[Book Review] Getting It Right By A.M. Arthur & Aroma Ridge Georgia Peach

Title: Getting It Right
Series/Universe: The Restoration Series, Restoration #1
Author: A.M. Arthur
Publisher: Carina Press
Publication date: March 16th 2015
Page Count: 245 pages
Age Rating: Adult (language, explicit sexual scenes and violence, mentions of assault)
How I got my hot little hands on it: Received an ARC to review
Publisher’s page: Getting It Right

Detective Nathan Wolf might just be a junior detective, but he tackles every case with the passion that he lacks in his personal life. A series of failed relationships with women has left him still single at thirty-four—because he’s too scared to admit to his longtime crush on his best friend James.

Dr. James Taggert likes to keep his profession as a psychiatrist separate from his party-animal persona. Known around the gay clubs as “Tag”, he’s the guy who screws them, leaves them, and never looks back. But James’s drinking is getting heavier, and when bad memories from the past resurface, he’s close to becoming the worst version of himself.

After a drunken blackout ends in a hot and heavy make-out session with his very straight best friend, James has no memory of the steamy affair. But Nathan isn’t sorry for the kisses that James can’t remember. Nathan finally musters the courage to tell James how he really feels, but a life-altering event might force them apart before they can ever be together.

My Review

As a result of seeing someone he loved destroyed in the aftermath of sexual assault when he was younger, Dr. James Taggert has dedicated his life to offering psychiatric help to those suffering from PTSD and the after affects of assault. When the demons of his past and the tough cases he takes on become too much for him, he seeks comfort in the bottom of a bottle and the arms of meaningless hook-ups.

Detective Nathan Wolfe is a workaholic whose only social interactions outside of work mostly center around James and James’s friends, who’ve become his friends by extension. Although Nathan has always considered himself straight, for years he’s also had a curious fascination with his very male best friend – a best friend whose unhealthy coping habits are leading him down a path to ruin.

Getting It Right is the story of these two men, best friends since college, whose relationship comes to a boiling point when an unexpected kiss opens the floodgates on feelings both have been suppressing for the last 15 years. And it’s not as easy as simply confessing all to each other; lies, serious physical assault, alcoholism, and a serial killer on the loose stand in between these two guys and their happy ending.

This book has angst like whoa. Every time James and Nathan got over one obstacle in their path to being together, another would pop up, this one even higher and more insurmountable than the last. So be forewarned, if you can’t stand angst piled upon angst, this may not be the right book for you, but if you can get through it, then I definitely recommend this book.

Fans of A.M. Arthur’s The Belonging Series will recognize James Taggert as Tag, Ezra’s disastrous hook-up in Maybe This Time, whose chance at redemption was glimpsed in Stand By You when the revelation that “Tag” was actually Dr. Taggert was followed by an offer of help to Romy in his recovery after the horrific abuse he suffered. If you haven’t read those books, no sweat, these events are shown from James’s POV in Getting It Right.

I love A.M. Arthur’s books and was super excited when I discovered she was starting a new series. I always tear up somewhere along the way, her stories of two people finding love no matter what bad stuff the world has thrown at them always gets me right in the heart. I absolutely recommend this book and can’t wait to read the next in The Restoration Series (Finding Their Way, coming July 2015).

In Getting It Right, James’s go-to drink when he hits the clubs is a peach mojito. While I’ve enjoyed a mojito or two in my time, I’ve never heard of a peach mojito before, but I’m for sure going to order one the next time I go out since I love the taste of peach. And since I love the taste of peach I’m recommending Aroma Ridge Georgia Peach – it’s a great, light tasting coffee with just the perfect hint of delicious peach flavor.