TITLE: ⟫ The Fishermen
AUTHOR: ⟫ C.P. Harris
RATING: ⟫ 5/5
BLURB: ⟫ At the age of twenty-five, Leland Meadows has his whole life mapped out in front of him, with four rules to live by:
No new friends.
No dreams or aspirations.
No repeat hookups.
And definitely no committed relationships.
Leland’s looking for safety, not heartbreak and disappointment. Then one day he receives an offer he can’t turn down. Rent is due, and the catering company his best friend’s sister works for is suddenly one server short for the biggest event of the year. Leland accepts the job—but those rules he’s been so careful to follow? They don’t stand a chance against Franklin Kincaid.
At forty-five, the lie Franklin Kincaid has been living his entire life catches up with him.
His job no longer fulfils him—if it ever had.
His marriage is in crisis.
His heart yearns for something he can’t identify—or maybe he’s just too terrified to admit it.
And his children are clueless about all of it.
On a cold and lonely night, Franklin’s search for courage leads him to a rooftop in down-town Seattle, where he finds Leland Meadows instead.
Neither of them would ever be the same again…
***The Fishermen is a best friend’s dad MM romance and Book 2 in the Infidelity series. Each book features a new couple, can be read as a stand-alone, and ends with a HEA. Themes include age-gap, possessiveness, hurt/comfort, and second chances. Both MCs are consenting adults. Please use the Amazon “Look Inside” feature for a full list of content warnings.
REVIEW: ⟫ No one does messy relationships like C.P. Harris and boy, was this story full of messy relationships.
Having read the first book in the Infidelity series and grabbed hints about Leland and Franklin, I was confused by the start of this book. Had I misinterpreted what was going on? Were they not the people I was thinking they were? This misdirect was masterful – the story wouldn’t have had anywhere near the impact that it did if it wasn’t for (a) reading the first book and (b) the stellar writing.
Leland refuses to connect to anyone. Well, he allows himself one person but that’s it – his trust won’t extend further. So finding himself getting to know Franklin, telling him things that he hasn’t revealed ever before and falling into a ‘summer’ together was never on his radar.
Franklin is at a crossroads where his perfect looking life is beginning to crumble – along with the person that he presented to the world and kinda thought he was. How do you stay married to someone, live your life, when everything inside you is screaming for just a bit of freedom? He feels like a failure as a husband and a father and has no idea where to go from there. Taking Leland’s hand and ‘looking down’ is the beginning of a journey that he would in no way ever have been able to prepare for, or expect.
Oh man, this story took us down some dark paths and even though I fell down this rabbit hole willingly, I still wasn’t prepared for what was going to happen. Leland and Franky were so destructive, so blinded by their past and present that you could see the damage they were going to cause each other and yet you followed along with them. It was like watching a car crash between your fingers, feeling pain for the people involved in it, wanting to hug them, cry with them – coming out of this story felt like awakening from a different universe and the book hangover is real.
C.P. Harris is quite possibly the only person who could have me reading about infidelity and cheering on the adulterers – now THAT is talent. Told in three main parts, this book provides background to Jasper and Cole’s life growing up and just how much Franklin did to try to protect them from anything and everything. And because it’s an older protagonist, there is a lifetime of mistakes and experiences that Franklin regretted and wished he could change. All of this went into his relationship with Leland because Leland was absolutely the only person that Franky could be himself with. Not even just warts and all – Leland knew the good, the bad and the ugly about Franky but loved him anyway. Loved him fiercely and without reservation in a way that could only lead to hurt because neither of them were ready.
I worry that this review is just incoherent ramblings as I try to encourage people to read this story without ruining any of it. C.P. Harris is one of my auto-buys and hasn’t let me down once. Even when I’m shaking my head at the circumstances her characters get themselves into, I’m flipping pages desperate to see how things turn out. It really is brilliant writing to capture human nature whilst inspiring hope for the future – the world may be dark, people may let us down, cause us pain and damage, and yet hope remains. That is special.
I can’t leave this review without talking about the sex scenes. They were – well, almost feral and base and primitive. I don’t think I’ve ever read the kink that Franklin displays and was kinda shocked at how into it he was, but dang, it was hot af and suited his well-hidden caveman perfectly.
I need to go and read something light and fluffy to recover from this hangover, but I cannot wait for the next book in the series. I have an idea who might feature in it (and am SO here for it) but in the meantime, I heartily recommend this book. Just make sure you have tissues, time and an open mind before you start!
I received an ARC from the author.
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