Open Hearts

Open Hearts (2020) K. Evan Coles (Stealing Hearts)

Jae-seong Bak love his job as a Nurse Anesthetist, but the swing shifts are starting to get to him as he gets older. For now, he’s back in Boston, where he grew up, and getting ready for his brother’s upcoming wedding.

What he didn’t expect was to be attracted to the bride’s brother–who has a successful (and exanding) food truck business with his best friend.

But Emmett had an ugly break-up with his boyfriend, and neither Emmett nor Jae-seong want to add any drama to the upcoming wedding, so they decide to keep things on the DL.

There were so many things about this story that I loved–first and foremost of which is that Jae-seong actually TOLD Emmett what he was feeling. There was no Big Misunderstanding here, just two people who didn’t seem to be in the head space for what they wanted from a relationship.

Which I thought was fantastic.

And I loved how self-aware Jae-seong was about his faults.

“I reserved a room in the hotel for the weekend of the wedding, you know. So I’d be on time for the ceremony.”

“Get out.”

“It’s true.” He grinned when Zac tipped his head back and laughed.

“Jae, you can walk to the hotel from your apartment!”

“In a half hour, sure. But with my luck, I’d oversleep and end up hauling ass across town in my tux.”

And I even thought the sub plot with Emmett’s mother was interesting and decently done.

My problem is that the book–especially the sex scenes–felt distinctly female–written by a woman for a woman’s gaze. This isn’t to say it was bad per se, just that it felt very feminine, with a lot of emphasis on how fit and handsome both characters were, and lots of lovingly detailed descriptions of Emmett’s body.

I don’t think I would have paid much attention if there hadn’t been a lot of sex scenes (and we all know how I feel about sex scenes: boring) and there was a lot more softness to the descriptions than one would expect when the two characters are described as being incredibly fit.

So, I think I would have enjoyed the book more without the boinking scenes, which kept making me want to check and verify that the author was female.

Publisher: Wicked Fingers Press

Rating: 6.5/10

• Browse the archives:
  
• Going Postal » »
• « « The Love Study