Title: Survivor
Author: T.M. Smith
Genre: M/M Romance
Release Date: 22 August 2017
Frank Moore is a rookie with the Dallas Police Department when he and his partner answer a call in Devonshire, one of the city’s more affluent neighborhoods. They think the young boy in various pictures throughout the home has been kidnapped until they find him, shaken but alive. Officer Moore recognizes the pain in the kid’s eyes, having lost his own mother to cancer when he was just a boy. He steps in, making sure Taylor is placed with a loving foster family. Over the years, Frank becomes a permanent fixture in Taylor’s life.
A decade later, the case remains unsolved and the once gangly, uncertain teenager is now a college graduate who knows exactly what he wants. He’s coming home to the man that helped mold and shape his life, the man he’s loved for as long as he can remember, Frank Moore. But Taylor isn’t the only person returning to Dallas, and while Frank is distracted by his own conflicting feelings and the new bond growing between the two, the past creeps up on them, determined to finish what was started ten years earlier.
A note from the author…
I hope you enjoy Frank and Taylor’s story. It’s been a long road to get them settled, but I’m happy with where this story has taken them. When I started this book, the intent was to write a stand-alone story, but that has changed. Characters continually evolve throughout the writing process, and there are several characters in the book that want to tell their story. I’ve grown especially fond of Rory and I can’t wait to write his book, which will take us back to when he first joined the Bureau, and continue on to his happy ever after.
Please be advised: This is a May/December romance, and as in life, there are sexual situations that take place prior to the main characters finding their way to one another. This is not gratuitous; it is meant to show character growth and self-realization. There is absolutely no cheating.
A new standalone by TM Smith but it appears this is leading
to a new series (with different couples) This is classed as a May to December
romance (one of my favourites) however there was only a ten year age gap which
isn’t that wide an age difference to me.
Frank is one of the officers that are called to a
disturbance that turns out to be the murder of Taylor’s parents. The young
thirteen year old was saved by hiding in the attic crawl space where Frank and
his partner Caleb at the scene found him. With Taylor now being alone in the
World and being fostered out, Frank stuck close to the youngster and became a
kind of older brother/mentor type person to him. Each summer Taylor and his
foster parents along with Frank and his father holiday together. Over the years
the bond between the families becomes stronger, especially the bond between
Frank and Taylor.
Frank has always been open about his sexuality and when
Taylor announces at fifteen that he prefers boys to girls is just another reason
for Frank to advise and guide him. Once Taylor grows though into a tall and
strapping man of muscle the mutual admiration between Frank and Taylor turns
into something so much more.
I liked the premise of this storyline although I would have preferred
less of a giveaway in the blurb which seems to tell the whole storyline whereas
I like to unravel and be surprised as and when things happen. When the
revelation came that there was a mutual attraction and love between the pair
they make a decision that changes their whole dynamic as well as that of the
family. This was easily accepted and no eyebrow was raised or rebuff made which
I found a little surprising. I would have preferred a little angst and for both
men to have much more soul searching before the big discussion took place.
Everything seemed a little too easily resolved, even the drama of the murder of
the past was quickly explained and executed.
I liked how the author did not make Taylor, being the
youngest of the pair, to be super submissive as does happen in other age gap
romances. However it seemed to go the other way entirely and whereas Frank had previously
been all strong and full of leadership he seemed to become less as soon as the
romance began. This made me loose connection a bit with the story when Taylor
suddenly became this overly dominant person.
Overall though I did enjoy the story and in fact I read it
in one sitting. It just needed a little more drama and soul searching in parts
and for Frank not to have a personality switch (he also went from a top to a
bottom and although this was touched on in the story I wanted them both to be a
switch!) I shall look forward to any future story of the other characters if
this does continue into a series. Three and a half stars.
A military brat born and raised at Ft. Benning Georgia; TM Smith is an avid reader, reviewer and writer. A Texas transplant, she now calls DFW her home. Most days she can be found curled up with a good book, or ticking away on her next novel.
Smith is a single mom of three disturbingly outspoken and decidedly different kids, one of which is Autistic. Besides her writing, she is passionate about Autism advocacy and LGBT rights. Because, seriously people, Love is Love!
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