Powerful, Yet Tender

This was my third Garrete Leigh book and the one that the most emotional reaction from me.

I like the way that it starts off, with Seb, alone having come back home to Cornwall, from the bright lights of the world to run a business that has been in his family for generations. He’s a great pastry chef, baking is his passion and that is made clear throughout the story.

He meets Dex when the boy hands him back his dropped wallet and slowly they’re drawn together. Just when Seb feels that they’re starting to make a connection Dex disappears and that summer begins to fade to a dream like memory.

Dex is a contradiction. Self sufficient, indipendant and proud, too proud to ask for the help that he needs, even if he knew how to. Yet he’s sweet, loveable, kind and vulnerable, despite the hard shell that he’s had to build around himself. The only life Dex knows is one of servitude to the man he knows as “uncle” Braden, a man who Dex knows would kill him if he doesn’t do as he’s told. There’s a lot of pain and suffering in Dex’s life, yet he endures.

Would a life with Seb in the Gorja world be ever more than a pipe dream for him? When Dex runs away after witnessing Braden shooting someone, Dex eventually happens into a kitchen job. A job that changes his life, with kind people who take an instant liking to the boy and a reunification with the only man who has ever been good to him. But how long can this dream world last before his past catches up on him and what would Seb think of him, should his whole past come to light?

The story is a real roller coaster and the characters are so rounded that you want to know more and more about them as the tale unwinds. It is expertly read by Dan Calley, he’s so good with accents and story pace, and you’ll be totally engaged.

If you don’t fall in love with Dax then you have no heart beating in your chest.

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Heart and soul

This is the 2nd audiobook I’ve listened to by Garrett, so they’re still a fairly new author to me, but if this was right up my street. I love the angsty ones, the feeling I’ll have my heart trampled on, and from the reviews I’d seen this was a good contender.


The story was well set up, the characters felt very real and the prejudice toward to traveller community was well handled and not gratuitous. I felt the connection between Seb and Dex immediately, even though Seb was wary of the traveller, there was no way to stop the inevitable.


I knew there was heartbreak coming, and I wasn’t disappointed. I felt Dex’s pain and anguish, his total and utter loss of the connection and life he’d built with Seb. I have to say at this point, this for me was beautifully enhanced by the skillful narration exhibited by Dan Calley. The emotions and sometimes downright despair came through as he breathed life into the softly spoken words and internal monologue as he seamlessly breathed life into the tortured soul that was Dex.


The accents in this were clear and distinct, Dan made it easy to differentiate between them, and they never lost their identities. I think his experience as a narrator shone through and added another layer to the story in the most subtle of ways, He gave this story a heart and soul and I loved every minute of it.


More like this please!

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At times hard to listen to but also very beautiful.

This story was very touching, Seb and Dex were very sweet together. I enjoyed the pace of the story and like that it wasn’t full of useless information just to prolong the book.
I’d recommend looking up the triggers for this story as it got very dark at points with SA, talk of human trafficking, physical abuse and torture.
That being said for the most part the book was pretty easy to listen to. Dex is a beautiful and interesting character, even with everything he’s put through at the hands of the evil people who believed they owned him he still remained kind and hopeful. Seb is a very warm character and the love and care that he has for Dex was evident throughout the entire book. The side characters that took Dex in are just as lovely as Seb and were also a nice touch to a hard story. I look forward to reading more from GL.

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Angsty and emotional...

Overall ~ 4.5 Stars

I really liked Dex. He was young but had gone through so much in his life already. He was hard working and not conscious of his self-worth. I wanted to hug him and shield him from anyone who wanted to hurt him. Seb was perfect for him, protective and supportive, but not overbearingly so. They were really sweet together and it was lovely seeing Dex start realizing that he could have everything he'd been denied all his life.

Garrett Leigh has this special talent to bring us flawed, ordinary men and make us care for them as they navigate through life, oftentimes a hard one. This was not the exception, Dex goes through a lot of things, and Ms. Leigh doesn't shy away from showing us the darker side of human nature. It's angsty and it's raw and gritty, and it's a story that will tug at your heartstrings.

Dan Calley did a great job with Dex, Seb, and the rest of the cast. His voice suits Garrett Leigh's characters and stories so well, I really hope they'll continue to collaborate in the future. 

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Powerful and Raw

Garrett Leigh has a way of making me work both while listening to the book and then after when I sit down to write a review. How do I describe a book that moved me? That was both painful and redemptive? That broke my heart and then put it back together again? That made me think and made me feel? That I never wanted to end.

Heart is such a book. Also, with Ms. Leigh’s books, there is an uneven narrative structure. I’m accustomed to alternating back and forth – one chapter per hero. In this book, Ms. Leigh chose to make Seb the point of view character for the first and last chapters, and Dex carried the bulk of the heavy lifting. As it should be. His point of view was critical to the story telling. His life was the most painful and at every turn, he had the most to lose. The breaking of the convention forced me to work harder at figuring out Seb and how he was viewing things.

The opening is Seb working at his family’s fudge shop. He meets Dex, an Irish traveller who is passing through town. They begin something special only to have it end abruptly when Dex disappears. Seb believes that’s the end and he’ll never see Dex again.

Dex is in a horrible place. He cleans caravans during the day, submits to horrific events at night, and wonders how long he can keep going. He’s starved, painfully thin, and faces terrible poverty. He’s responsible for keeping the horses alive and there’s barely enough to feed them. Knowing that kind of poverty exists is one thing, facing that deprivation is something altogether different.

Then something terrible happens and Dex finds a way to escape. He makes his way to London, but things aren’t much better there. Until he happens upon a generous restaurant owner who offers him a job. It’s a rough go at first as Dex adapts to a semi-normal life. He manages to get a roof over his head, food in his belly, and money in his pocket. It’s a small amount because he can’t work legally, but it’s better than turning tricks in the tube station.

Then Seb reappears. Now, maybe this was addressed and I missed it, but I never did understand what happened to his family shop on the seashore. Anyway, he’s hired at the restaurant to prepare desserts. He’s shocked to see Dex, but slowly, with patience, reaches out to the young man. It’s tenuous at first, but eventually Dex opens up and allows Seb to take care of some of his needs. He’s still stubbornly independent, and constantly worried he’s going to have to move on. His past is never far away both in reality and in his mind.

And, eventually, that past does come crashing down around him. There’s plenty of violence in this book and although it serves a purpose, it wasn’t any easier to swallow. I knew the book would have a happy ending, but I despaired what Dex would have to endure to get to that place.

I did get my happy ending and I was able to see Dex’s healing through Seb’s eyes for that final chapter. I loved how the book ended.

I’ll mention Dan Calley’s narration. I swear Ms. Leigh’s books are perfect for him as he brings his talent and adds that something special to what is already a powerful story. So yeah, heartbreaking, heartmending, and beautiful. The power of love in the heart.

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The first Garrett Leigh novel I did not like

I am aware the narrator, reading every sentence the same, made this novel worse. But the story was lacking too. Every paragraph seemed to jump a few weeks in time, making all occurrences disconnected. I missed the emotions and inner monologs. I did not care how the story ended, although a lot needs to be addressed to get a happy ending.

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