsome man doing the exact same thing. Drinking…alone and looking both sad and angry at the world. On the third night, Sam decides to take a chance and sits beside him. He figures since they’re both lonely and alone, it wouldn’t hurt to find out the man’s story and maybe he’ll even make a friend in the process…right?

Hunter Reece is drinking his honeymoon away. It’s a honeymoon he’s taking by himself since his fiancée has decided to run off with someone else. Not bothering to do more than drink his sorrows and frustration away, he’s not too thrilled to be interrupted by some man named Sam who insists on being chattier than he’d like. But despite himself and with the help of liquor loosening his tongue he starts talking to Sam and soon a friendship starts to bud between them. But when an attraction starts to grow, this confuses Hunter because he knows he’s not gay. As he hangs around Sam more and more the attraction grows and Hunter finds himself giving into his desires and soon he and Sam have connected on both a physical and an emotional level. But life in paradise is short lived, so what will happen to the budding romance once the vacation is over?

I really liked this book a lot. At first, Hunter is a very bitter man. (I don’t blame him) He’s unhappy and upset and pretty grouchy about it. But as his friendship with Sam develops and something special starts growing between them, Hunter is confused by his sudden attraction to Sam, but decides to just go with it. I did like this about him, but Hunter definitely has some communication issues that he must deal with. Because he’s not the most open of men, he often hurts the ones who care the most about him. This was one of the reasons why I had a harder time liking Hunter, but as the story continued, I began to see what Sam saw in him. I also liked how he came to recognize his faults and really tried to change and grow into a more confident man.

I totally fell in love with Sam. He’s truly a sweet and sexy man who seems to wear his heart on his sleeve a little. He’s very loved by his family and is confident about himself and his sexuality. I enjoyed watching Sam work on Hunter loosening up as well as the friendship that developed between them.

Loving Him is a fast-pace novel with two heroes that really lived and breathed off of the written page. I loved the descriptive storytelling ability that Ms. DeRicci has and was immediately swept up into the lives of her characters. Lovely and romantic, Loving Him is a book I’d recommend for those who believe that love has no boundaries and can conquer all. Recommended!
(less)

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Nov 08, 2012 Don Bradshaw rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: coming-out, damaged-individuad, family-drama, friends-to-lovers, gay-romance

Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/

Hunter is on his honeymoon alone after his fiancee, Stefani, dumps him two days prior to their wedding. He has been spending his days and nights in a drunken stupor pining for his lost love. Sam is also on Aruba alone but his vacation is a gift from his two Dads. Sam feels lonely on this tropical paradise but for some crazy reason hasn't gone out and found a vacation fling. Both Sam and Hunter have been drinking the nights away so on...more Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/

Hunter is on his honeymoon alone after his fiancee, Stefani, dumps him two days prior to their wedding. He has been spending his days and nights in a drunken stupor pining for his lost love. Sam is also on Aruba alone but his vacation is a gift from his two Dads. Sam feels lonely on this tropical paradise but for some crazy reason hasn't gone out and found a vacation fling. Both Sam and Hunter have been drinking the nights away so one evening Sam orders Hunter a drink and hears his tale of woe. The two men form a tentative friendship and begin hanging out and taking excursions together. Hunter is quick to say "I'm not gay" often enough to choke an elephant and that much denial is almost a definite indicator that the man is hungry for dick but afraid of being caught. True to form, Hunter and Sam are in bed in no time with Sam constantly asking Hunter if he's sure that gay sex is what Hunter wants and bingo Hunter is gay. The romance gets shaky when Sam flies home to Florida and Hunter heads back to Pennsylvania. This book was a total loss for me. I did not like either Hunter or Sam as people. Hunter jumped into bed too quickly for a man who is not gay and every single thing that he and Sam did either sexually or as friends had to be compared to how it was with Stefani. Sam was just a pathetic door mat who allowed Hunter to walk all over his heart but rationalized some forgiveness every time Hunter came back into his life. Stefani was never introduced as a character except in memory by Hunter and I think that she came out on top by getting rid of Hunter even if she was verbally abusive. The book became a chore to read and I would have closed it half way through if I had not been reading it for the publisher. Ms DeRicci went off the deep end with Sam's angst once he got back home to Pensacola. A realistic man would have written Hunter off after the first two bland emails and moved on. I honestly that Hunter would have visited without the little intervention he received. The flow and the timeline were both choppy and I often felt like I was in the wrong part of the book. The HEA ending was provided but even that was nothing original. I would save my money and skip over this book this time around. (less)

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Mar 21, 2013 Becky Mrs Condit Reads Books rated it 4 of 5 stars

See Roux's 4 sweet pea review on March 23, 2013 at http://mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index....

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Nov 09, 2012 Rachel rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemp-m-m, romance-m-m, gay-for-you-m-m

I love this author, but this definitely isn't my favorite thing I have read from her. She usually writes some great GFY type of stories, but this felt rushed...either due to the setting for the beginning of the story or the choppiness of the overall timeline.

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Nov 10, 2012 Hearts On Fire Reviews added it

Reviewed by:Don
Genre: M/M Contemporary Romance
Rated: 2 hearts

Check out the review at: Hearts On Fire Reviews

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Oct 18, 2012 Lily rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm-romance, contemporary

Overall, about 3.75 stars. A cute and very steamy read with quite interesting protagonists, whose relationship and love story managed to develop a few twists on some well worn plot elements.

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Jan 06, 2013 Laura Miller rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: glbt, m-m-romance

Totally entertaining

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Apr 21, 2013 Tame rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: re-read-favorites

3.75 Stars

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Oct 19, 2012 Veronica / V rated it 4 of 5 stars

3.5 stars.

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May 21, 2013 Anya rated it 2 of 5 stars

May 17, 2013 Paul marked it as to-read

May 15, 2013 Stephane marked it as to-read

May 14, 2013 Jay marked it as to-read

May 16, 2013 Ter marked it as to-read

Apr 25, 2013 Arzu rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: contemporary, ebooks-owned, mm-romance

Apr 16, 2013 J.K. Hogan marked it as to-read

Apr 14, 2013 Kayla marked it as to-read

Apr 10, 2013 Stacey rated it 4 of 5 stars

Apr 10, 2013 Isabelle rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

Apr 05, 2013 Kristie marked it as to-read

Shelves: as-of-1-27-13-new

Mar 14, 2013 Malina added it

Shelves: bl-slash

Mar 13, 2013 Shirley (Secret Squirrel) rated it 3 of 5 stars

Mar 13, 2013 Gabriella marked it as maybe-not-sure

Mar 07, 2013 Dionne rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: lendable-kindle, m-m

Mar 03, 2013 Hanne rated it 3 of 5 stars

Feb 28, 2013 Heather Skye marked it as to-read

Shelves: waiting-to-be-read

Feb 20, 2013 reader80 rated it 2 of 5 stars

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