Reflections of a Swede's Reviews > Dearly & Deviant Daniel

This story started out great and had all the potential of a 5-star read.
The I-see-dead-people trope isn't new, but the whole thing with Keir running a funeral home was a new angle that made the story setup feel new and interesting.

After the first few chapters I was fully convinced I would end up giving it all the stars, but it became apparent after a while that the writing was a bit too uneven for that to happen.

Both Keir and Dash are likable characters. Their outward appearances couldn't be more different, but personality-wise they're both very kind men who just wants to find someone to call their own. But I thought that a lot of the character building, and the interactions and dialogues between the MCs were occasionally stilted when the intent was in fact to relay how they grew closer. It didn't really gel for me. Separately, Keir and Dash were great. But I wasn't as convinced as I would've liked by their chemistry and togetherness. It didn't really feel organic. And it wasn't only Keir's and Dash's interactions that felt off at times. How Keir and the Detective, Jay Frick, were together also had some strange moments.

The plot was a bit convoluted. I won't go into details, but there were one or two plot-holes that irritated me. However, the main focus of this book isn't the mystery itself but Keir's and Dash's relationship, so I wasn't bothered too much.

All in all, it's a good read. And as I understand it it's actually Kaye's debut novel. As such it is very promising indeed.

But there's no denying there were some quirky stuff in there. For example, this was the first book I've ever read containing such precise measurements of a certain part of the male anatomy - Keir's anatomy to be precise (despite having read stories with p*rn-star MCs). And honestly, that part, with such an unusual girth/length ratio did ruin it a bit for me. Like, why?! It was an odd detail to include and didn't really add to the story. Instead it became an uncomfortable oddity, mentioned over and over, and it was made the focus in way too many scenes. It's safe to say the story would have been better without Keir's unusual proportions.

My final rating is 3.75 stars. Still, I'll probably read the sequel. I liked the premise, I liked the universe. And I absolutely want more of Keir and Dash.

* A free e-book was kindly provided by Gay Romance Reviews and this is my unbiased and voluntary review *