Shattered Glass

Two questions: Why did I have this sitting, unread in my Kindle for so long? And when will the next book be out?I seriously liked this book. No scratch that. I loved this book. Why? Because the author is going for and succeeds in writing more than a romance. This is an astutely observed character study, a fairly accurate police procedural, a tight suspense/thriller and believable relationship drama between a series of characters that you can't help but want to know more about. The book is long but not in a filler or gratuitous way and never boring. We get the history and the reasons why the characters behave how they do and the icing on the cake is the simmering to scalding relationship that ignites between Austin & Peter.The story however really is about Austin Glass and the unraveling of his tightly wound life.Austin is maybe a little bit selfish, snarky, blind to things that don't involve him or what he wants and quick to strike or shut down before it happens to him. So like I was saying: human. And then Peter comes into his life and everything breaks and that's the best thing ever!This is an insta-lust, slow-burn story where there's intense kissing, BJs, and some frottage but no sex-sex on page and you won't miss it. The progression of lust to real emotion between the MCs is realistic and gut wrenching and ultimately rewarding on every level.I can honestly say that I wanted to spend more time with almost every character here: the wonderful Agelica, Luis and his forbearance, Dave who may be flawed but is ultimately a good friend, Darryl the tough cookie wrapped in a pink hoodie, Rosa who had me at the mention of Burek, Cai with his flawed brilliance and of course Peter, wise beyond his years but with good reason. Loyal to a fault and protective of his heart yet willing to make space for Austin and his myriad issues.Oh Austin. Austin. Austin. The story is told from his POV and we are in excellent and entertaining hands. He's so fed up and yet still an inherently good guy. When, and this is not a spoiler, his HEA comes it is so deserved and satisfying that I had a smile for the rest of the afternoon and immediately started looking for the sequel which is apparently nowhere to found. Life is cruel. I also had the audio by [a:Joseph Norton 5711445 Joseph Norton https://s.gr-assets.com/assets/nophoto/user/u_50x66-632230dc9882b4352d753eedf9396530.png] and maybe I didn't love it, felt slightly rushed at times, but it kind of grew on me and I didn't hate it. ***

I have mixed feelings about this novel. For the most part I liked it. There are some things that I didn't enjoy, it was a bit hard for me to get into it, but most of all I disliked the chapter titles or sub-chapter title or whatever they were. I'm not sure due to formatting. I tried to ignore them and not read every bolded title looking line as they usually hinted to what was going to happen next and took so much from the joy of reading and discovering by myself what was going on. My rating would have gone way higher if those were not there.

As for the story itself, it was okay. The plot made sense for the most part, a lot is happening and I wouldn't have an issue with it, I like it when a lot is happening, but it was unnecessarily complicated.

I don't feel strongly for any of the characters, but I liked them. I liked how Austin was so open to his newly discovered sexuality, how he objectively thought about it and how he explained his repression. I am tempted to say that he might have accepted it a little too fast given his years of ignoring it, but what do I know.

When it comes to Peter, he is bold and funny. My initial impression of him didn't quite match the one later in the novel, but that might have been me being influenced by another novel I read a while ago. I'm not complaining, though, he is okay. And I say okay because, I'm not sure what it is, I can't put my finger on it, but I feel their personalities, both Austin and Peter's, kept shifting a little throughout the novel, barely, but enough to make me wonder what's going on.

As for the ending of the book, this might be the worst cliffhanger I ever read. The novel ended so abruptly I thought I had a bad copy, but upon investigating, nope, that was it. It made me mad. I realize this was made so it would make the reader want to pick up the sequel, but it didn't work on me. I am not reading any of the sequels, I'm good.

Rating: 3.5/5 stars
Rounded down to 3.

I liked the cute interactions between Austin and Peter. I liked the plot twist of the Mafia connections and Peter's real identity..

Too much happens too quickly. I know it's supposed to be a flaw of Austin's to just make decisions and go with it, but he says way too much too soon. It broke the illusion for me... who would do that in a real situation?

I loved that Austin and Peter weren't stereotypical perfect men–with muscles or huge d*cks. Still attractive with good muscles, but not so perfect that it wasn't realistic.

I just want fun banter with a cute guy and a full, complete life. I want snuggles in bed with his arms wrapped around me.