TOUCH THE SKY (Free Fall #1) by CHRISTINA LEE & NYRAE DAWN

23 April, 2016

MM Romance – Standalone in a Series

TOUCH THE SKY by CHRISTINA LEE & NYRAE DAWN

SYNOPSIS

Lucas Barnett and Gabriel Stewart didn’t have it easy as kids. They were only trying to deal with bad situations at home when they became lifelines for each other. Their pipe dream was to someday meet in LA, where Lucas would design skyscrapers, and Gabriel would learn to fly. But then Gabriel disappeared without so much as a goodbye, and Lucas got himself in trouble with the law.

Five years later, both men are at a loss when they run into each other at a Hollywood bar. Lucas is still angry, but it’s not as if Gabriel could control how his mind and body had betrayed him. Being found on the ledge of that bridge had changed everything.

The attraction is immediate, but it’s more than their inability to keep their hands off each other. Neither man expects the fierce connection pulling them together. Unfortunately, ignoring their problems doesn’t make them disappear. Gabriel’s internal struggles are serious…dangerous. And no matter how much Lucas wants it to be true, saving Gabriel won’t make up for not being able to save his mom. If they don’t find the strength to face their own demons before the darkness takes hold, they risk more than just losing each other forever.

❥❥❥

Reviewed by Gitte & Jenny

“I wish I could fly. Sometimes I think I can.”

Oh wow this story was so incredibly beautiful, heart-breaking, tragic yet sweet at the same time. We fell in complete book love with tears running down our cheeks several times as we read. The lads; Lucas and Gabriel absolutely stole our hearts. We also have to mention their friends Ezra and Conner who showed what friendship is all about through being there and persevering when others may have walked away.

“Why does it feel like we’ve spent our whole lives entwined with each other?”

Lucas and Gabriel are online friends who haven’t met but who formed an incredibly strong bond in the face of adversity at home. We hear snippets from what they’re going through as they write to each other with hope for the future – meeting- and being free from what’s bringing them down. Our hearts broke at the thought that the hope they had for an escape –together- fell to the wayside from circumstances out of their control. So when they meet five years later we read with trepidation as nothing comes easy and so much has happened. Lucas is feeling tremendous anger and hurt and Gabriel wants to talk. It doesn’t come easy.

“When you care about someone, you stick by them. You help them through whatever they’re dealing with. You shoulder the pain when they can’t.”

The thing is though; when a bond is cemented as theirs was by each being there for one another through caring words growing up- hope still lives. One fateful day changed everything. Despite their affection for each other still being there buried deep and fuelled by an intense attraction a lot of issues have to be worked through.

“I’m not sure I got this, bro. Like, at all.”

Learning from each other, opening up and realising that true strength starts off in your own heart and not through gestures of others. Healing and acceptance has to come first and its one hell of an emotional yet sweet and passionate ride these Authors took us on.

“…we’ve all have to be our own heroes. If not, we’re fucked, just waiting for our lives to fall apart.”

“I don’t want to fuck up.”

“You won’t, I’ll make sure of it.” It’s a lie, the biggest fucking lie I could tell him. I can’t take care of myself.

Mental illness is such a sensitive subject to approach which unless you’ve had some degree of experience with it can so easily be misunderstood or dismissed. What a fabulous story from these Authors which was written with such respect and made us fall in love with a boy called Lucas and a boy called Gabriel. We’re just sorry there wasn’t an epilogue further down the line. We loved them so dearly we would’ve loved to have heard how they got on with their hopes and dreams after a highly emotional struggle. We highly recommend this beautiful story.

‘I reach for his hand and stretch open his fist. I kiss every one of his fingers and then the very center of his palm. When I look up at him, his eyes are shut and his lips are trembling. “That’s my heart right there,” I say, closing each of his fingers into a fist.’

4.5✯

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