"Seeing You" by Dakota Flint – Review

Genre: Contemporary Romance, Gay-Lesbian Romance
ISBN: 978-1-60504-882-6
Length: Novella
Publication Date: January 19, 2010

Love can be found among the pieces of a broken heart.

The night his brother, Simon, was killed in an accident, Dylan took on a double load of guilt. Guilt for walking away unscathed…and for secretly loving Simon’s partner, Wade. Unable to bear the pain, Dylan left the Lazy G ranch to rebuild his life elsewhere.

A year later he reluctantly responds to his sister’s plea to come home, where he finds the Lazy G falling apart. And so is Wade. Wade has stopped caring about the ranch, about everything that should matter most to him.

Though there’s more ranch work than one man can possibly handle, Dylan throws himself into the task. Wondering how he’s going to find the strength to pull Wade out of the fog of grief when his own is still as raw as a fresh wound. Wondering when Wade will finally see that his second chance for happiness is standing right in front of him.

Warning: Contains explicit, emotionally charged m/m sex. Extra box of tissues required. You could use your sleeve, of course, but we don’t recommend it.

I won “Seeing You” by Dakota Flint at an e-book giveaway over at DIK a while back and want to thank Ms. Flint for sharing her book with me and Jenre from Well Read who hosted.

“Seeing You” is written in the first person from Dylan’s perspective and the story begins a year following the sudden and devastating loss of his brother Simon in a motor vehicle accident. At it’s core, “Seeing You” has a friends to lovers theme, however the relationship between main characters Dylan and Wade is a complex one because of two deep emotions, grief and guilt.

As described in the synopsis, Dylan returns to the Lazy G ranch in Montana in response to a fire call from his sister Erin. After Simon was killed Dylan ran and ended up drifting, his plan had been to start a new life, leaving behind his grief, and, his guilt. Simon and Wade were lovers and lived together on the Lazy G running a lucrative cattle ranch. Dylan lived and worked there along with other ranch hands needed to run a cattle ranch. The underlying issue for Dylan is that he has secretly loved Wade since he first met him. Dylan feels horrendous guilt because of these feelings, but he also thinks Wade wishes it was him instead of Simon who was killed.

After Simon’s death and Dylan’s departure, Wade sinks into the depths of despair and depression. He not only lost his lover when Simon died, he also lost his friend, Dylan. He allows the ranch to fall into a state of disrepair, the livestock eventually has to be sold off to pay the bills.

The ranch Dylan knew unfortunately is not the one he returns to and he sees very soon after his arrival that he has to turn things around quickly or Wade is going to lose his home. So he takes matters in hand and works extremely hard to get the Lazy G up and running.

At first Wade is completely withdrawn and shuns Dylan’s attempts to communicate with him. Ms. Flint showed tremendous insight into a man suffering a grief reaction, the withdrawal, the pain, the anger. In an emotional scene after Wade lashes out at Dylan, he gradually emerges from the dark place he has been residing since Simon’s death. Wade is an artist and it is through this medium that he eventually communicates with Dylan, relaying his feelings. It is quite powerful.

Ms. Flint also developed strong supporting characters in Mack, the Lazy G’s long time ranch hand and close friend of the men, and Erin, Dylan’s feisty, outspoken sister. I enjoyed Ms. Flint’s humor, this is an emotional story but there is a dry sarcastic wit woven into the narrative that had me chuckling.

“I found Wade mucking stalls, not surprised that most of the meaningful conversations in my life have taken place around horse shit.”

Seeing You © Dakota Flint

If you enjoy an emotional friends to lovers m/m romance that also tells the story of the life journey following the loss of a loved one, you may like to give “Seeing You”, a try. I’m looking forward to reading more of Dakota Flint’s work.

Excerpt

Heat Level: Check out the Samhain Warning.

Other Reviews:
Well Read
EH On Books
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