Second Drafts Matchmakers Book 2
Erotic M/M Romance with a touch of paranormal
July 24, 2016
315
Novelist Shain Ahren is committed to only one thing: himself. Living alone and having an endless string of one-night stands, Shain's carefully crafted routine ensures no one will ever control him again. But one trick he met at Matchmakers, years ago, he can't get out of his head.
Painter Elliden Crawford yearns to be controlled. Born with an extreme chemical imbalance, Elliden struggles to keep the fits at bay so he won't be a danger to others. Only once in his life did Elliden ever truly feel safe, just one night when he met a stranger at Matchmakers.
When Matchmakers brings them together again, Elliden finally gets what he needs, while Shain's world is thrown into complete disarray. Will Shain ever relinquish control, or will they be fated to remain a discarded first draft?
(Note: This story takes place in a fictional world, the same as the Shifting Isles series. There are multiple gods, different names for the days of the week, etc. A glossary is included with the story for those interested in the little worldbuilding details.)
Reviewed by: Linda Tonis
Member of the Paranormal Romance Review Team
Book two in the Matchmakers trilogy and although it can be read alone I highly recommend beginning with book one Second Chances since the characters we first met in book one will appear in book two.
Shain Ahren we briefly met in the first book that was about Chance and Remi and who happens to be Chance’s brother. At the age of fourteen Shain was thrown out by his father when he came out as gay, his father’s reaction was just another case of abuse since he was a whipping boy for his dad for years. Shain knew that Chance was also gay but he never came out to their father and Shain felt angry in spite of how many times Chance tried to connect with him.
Now Shain is a novelist who cares only for his own wants and has no intention of getting involved with anyone especially like Chance did with Remi. Shain never sleeps with the same man twice, never kisses them, expects them to be subs to his dom and never ever allows anyone to sleep over.
One day at a gallery Shain sees a painting of himself sitting at a bar looking angry and alone, he has no idea who painted it or why and he definitely never sat for it or gave permission for it. He had no idea that painting and the artist would change his life but was it a change for better.
Elliden Crawford was born with a chemical imbalance that has caused him to have fits leaving damage in his wake. He knows when his monster is breaking free and has medicine that stops it but he pays the price of being a zombie. He lives with his sister, her husband and their children but has finally decided he needs to live on his own. Elliden is nearing forty and has never lived on his own but a man he met, a man who was his first and whose voice and actions made him feel safe and alive is the man he seeks. That man is Shain who like Elliden remembered the night and has thought about him for a long time.
When Elliden finally discovers that Shain will be in town to attend his brother’s wedding and that he will no doubt end up at Matchmaker’s Elliden decides to wait at the bar for him. The meeting winds up with them together in Shain’s apartment and when he discovers that he was Elliden’s first and last he suddenly asks him to leave. Once again Elliden goes home alone wondering what he did.
Shain thinks about Elliden and finds when he does his writing takes on new meaning even his editor is amazed by what he is turning out and he knows that he has to find Elliden again, he does and this being together and sending him away or Shain leaving goes on and on finally bringing Elliden to the point where he can’t take it any more and tells Shain he doesn’t want to see him again. Elliden is everything Shain wants but he doesn’t know what to do about it since he convinced himself that he wanted to be alone and definitely not with a man who sees ghosts and has fits.
We do learn more about Remi and Chance and what has happened to them. We also learn what made Shain the way he is and it is not a pretty story. Shain and Elliden need each other because they both have suffered in their lives and without giving too much away Elliden comes close to death and that is all I will say about it.
Another wonderful addition to this series and I am now going to begin book three I suggest if you have not begun this series that you begin with book one and you won’t be sorry. This book has it all, secrets, lies, explicit sex and surprises.