Rating: 5
Steam: 3
PoV: dual, 1st person
Series: The Swift Brothers #2
Genre: contemporary romance, MM
Tropes / tags: hurt / comfort, grief, small town
He wraps his arms around me from behind and kisses the side of my neck. He’s so…touchy-feely. Like we’re doing more than just fucking, like we’re in some kind of relationship, or hell, as if he just likes to be close to me.
I knew after reading Morgan that Easton’s story would be devastating, but I still wasn’t prepared for how well Riley Hart would capture the depths of Easton’s pain and grief, and his story certainly packed a punch. I was in tears quite a lot while reading, and I couldn’t make myself put the book down until I knew that things would work out for Easton and Archer.
I have a huge soft spot for characters like Easton, he’d been through a lot and was super prickly, not letting anyone close. He carried so much guilt and grief all by himself, not having any support, and had a reputation of getting into trouble. It honestly broke my heart to see the extent of his struggles. He was drowning, and the only one that seemed to notice just how badly he was hurting was Archer.
Archer was very patient and understanding, always showing up to help and support Easton, even when Easton tried his best to push him away. Their relationship took a long time to build, Archer made sure to be careful around Easton and mostly let him set the pace. Easton didn’t trust easily and didn’t think he was worth the effort, so it made sense that it took some time and that Archer had to break through a lot of walls.
Archer loved big and it was easy to see that he was all in when it came to Easton, even if they had to go through the usual ‘causual only’ before being able to acknowledge their feelings for each other. They had a lot of chemistry, and I loved how needy Easton was for Archer, so touch-starved and melting as soon as Archer put his hands on him. Very hot and swoon-worthy!
Easton was a moving and emotional story with a lot of character growth and some beautiful hurt / comfort. I loved seeing the brothers spending more time together and starting to slowly rebuild their relationships with each other after years of discord. Rhett’s story is up next and I can’t wait to see things from his perspective!
He nibbles my lip, then takes over my mouth again. I push closer, wishing there was a way I could sink inside him because Archer feels like the only safe place I’ve ever had.
Book links:
Amazon | Goodreads | BookBub | StoryGraph
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