Cop Out
This is one of those books where I'm kicking myself that I didn't read it earlier. It's such a good book I'm adding it to my M/M favorites.I love that people are complex and that someone one person admired a great deal was also horrible in other ways.
I love that so much of this story is about psychological domestic abuse, that abuse isn't just physical violence, or even berating and yelling, that there are subtle ways that can scar a person forever.
I love the hurt/comfort, the drama, the emotions both sad and funny. (There was a part where a "straight" man pulls a book off a shelf and sees "two nude male torsos on the cover." Making fun of how that's so frequently the case is practically a meme in the M/M romance world.)
I love the family.
I love that they dealt with the possible consequences of (minor spoiler) not using a condom.
I loved the sex, both bad and good.
I loved this part: (This quote is a medium spoiler, although predictable, but it's beautiful.):
Even though he wanted to be there, wanted to tell Davy he was opening up to people, he also knew he couldn't let himself tie his coming out to his need for Davy. Coming out had to be for him not Davy. Davy...had made him see he had to be true to himself first or he could never be true to a lover.
I loved the beautiful imagery such as in this passage describing two characters each heavily attracted to the other and also very controlling:
"The three of them and Jon just watched as and circled each other like, well, urt didn't have any apt comparisons. It was a mating dance that was a cross between showing of plumage and locking horns for dominance."
The story had everything I love: a plot; interesting, believable, and distinguishable characters; action; danger & injury; realistic situations; and lots of sweetness but not too much.
In short, I LOVED this story. I highly recommend it.