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A review by bookish_notes
Trust with a Chaser by Annabeth Albert
4.0
This book is a classic Annabeth Albert story. The story is cute, the characters are lovable, and it manages to tug at your heartstrings just enough to make you cry. The last book I read by the author was On Point in the Out of Uniform series and that has been my absolute favorite book ever by the author. This book was a slight change of pace since it's in an entirely new setting and new characters, but it held its own.
Mason Hanks has returned to his small, hometown of Rainbow Cove, Oregon with his two best friends to start a tourist-friendly, LGBTQ welcome restaurant and bar. He has a reputation in Rainbow Cove, but not for anything that he's ever done, just his family name to weight him down. The Hanks are notorious for getting into trouble with law enforcement, especially his two older brothers, and it's a reputation that he wants to escape from.
The man who placed his older brother Freddy in prison is Nash Flint, the Police Chief of Rainbow Cove. The last police chief of the town was Nash's father and this is the only life Nash has ever known. He has his job and his fishing, but that makes up his entire life. His sister has moved to Portland, and his mother with her after their father died, leaving Nash all on his own in a childhood home now too empty. Mason may be out, but Nash certainly isn't. And in a small town like Rainbow Cove where everyone gossips about everyone else's business? Nash has no plans on coming out anytime soon. Or ever.
I love Mason and I love Nash. Mason is a vibrant character, who is full of life and wants everything to be sunshine and rainbows...even when his family wants to drag him down. He hasn't had the easiest life. His father hates the law, his lovely mother passed away years earlier, and his two older brothers are nothing but trouble. Jimmy has a daughter, Lilac, who is seven and cute as can be. But Jimmy and Lilac's mother Francine are not a very stable environment for her. Luckily, she has Mason to look after her from time-to-time. Nash is only out to a few of his friends, like gay woodcarving Curtis, and his mother (even though they've never talked about it). Nash has been fine living the life he's been living - working all morning, dropping by the old grill for a burger for lunch, and working until his shift ended to go home to his usual microwavable dinners. He's not living, but he was content with this life, until Mason shows up. Trouble, he calls Mason. Mason is the one that starts to slowly shift Nash's world view and it's so gut-wrenching to read.
Nash is a darling and almost forty to Mason's twenty-seven. The age gap is fantastic, and never once seems creepy that Nash knew Mason when he was younger. There wasn't an attraction then, but there definitely is a spark between them now. This is a bit of a slow burn as we see how Mason and Nash could possibly make their relationship work. Their interactions are cute (and oh so HOT when they want it to be). This book is written in an alternating first-person POV, so we get both character's stories and that works out really well here to know what Mason and Nash think of each other.
So...this story made me hungry (should I clarify that I mean food?). At least in the beginning, there's a lot of descriptors about cooking and the dishes Mason serves at his restaurant, and let's just say don't read this on an empty stomach or you'll be like me and constantly snacking while reading this book. *nom nom nom*
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending of this book. It does seem a little rushed to me. We're never really given a reason why for the vandalism sub-plot and leaves me confused even after reading the book. I am reading an ARC, so maybe this gets edited in the final version. I don't know.
I love the small-town feel of Rainbow Cove. I don't really know how small towns in Oregon are like, but the way this book reads, the characters remind me of the small Southern town I grew up in and sometimes I forget this book is set in Oregon. Mason and Nash live in a touristy location and Mason and his Portland friend Brock are looking to expand their vision in Rainbow Cove. This definitely has potential to be an overarching story for Mason's friends who helped him start Rainbow Tavern (subtle they are not), Adam and Logan. It looks like there's definitely three more books coming in this series, based on the listing at the end of the book, and I cannot wait to read Curtis and Logan's book next!!!
***Thanks to IndiGo Marketing & Design for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review***
Mason Hanks has returned to his small, hometown of Rainbow Cove, Oregon with his two best friends to start a tourist-friendly, LGBTQ welcome restaurant and bar. He has a reputation in Rainbow Cove, but not for anything that he's ever done, just his family name to weight him down. The Hanks are notorious for getting into trouble with law enforcement, especially his two older brothers, and it's a reputation that he wants to escape from.
The man who placed his older brother Freddy in prison is Nash Flint, the Police Chief of Rainbow Cove. The last police chief of the town was Nash's father and this is the only life Nash has ever known. He has his job and his fishing, but that makes up his entire life. His sister has moved to Portland, and his mother with her after their father died, leaving Nash all on his own in a childhood home now too empty. Mason may be out, but Nash certainly isn't. And in a small town like Rainbow Cove where everyone gossips about everyone else's business? Nash has no plans on coming out anytime soon. Or ever.
I love Mason and I love Nash. Mason is a vibrant character, who is full of life and wants everything to be sunshine and rainbows...even when his family wants to drag him down. He hasn't had the easiest life. His father hates the law, his lovely mother passed away years earlier, and his two older brothers are nothing but trouble. Jimmy has a daughter, Lilac, who is seven and cute as can be. But Jimmy and Lilac's mother Francine are not a very stable environment for her. Luckily, she has Mason to look after her from time-to-time. Nash is only out to a few of his friends, like gay woodcarving Curtis, and his mother (even though they've never talked about it). Nash has been fine living the life he's been living - working all morning, dropping by the old grill for a burger for lunch, and working until his shift ended to go home to his usual microwavable dinners. He's not living, but he was content with this life, until Mason shows up. Trouble, he calls Mason. Mason is the one that starts to slowly shift Nash's world view and it's so gut-wrenching to read.
There were lines I just didn't cross. And unfortunately for me, Mason Hanks was one of those lines. I didn't need a warning from Jimmy to see that. Didn't matter how nice Mason was, how hardworking, how hot - he wasn't for me.
Nash is a darling and almost forty to Mason's twenty-seven. The age gap is fantastic, and never once seems creepy that Nash knew Mason when he was younger. There wasn't an attraction then, but there definitely is a spark between them now. This is a bit of a slow burn as we see how Mason and Nash could possibly make their relationship work. Their interactions are cute (and oh so HOT when they want it to be). This book is written in an alternating first-person POV, so we get both character's stories and that works out really well here to know what Mason and Nash think of each other.
"I don't want to hurt you," he whispered. But you did.
So...this story made me hungry (should I clarify that I mean food?). At least in the beginning, there's a lot of descriptors about cooking and the dishes Mason serves at his restaurant, and let's just say don't read this on an empty stomach or you'll be like me and constantly snacking while reading this book. *nom nom nom*
I'm not sure how I feel about the ending of this book. It does seem a little rushed to me. We're never really given a reason why for the vandalism sub-plot and leaves me confused even after reading the book. I am reading an ARC, so maybe this gets edited in the final version. I don't know.
I love the small-town feel of Rainbow Cove. I don't really know how small towns in Oregon are like, but the way this book reads, the characters remind me of the small Southern town I grew up in and sometimes I forget this book is set in Oregon. Mason and Nash live in a touristy location and Mason and his Portland friend Brock are looking to expand their vision in Rainbow Cove. This definitely has potential to be an overarching story for Mason's friends who helped him start Rainbow Tavern (subtle they are not), Adam and Logan. It looks like there's definitely three more books coming in this series, based on the listing at the end of the book, and I cannot wait to read Curtis and Logan's book next!!!
***Thanks to IndiGo Marketing & Design for providing an ARC in exchange for an honest review***