Just Drive by L.A. Witt
Review by Lauren
source: copy from Netgalley; all opinions are my own
Official Summary: For Sean Wright, driving a cab in the tiny Navy town of Anchor Point isn’t an exciting job . . . until he picks up just-dumped Paul Richards. A drive turns into a walk on the pier, which turns into the hottest hookup Sean’s had in ages.
After a long overdue breakup, Paul can’t believe his luck. Of all the drivers, he’s picked up by the gorgeous, gay, and very willing Sean. Younger guys aren’t usually his thing, but Paul can’t resist.
One taste and neither man can get enough . . . right up until they realize that Paul is Sean’s father’s commanding officer and the last man Sean should be involved with.
With two careers on the line, their only option is to back off. It’s not easy, though; the sex and the emotional connection are exactly what both men have been craving for a long time. But Paul has devoted twenty-four years to his career and his dream of making admiral. If he’s caught with Sean, that’s all over. He has to choose—stay the course, or trade it all for the man who drove off with his heart.
Review: Just Drive is the first in the Anchor Point series and it was definitely a good one. The overall plot concerns Paul, a career Navy man, and Sean, a twenty-something whose father is a career navy man. One night Sean picks up Paul outside a hotel, as he’s an Uber driver of sorts, and Paul’s first- and only words for a while- are “just drive.” So Sean does. There is a pretty immediate attraction on Sean’s part and the two do end up getting physical. They tell themselves they need to stop though, mostly because Sean is half Paul’s age. More issues arise as they keep meeting up, addicted to the physical aspect of their relationship, while also starting to like the person underneath. The official summary of the book gives away more details about how the plot, but I’ll just say that the drama was definitely realistic and deals with more than just the big age gap.
When it comes to novels, I don’t really mind age gaps. I will admit that seeing this in real life often throws me off, but I personally know people who are with someone a lot older than them, so I know that it can work in some cases. It was obvious that Sean and Paul had a connection, and I did appreciate that Witt showed them having conversations and sharing the hard times in their lives – Paul pretending to be straight for so long; Sean’s life being dictated by the Navy as he moved around the world – as it allowed me to see how the two fit apart from the physical.
Despite getting to know Paul and Sean fairly well, I still felt like things moved a bit quick. Regardless, the end worked well for me. I thought things came to a natural conclusion and decisions were made with care. I don’t want to say too much as I do want you to go along for the ride without too many preconceived notions of what Just Drive will deliver. I will say that I loved these characters and getting to learn about their backgrounds, and I thought the premise was interesting – not only with the age gap but with the military aspect too. I’ll be curious to see what the next Anchor Point novel has to offer.
5 comments:
Age gaps can be weird, but I think if an author can make it work and make you forget about it, I'm all for it. I like that the author showed them sharing the difficult times -- I can forgive pacing issues if everything else works.
It's funny, because I personally like younger guys, and so when it comes to reading romances, I don't enjoy the older guys and younger women. I wonder how I would feel about it when it is either two men or two women, because either way, even with my preference, there is always going to be an older character in the relationship.
I think its interesting that age gaps are never really explored in LGBTQIA+ novels (they're plenty explores in cishet novels, especially teacher-student wise), especially since age gaps in couples within the community are not exactly rare. So I think it's pretty awesome that the author included that aspect in this novel. Because of that I'd be pretty keen to read it. I've also never come across a book with a gay main character that's also in the armed forces, so that intrigues me, as well!
Lovely review :)
I do adore May-December love stories, or at least a pairing with significant age gaps because the dynamics are so different than the usual. Add this with an M/M romance and other kinks then I can see why it's so interesting. Fantastic too given that it's well done :)
I don't mind age gaps in relationships, as long as it's obvious they have a connection. Which seems was the case in this book and it must be nice to see how these two fit To bad things happened a bit quick, but it does sound like a good read overall. I hope you'll enjoy the next book as well!
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