Wake Up Call
A Porthkennack Contemporary Novel South London mechanic Devan Thompson has gone to Porthkennack to track down someone he's been waiting all his life to know. But Dev's distracted from his quest by Kyle, a broodingly handsome local of only a few months, who's already got a reputation as an alcoholic because of his strange behaviour--including a habit of collapsing in the street. Kyle Anthony fled to Porthkennack to escape from the ruins of his life. Still raging against his diagnosis of narcolepsy--a condition that's cost him his job as a barrister, his lover, and all chance of normality--the last thing he wants is another relationship that's doomed to fail. But Dev's easy-going acceptance and adaptability, not to mention his good looks, have Kyle breaking all his self-imposed rules. When disaster strikes Dev's adored little sister, Kyle steps up to the plate, and Dev sees a side of his lover he wasn't prepared for: competent, professional--and way out of Dev's league. With one man determined that they don't have a future, and the other fearing it, life after Porthkennack is starting to look bleak for both of them.
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9 primary books#2 in Porthkennack
Porthkennack is a 9-book series with 9 released primary works first released in 2017 with contributions by Joanna Chambers, J.L. Merrow, and Charlie Cochrane.
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I was disappointed in Wake Up Call after enjoying several of J.L. Merrow's previous releases, especially her Shamwell Tales series. The book started with great promise, as we are introduced to the absolutely adorable Devan Thompson, a friendly auto mechanic who has come to the fictional port village of Porthkennack in search of answers about his past. He meets Kyle Anthony, whose narcolepsy/cataplexy has been mistaken for alcoholism by the Porthkennack residents. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and then become lovers, but Dev is sure that a posh barrister wouldn't want anything serious with a grease moneky from South London, and Kyle doesn't want to burden anyone with his illness, especially a nice guy like Dev who has his whole future ahead of him.
One of my favorite romance tropes is when two wounded people meet and can't believe they are lucky enough to have found each other. Conversely, my least favorite trope is when two wounded people meet and decide they aren't good enough for each other, leading to one Big Misunderstanding after another because they refuse to communicate their feelings and fears. Dev and Kyle make a lot of assumptions about each other that at first results in repeated scenes of storming away from each other in the old cliched “I'll just keep away from him for his own good” behavior.
I'll admit that it's heartening to watch Dev, a former foster child, find the family that he has always wanted even if that family doesn't quite resemble what he came to Porthkennack to find, but Merrow's choice to focus on the relationships Dev develops with secondary characters means, regrettably, there is less time for his relationship with Kyle.
Wake Up Call is cute and frequently amusing, but frustrating as well. Ultimately the romance suffers from too little communication, and the HEA is less than 100% convincing.
