Title: Come What May (All Saints #1)
Author: A.M. Arthur
Publisher: Carina Press
Release Date: May 23, 2016
Genre(s): Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 320
Reviewed by: Crabbypatty
Heat Level: 3 flames out of 5
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5
Blurb:
Jonas needs Tate. He just doesn’t know it yet.
Or at least, he doesn’t want to admit it. Because there is no way Jonas Ashcroft is gay. He’s a straight, carefree frat boy player, just like any good son of a conservative state senator. If only his struggle to convince everyone—especially himself—didn’t leave him so miserable. No matter how many girls or bottles he drowns himself in, Jonas can neither escape nor accept who he is.
Enter Tate. He’s smart, confident, and instantly sees right through Jonas’s surly exterior. Sure, he’s done things in life he’s not proud of, but he knows who he is and what he wants. And what he wants is Jonas. As their easy friendship intensifies into something more, Tate introduces Jonas to a life he’s never known. One filled with acceptance and sex and a love that terrifies and excites them both.
But some inner demons refuse to be shaken off so easily. When Jonas’s old life barges in, he faces a shattering choice, one that could destroy everything he and Tate have fought so hard for. Sometimes love just isn’t enough—and sometimes it’s exactly what you need.
Come What May is the beautifully told coming-out story of Jonas, and his relationship with Tate. Jonas is on a break from college because of a frat hazing gone very wrong, living with his aunt and uncle who own a thrift store. His father is an uber conservative state senator (and a real homophobic jerk) and Jonas feels that nothing he can do will measure up to his father’s expectations. As Tate describes him – Jonas is a handsome smart guy with his whole life ahead of him who didn’t know how to be himself. Who was too scared to embrace who he was, for fear of losing people he loved.
Tate operates the All Saints LGBT homeless shelter with his friend Marc and also cares for his two sisters after the death of their parents when he was 16. Tate has had to grow up fast, and he is comfortable in his own skin and in his life. Tate doesn’t do the relationship thing with someone in the closet, but when he sees how Jonas is working to live a true authentic life, he changes his mind.
I loved how Tate and Jonas supported each other, understood one another and Tate was there for Jonas as he worked through coming out; their love had a bedrock of security with low-angst … and incredibly steamy sex. As Jonas ponders:
An orgasm or two was one thing, but this had been about more. It hadn’t simply been two guys needing to get off. Tonight sex had been about intimacy. It had been about them. […] In those first moments post-orgasm, Tate had been totally naked in his arms – physically and emotionally. Jonas had seen ….something. And it was something wonderful. He’d spent years convincing himself and the world that he was straight and now he was falling for the very literal boy next door. He was so fucked.
The plot moves along at a good pace and we are introduced to characters who will probably be featured in upcoming books in the series (Marc? Will?) as well as briefly meeting up with Ezra, Donner, Alessandro, Taggert and Nathan from the Belonging and Restoration series. I felt Jonas’ father was a homophobic cartoon character and didn’t care for the last-minute crisis in the book, but on the whole the story really held my interest and the ending felt right for Jonas and Tate.
I’ve read many of A.M. Arthur’s books and was really impressed by the lyricism of her writing in Come What May. He’d found a kind of happiness he’d never expected, and it was as fragile as frozen flower petals. I look forward to the next book(s) in the All Saints series.
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