Review: Forever With You by Londra Laine

Note: This ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Forever With You is an M/M contemporary romance novel and it's the debut release of new author Londra Laine. It's the story of Kelly Brooks Montes, a young man who at nineteen, took on the responsibility of becoming his younger brother's guardian when their mother and Kelly's stepfather were killed in an accident. Four years on and seven-year-old Jaylen is the center of Kelly's world. He would do absolutely anything and everything to make sure that his brother had a good life, which is why he was working two jobs--as an administrative assistant and as a go-go dancer. He enjoys doing both, and he knows he does a pretty damn good job, whether making sure he's organized or giving a show worth watching. He gets along with everyone he works with, everyone except his boss at his day job. Andrew Whitman seems to merely tolerate his presence, and Kelly wishes he knew the reason why.

Drew Whitman has kept his sexuality under wraps from his family, although he is open to his closest friends and would never desire to even deny he were gay if asked. He's pretty sure his administrative assistant is gay as well, the same assistant he's kept his distance from. When Kelly Montes confronts him about his behavior, the one thing Drew does may have made matters worse. But how could he resist kissing the guy he's been lusting over ever since they first met? Once that line is crossed, things don't go all that smoothly, not when Kelly has secrets from his past that have made him wary of certain kinds of intimacy, plus Jaylen must remain his top priority. Add to that Drew's own issues with his parents, and one particular secret that he hesitates sharing with Kelly. When manipulative schemes threaten their still blossoming romance, will Drew and Kelly be able to save the family they've created?

In terms of the story and characters, I found myself invested in not just Kelly and Drew but in Jay as well, because these three were on their way to becoming a family when devious people decided to mess it all up. But that's all I'm saying about that because, hello, spoilers. What I can tell you is that this had a good mix of lighthearted humor and semi-heavy drama. Kelly was a single parent to be admired because he went above and beyond for Jaylen, without caring all that much about any friends who may have felt that Kelly should have spent more time having fun with them than being a father figure to his brother. Speaking of Jay, I totally related to his being asthmatic, and his episodes rang true to me because they were so familiar to my own experience. And then there was Drew, who was the character that I believe developed the most in this book. When he knew what he wanted, he fought for it.

I'm assuming that the copy that I received to peruse was an advanced reader copy (ARC), so I'm not going to go into the nitty gritty of any errors because I hope they were picked up in editing and corrected. What I consider the main hiccup in the whole book had to do with paragraph construction. Instead of certain sentences, including dialogue, being in one whole paragraph, they're chopped into separated parts, so it made for a, well, choppy visual, and therefore, a choppy read on my end. There were also numerous times that I wish pronouns had been used instead of the characters's names. I get it. They're both men and there may be confusion, but it's all about sentence construction (at least that's what I tell my students and clients). Taking all factors into consideration, Forever With You was a commendable debut effort. I look forward to reading more from Londra Laine. Four stars. ♥

Release Date: 09 January 2018

Date Read: 06 January 2018

Learn more about Londra Laine.

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