I liked this book, its characters are well defined and the story well developed. It has some triggers like homophobia, cheating etc, so check that out first. And if you continue reading here, keep in mind that there may be SPOILERS.
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Chris returns to his town, something he always tries to avoid since it brings back bad memories, but his parents are going on a trip, they ask him to take care of the house and he can't refuse. Since he was a teenager he is very sure of his sexuality and lives his life accordingly. Besides that his parents always supported and accepted him. In the town he meets Mike, with whom he was in love as a teenager, and the one responsible for breaking his heart.

Mike did not have an easy childhood and adolescence. His family is very religious, his mother being manipulative and controlling, she does not accept that he is gay, nor that he lives far from her. And although he is out (something that happened to him without his consent), it is as if he were not, not only because of his mother but also because of certain people in town, for example the priest, who force him to commit to a woman.

When Chris arrives and they meet again, the sparks reignite and they start a relationship, but Mike insists on keeping it a secret. Chris begins to think that Mike is hiding some things from him and they end up arguing, with Mike calling it quits. And after that Chris finds out about his supposed girlfriend. Hurt, Chris turns to his neighbor, a married and moody man, but who is also going through a marital crisis (his wife wants to leave him) and they sleep together a couple of times.

When Mike discovers this (because everyone's gossip in town), he recriminates him but Chris tells him he knows about the girlfriend. After that Chris is attacked by a group of homophobes who destroy the garden of his house, and Mike shows up to help him. Along with the "girlfriend". It is here that Mike confesses why he really is with her and that he was only helping her while the real boyfriend (who is a very good friend of Mike's) was preparing everything to run away with her, and suddenly, at that moment the boyfriend has everything done and they leave town. Mike also tells Chris that he couldn't tell him what was really going on because he needed everyone to believe that Chris was hurt that Mike was going to marry her so that no one in town would suspect the truth. And now, Mike decides that enough is enough and that he is ready to leave everything, including his mother, to be with Chris.

My problem is: I don't like how Mike acted. I understand that he wanted to help his friends, but in the process, he preferred to lie to Chris and hurt him, risking losing him. If his friends had taken longer to flee, what would have happened? Chris would have chosen to leave and leave him behind again, or continue his relationship with Greg, eg... And another thing, if his friends cared about him as much as he cared about them, they wouldn't have let Mike hurt Chris at the same time he also suffered, and since he didn't want to tell Chris the truth because he had promised her, then his friend should have. But no. From my point of view, they were pretty selfish about Mike. And then all of a sudden, they run away without a care in the world and that's it, that Mike resolves his problems however he can?

But hey, this is just my opinion and that's the only reason I don't give it five stars. The book is good, the plot quite original and luckily, it guarantees a well-earned HEA.

I was given an advanced copy and wrote a voluntarily review.