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Title: Damaged Heart
Author: SC Wynne
Publisher: Loose Id LLC
Reviewer: Larry / John
Release Date: September 22, 2014
Genre(s): m/m Gay Fiction / Contemporary Romance
Page Count: 134 pages
Heat Level: 3 flames out of 5
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

Blurb: At twenty years of age, Cory Johnson fled Bayville after his father’s suicide to escape his abusive mother. He made a life for himself in Los Angeles, as different from Bayville as a place could possibly be. While his successful legal career is rewarding, Cory can’t connect with the people in his life. He’s terribly alone. When his mother dies, he must–reluctantly–return home to handle her estate, which he knows will only make those feelings worse.

Rhys Tucker owns the construction company that will renovate Cory’s childhood home. He’s harbored a crush on Cory since high school, so he seizes the unexpected opportunity to get close to Cory. Or at least try to. Their physical chemistry is immediate and undeniable, but Cory’s so closed-off, Rhys worries he’ll never penetrate that guarded, damaged heart.

Cory wants Rhys. He does. But can someone as scarred and broken as he is ever really come home? (End Blurb)

Review: How do you walk back into the world you did everything to escape from without dredging up some really nasty memories?  Cory faced that exact trial when his mother died. His abusive mother who made his life almost as miserable as his father did.  Now he has the opportunity to rid himself of all those bad times by selling that house and land to a developer.

But when Cory finds himself suddenly drawn to a local contractor, his life goes from black and white to varying shades of grey.  Why is he torn?  What should he do?  Why has his life been so tumultuous since leaving home?  And why does this country contractor make his heart miss a beat?  Cory is faced with two dilemmas that have him so deeply bothered he doesn’t know what to do.

Though Rhys, lovingly allows Cory to work through his uncertainties without adding additional stress to the situation, he wants Cory and let’s him know.  His gentle nudges let Cory know what he wants without seemingly forcing the issue.  Can Cory give up the life he developed and return to the home he hated, to the town he ran from, to this man who wants more for him than he seems to want for himself?

Wynne kept my attention through the entire book.  Her development of plot structure as well as the characters kept me wondering what would happen next.  I enjoy reading books that keep me interested and reading.  I also enjoy reading about people who face life’s difficulties and are able to work through them.  In Cory’s case, having to work through his childhood and reconcile those feelings to his present day feelings was extremely interesting.  Not all authors can get that message across as well as Wynne did.