MARKED BY GRIEF

MARKED BY GRIEF by Caitlin Ricci

Pages: 116

Date: 20/05/2014

Grade: 4

Details: Received from Dreamspinner Press

            Through Love Romances and More

Own / Kindle

The blurb:

“Six months ago, Kit lost his brother to a drunk driver. Now, feeling alone and like everyone has left him behind, he struggles to even get out of bed. He's barely eating, his parents are strangers and worst of all the man that he loves, his brother's best friend, hasn't spoken to him since the funeral.

Jason always thought that he'd have time to tell Kit how he felt someday, when the younger man might be ready to handle Jason's sexual dominance. Bear's death changed all of that. He was giving Kit time to heal but couldn't have imagined how wrong he was.

When a broken Kit comes back into Jason's life, will love be enough to heal them both?”

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My thoughts:

It has been six months since Kit’s beloved older brother Bear died in a horrific accident. Six months during which Kit has closed himself off from the world, living in his bedroom and more often than not forgetting to eat.

When Kit hears that the man who killed his brother while drunk driving has committed suicide rather than face his twenty-five year jail sentence he is consumed by anger. Unable to speak to his parents who have turned into strangers, Kit leaves his house for the first time to go and talk to his brother’s best friend Jason. The man Kit has been in love with for years. The man he hasn’t spoken to since Bear’s funeral.

Jason has had feelings for his best friend’s younger brother for a long time. When Bear died he thought it would be better to leave Kit alone and allow him to deal with his grief for a while. When Kit walks into his tattoo shop, Jason knows he’s made a mistake. He should never have stayed away from Kit. And while he may never be able to share his deepest desires with Kit, he is determined to be there for the younger man now.

When Jason discovers Kit wants him as much as he wants Kit, the game changes again. But Jason likes his sex with a good doze of kink, and Kit is inexperienced and insecure. Will one night be enough to show these two men that their needs aren’t as far apart as they think and that the love they feel for each other might be enough to make both of them whole again?

This was a rather sad story. Kit’s pain and anger at his brother’s death and his parents withdrawal from him is so raw it jumps off the page. It is impossible to not have your heart break for him and want to kick his parents for completely ignoring the one child they still have. In fact, Kit captivated me from the moment the story started. His pain, his courage and his resilience took my breath away.

Because most of the book is told from Kit’s point of view I didn’t get as good a picture of Jason and wasn’t quite sure how I felt about him while reading and once the story ended. There were moments I adored him because he seemed to know exactly what Kit needed. And there were other moments when I would have lovingly hit him for not thinking about what he was doing or saying.

The BDSM scene between Jason and Kit isn’t very heavy, but then you wouldn’t expect it to be since it was their first night together and Kit was new to both the idea and the reality of it. Their night together was rather hot though and the balance between dominance and tenderness was beautiful.

This book was well written with captivating dialogue and a wonderful, hope filled ending . It was also an easy read despite the heavy subject and the at times heartbreaking scenes. Marked by Grief is the sort of book you want to read in one sitting and since it’s only just over 100 pages long that is easy to do.