Title: Marked by Grief
Author: Caitlin Ricci
Publisher: Silver Publishing
Pages: 132
Characters: Kit, Jason
POV: 3rd Person
Sub-Genre: Contemporary, Skin Art, BDSM
Kisses: 4
Blurb:
Kit is struggling after his brother’s tragic death and the man he loves hasn’t spoken to him since the funeral. When a broken Kit comes back into Jason’s life, will love be enough to heal them both?
Six months after Kit lost his big brother to a drunk driver, he’s alone and feeling like everyone has left him behind. He struggles to get out of bed, to feed himself, to talk to his parents. Worst of all the man that he loves, his brother’s best friend, hasn’t spoken to him since the funeral.
Jason always assumed he’d have time to tell Kit his feelings someday, after the younger man had more experience and maturity. Bear’s death changed all of that. He isolated himself, thinking he was giving Kit space to heal. He couldn’t have imagined how wrong he was.
When a broken Kit comes back into Jason’s life, will love be enough to heal them both?
Review:
What do you do when your older brother saves your life and dies in the process and his best friend, the guy you’ve secretly been in love with for years, disappears as well?
Six months after a drunk driver struck Kit and his older brother Bear from behind while they walk home from the store, kit finds himself isolating not only from society but also from his parents who live in the same house. He has quit his job, quit school and by his amount of weight loss, quit eating as well. Also missing is Jason, Bear’s best friend since childhood. Kit has been in love with Jason for a number of years but unwilling to act on that love for fear of Jason’s possible rejection. But Kit has news that he feels obligated to tell Jason so he must go to Jason’s tattoo parlor to inform him that the coward who killed Jason has just committed suicide rather than serve his time.
Jason is appalled when he sees Kit’s weight loss and lack of enthusiasm and begins to plan a course of action to bring life back into Kit while swearing to Kit that he’ll never abandon him again. During the course of enacting his plan Jason acknowledges that he too is in fact gay but holds back on revealing that he has secretly lusted after Kit since Kit turned 18. Jason also has some other secrets that he’s not sure if Kit should know about.
Will revealed secrets end a mutual lust that has lasted for years? Or will love win out and seek happiness out of tragedy?
Caitlin Ricci gives us a delightful tale of hidden lust, revealed secrets and unexpected romance. I especially enjoyed the notion of how getting a tattoo could serve as an entrance into the realm of BDSM. Although the bondage and discipline is light, it is explained well and is very entertaining. I know it left me wanting more.
Reviewed By: Jymbo
