To Live Again (Crabbypatty’s Review)

Title: To Live Again (Distance Between Us, #6)
Author: L.A. Witt
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Release Date: April 12, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary
Page Count: 253
Reviewed by: Crabbypatty
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
Blurb:

The heart doesn’t take requests. It calls the tune.

Greg Douglas’s wife surprised him with an early 25th anniversary gift: a divorce. Staying with friends Ethan and Rhett seems like a good idea, just until he gets back on his feet. The guys have an even better idea to take his mind off his troubles—take him out to explore the other half of his bisexuality.

After a quarter century suppressing his hidden desires, he’s not waiting any longer. Especially not after laying eyes on the gorgeous deejay at Wilde’s.

Deejay and single dad Sailo Isaia isn’t looking for anything serious. He’s definitely not out to be a sexual teacher, never mind to a man almost two decades his senior. But as Greg gets the hang of having a male lover, Sailo can’t help himself. They both keep coming back for more. And more. And more.

But a few nagging questions hold Sailo back from giving his whole heart. Is this just Greg’s midlife crisis and rebound fling? Or a chance to fill that empty space—forever—for both Sailo and his beloved son?

Product Warnings: Contains an older guy who’s waited half his life for this, a younger guy who didn’t realize how lonely he was, and some very hot visits to the upstairs VIP lounge at Wilde’s. Author is not responsible for readers who can no longer look at a leather booth the same way again.

Greg Douglas is freshly out of a heterosexual 25-year-marriage (with 3 grown kids), and decides to explore his long-repressed and unexplored bisexuality by checking out all the hot guys at Wilde’s. He meets single father Sailo Isaia, a gorgeous tattooed Samoan hunk of a deejay who is more than happy to help Greg…… well, explore. They quickly fall into an easy familiarity with great sex and effortless friendship.

L.A. Witt knows how to write a smokin’ hot sex scene, and To Live Again has ’em in spades with numerous lengthy scenes. Sailo and Greg’s sexual chemistry? Oh yeah, no complaints.

There are a few inconsistencies in To Live Again that bothered me. The blurb describes Greg as being “almost two decades [Sailo’s] senior ” and sets up the dynamic of a man with grown children in his first relationship with a same sex partner who is much younger, and the age difference is mentioned several times in the book. However, Greg is 47 (location 596) and Sailo is 37 (location 604). A ten-year difference in age when both MCs are fairly mature doesn’t seem like suitable fodder for a “crisis” of this magnitude.

Also, Sailo is very supportive of Greg taking the time to process how his marriage ended, and offers comments like “You’re not dwelling. You’re processing. Breakups hurt.” and in response to Greg saying “If it looks like it’s going to take twenty-five years to get over that, though, please smack me.” Sailo chuckled. “I think you’ve got your head on a bit too straight for that, but just in case ….. deal.” But just a few pages later,

Spoiler: Sailo makes a huge unilateral decision, telling Greg “Look, you’re a great guy. Really. And we’ve definitely had some fun together. But I think….I think I need to call time on this.”

This comes totally out of left field and it’s almost as if the relationship had gone along so smoothly that this was thrown in (around 83%) to boost the angst a bit until the happy ending.

The strength of this story is the insanely hot relationship between Greg and Sailo, but at times the various subplots involving Greg’s wife and children were distracting. The ending felt a bit rushed, but I liked how the epilogue (about 6 months later?) bring everything together.