loved this book

3.5* A decent enough tale to introduce a new series, but the leads barely have any time together.

This isn't badly-written, but it's a tale where the blurb promises just a little bit more than the book delivers. The tale does follow the blurb, but the main focus is Lucky and him growing into a young man and upcoming fighter, by which time he and Dray have been apart 8 years, and even when they had a kind-of relationship, it was that of a decent older guy for a teen he had a friendly interest in, almost vaguely mentor-like, but nothing else. Yes, Lucky was becoming aware that he was gay, but Dray was in a relationship and out of his league, and then quit the fighting scene when he got outed.

When the guys got together, I did buy that they had a connection, but there was a little too much protesting and not enough of being brave and proud and at least attempting to test the waters. There was also a lingering, separate sadness to this tale, that drew the guys together, and yet the climax came and went almost off-page, and I don't recall reading about what comes next in that kind of situation. I don't think I missed it - I think that perhaps it got glossed over.

I'd have liked more of these leads, more fight action (there was barely any), more evidence of them joining forces and presenting a united front, a more equal relationship, but I get the impression that all of this will continue throughout the series. Yes, this tale is clearly an opener for another series for CL, so I can see why it had a fair bit going on in it. It also introduces at least one future lead whose book is coming soon, and, it's clear that Lucky and Dray will feature in it as foster-parents/parents, and I'd like to see more of them living their HEA on their terms.

ARC courtesy of NetGalley and Pride Publishing/Totally Entwined Group, for my reading pleasure.

Very cute story. I am looking forward to seeing more from this author.