Book 804: Finn’s Fantasy (Maine Men #1) – K.C. Wells

Full disclosure, when I said yes to this from Gay Romance Reviews, I accidentally confused Wells with Elle Brownlee (if you remember my obsession with Two for Trust you’d know why).* I knew Wells name was familiar, because I’ve actually read a few other books by her that I enjoyed.

The real kicker and reason I said yes to this one is because it is set in Maine and we’re of course obsessed with Maine. We spend more time in the lakes region or Western Maine rather than on the coast, like where these are set, but of course I was going to read a series set in Maine by an author who is in my mid-range of sure I’ll read 😀

Finn’s Fantasy is the first in a new series and we all know I love a good series. I think, however, that the way Wells introduced the other characters who will eventually be protagonists was clunky. Rather than introducing us to Finn and letting us get to know him for a chapter and then meeting his five best friends, she throws us in at the deep end and I had no idea who was who until the middle of the second chapter after the wedding was done and we moved on.

Finn, a construction worker and carpenter in his mid-twenties has a thing for older guys, and has noticed Joel, an older guy with a dog and, he finds out later, quite a bit of baggage (aka an ex-wife and two teenaged kids). They dance around each other for most of the book and there are only a couple of well written steamy sex scenes, but it was a good read.

The best part of the book was Joel’s interaction with his kids. He knew he was gay but felt pressured into the perfect storybook life of a family with two kids, a white picket fence and a dog. After he finally realized it wasn’t working anymore and he spoke honestly with his now ex-wife they divorced, and we ended up here. He’s, of course, terrified that his children won’t love him or respect him, and the one big drama of the novel is when his son discovers he and Finn getting ready to go at it on the kitchen table.

‘Don’t you guys talk.’ Levi snorted. ‘Stupid question. Of course you don’t. You’re guys. Heaven forbid you actually say how you feel.’ Then he sighed. ‘As if I’m any better.’ Before Finn could ask what he meant by that, Levi plowed ahead. ‘Have you talked to him? Or at least tried?’ (Chapter 23)

I liked that the actual romance itself had no crises other than Joel and Finn beating around the bush and just not talking to each other. I mean they both acknowledge that the age difference was part of their hesitation, but they were both just in their heads too much.

I was a bit annoyed at the copy editor and/ or proofreader of the book. Unless I was accidentally sent an uncorrected proof (it shouldn’t have been based on my records), they missed some pretty basic mistakes:

Although her mom might’ve have had a hand in it too. (Chapter 1)

In earlier times? They’ve have tried you as a witch. (Chapter 18)

There weren’t too many errors, but these stood out to me because they were basically the same error 17 chapters apart. UGH, but again this didn’t take away from the story which was well written and kept me engaged.

Recommendation: An enjoyable low angst read. The romance was sweet, endearing and made me smile throughout. Wells excelled in the parts where Joel interacted with his family and the sleepy little town on the Maine coast was a great character too! There were quite a few typos/grammatical errors that were annoying. They didn’t really detract from the story too much, but it was worth noting.

*I received a copy of Finn’s Fantasy via Gay Romance Reviews in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.

Opening Line: “Finn Anderson only had to glance at Teresa Young as she weaved her way through the tables—Hey, scratch that. She’s Teresa Cyr now—to know she was on a mission.”

Closing Line: “Finn squeezed his hand. ‘I couldn’t dream of being with anyone else.'” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)