Signs of Life by Melanie Hansen (Resilient Love #2)
M/M Contemporary
Released: September 28, 2015
Dreamspinner Press

Reviewed by Mandi

If you want a book that will break your heart in the first chapter, this is the one for you. Jeremy is a lawyer who has a husband and a baby on the way. His husband has been suffering from depression, but has finally recovered and ready to live life again. But everything in Jeremy’s life is about to change. His husband runs out to do an errand, and gets in a horrible car accident, losing his life. Jeremy clings to the fact that he has a baby coming through a surrogate in about a month – it’s the only way he is able to begin to deal with his grief.

Then the baby dies in utero.

What the ever loving hell? So now Jeremy has no husband and no baby. Excuse me while I curl up on the floor and die a little.

The book jumps ahead two years – apparently Jeremy couldn’t deal with life and went on a drug rampage in Mexico. I think I would do the same thing! He somehow finds the will to live again and gets dragged home by a friend. He now runs about 100 miles a day and has bought a dilapidated inn to put his law offices in. He has not had any relationships for two years.

Our other hero is Kai. He is a high school teacher at a second-chance high school. Working with kids who are struggling with juvenile detention or just never show up to school. It’s a hard  and exhausting job that is rarely rewarding. Kai is openly gay and hangs out with his best friend Loren a lot. Together they hit night clubs and have one night stands. But they are starting to realize, this lifestyle is getting a little old for them. Not sure if they necessarily want to settle down, but the seedy motel rooms probably have to go.

Because enough has not happened to Jeremy during his life, some teenagers break into his very expensive home gym and totally destroy it. These teenagers are student’s of Kai’s. Hoping to help them avoid juvenile detention, Kai helps with a deal that would have the teens clean up and help rebuild the damaged property, as long as Kai supervises. He agrees, Jeremy very reluctantly agrees, and of course this puts Kai in Jeremy’s path. Jeremy and Kai actually had a nameless, random, one night stand long ago, so when Kai shows up at Jeremy’s house, the lust is definitely there.

So to recap – Jeremy has had a devastating crappy life, and meets Kai – and they have hot sex. Jeremy does not want any type of emotional relationship, due to all the loss he has suffered. But he does want angry sex – and angry sex can be really hot.

But I kind of feel like, the hot, angry sex is all we really get between Kai and Jeremy .We get a lot of Jeremy before he meets Kai. And we get a lot of Kai before he meets Jeremy. I really like that this author takes her time and lets the reader really get to know both Jeremy and Kai –  but I needed more actual romance between the two of them. I felt an emotional disconnect on a certain level. At the same time though, I think Jeremy’s absolute fear of getting close to anyone every again is strongly felt.

And to be honest, the husband dying and then the baby dying – was a little much for me. And that ‘s not the only horrible things. A woman gets sexually assaulted. The juveniles in the book face tough times. It’s a lot of depressing things. The author’s voice flows nicely and we get to know the characters well. But I needed more things to smile about.

Grade: C+

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