Regina Reviews: Kellan and Emmett by Denver Shaw

Blurb:

Emmett
I never thought I’d see Kellan Miller again.
He was my best friend. The one who knew all my secrets—except the biggest one.
That I wanted him.
I told myself it was a phase, just curiosity. But deep down, I knew better.
Graduation night, he gave me my first kiss. The next day, he gave me my first heartbreak.
He gave no explanation. Didn't say goodbye. Just left a hollow in my chest, carved in his shape.
Twenty years later, he showed up for our high school reunion, looking sinfully good and still hiding behind his carefully built life. The second I felt his presence again, it all came back.
The pull.
The want.
The heat.
I was out. Settled. Gomillion was my home.
If Kelly wanted a second chance, he was going to have to earn it.

Kellan
Coming back was never part of the plan.
I’d spent my whole adult life pretending that night with Emmy didn’t change me. That I could move on, build something stable, keep my truth locked up tight. But nothing about being back in our small town felt settled—not with him watching me like he couldn’t decide whether to forgive me… or tell me to get the f*ck out of his life again.
It felt like it was twenty years ago, being around him was the closest I ever came to feeling like I belonged.
But if I wanted a chance at something real with him, I’d have to stop hiding.
Stop running.
And start fighting for the man I never should’ve left behind.


Gomillion High Reunion series is a multi-author collaboration celebrating the 20th reunion of former classmates in a charming small town. From fake dating and long-held rivalries to first loves and second chances, anything can happen when the past and present collide. Don’t miss the reunion - RSVP today!

Review:

Emmett never forgot his best friend Kellan. The one who gave him his first kiss and then ran never to be seen again by anyone in the small town they grew up in. He knows he didn't just lose his best friend, but maybe even the love of his life. Still he's moved on, though he still carries the pain of that loss. Now he runs an Inn,  left to him by an elderly friend who had no heirs. He loves running the inn and while he initially thought about selling it, in the end he found he couldn't. He's built a life for himself without Kellan.

Kellan is so far inside the closet that he's squeezed himself up into the highest top corner and started barely breathing for fear of being found out. He's unhappy, emotionally tied in knots and doesn't really like himself much. He's a college football coach who's just getting by, but nothing more. 

When Kellan sees the invitation to his twenty year high school reunion, he decides to make a life changing decision; he's going to finally go home. He knows Emmett must hate him, but there is a part of him that is tired of living the way he has for the last twenty years and just wants to go home, even if it is only for a weekend. To say their high school friends are shocked at his arrival would be an understatement, and while almost everyone else is happy to see him...Emmett who is still feeling the pain of Kellan's betrayl is less than enthused. Will Kellan be able to reconnect with Emmett, even if it is only as friends, or will Emmett kick him to the curb like Kellan knows he deserves?

I really enjoyed Kellan and Emmett by Devan Shaw. The emotions are so well written that  you feel absolutely everything right along with Kellan and Emmett. It's obvious from the very beginning of the story that Kellan is still dealing with the fallout of the abdonment of his father and the death of his mother both of which left him wholly alone in the world. Couple that with his father's emotional abuse about Kellan's feelings towards Emmett and possibly being gay, and it reads like a very spicy soup of tangled emotions. Emmett has his own hangups with his anger towards Kellan for his abandonment of him and their relationship, and his fear that even were they to pick up where they left off, Kellan could still leave again at the end of the weekend. It makes for a very heart tugging but extremely enjoyable read. If you enjoy some angst with your MM romance, you're going to love this book. The ending alone is to die for! 

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