Review of To Love and Protect by Kay Simone and Jason Collins

 by Kay Simone and Jason Collins

2 stars

Hank Bartlett dreams of something more than his sleepy Ohio hometown, where the work is back-breaking and the money he makes goes straight to his family. He's only 25—way too young to end up stuck in the same tiny town for the rest of his life... Especially when he's the only gay guy in a 100-mile radius.

When he walks into The Spike on his first night in San Diego, a gorgeous older man catches his eye across the bar. But Ben turns out to be more than just a handsome stranger—he's also kind, generous, and inspiring. And soon enough, Hank is head over heels.

Now if they could just figure out what to do about those pesky death threats...

"Get married and you're a dead man..."

When Bennett's father disowned him for being gay, Ben turned his back on his family's wealth. He relied on his intelligence and drive to build a business and a life that he's proud of. Ben refuses to be told what to do by an old bigot, and he's definitely not interested in fulfilling a ridiculous marriage requirement just to inherit money he doesn't want anyway.

So why the hell is he getting threats designed to keep him from the altar?

It was easier to ignore the threats when he was single and reeling from a nasty breakup. But that was before Ben fell for Hank—sweet, open-hearted, optimistic Hank who tugs at parts of Ben's heart he didn't even know existed. Suddenly, Ben isn't quite so sour on romance after all. But the closer he gets to Hank, the worse the intimidation gets.

Whoever's sending the threats will stop at nothing to break the two men up. Will Ben and Hank find a love to have and told hold, or will death do them part before they can even get started?

We finished this a few weeks ago and have put on reviewing cause, ugh, we were so disappointed.  We pick up EVERYHTING by Kay Simone and well, love all her work, but To Love and Protect was too much everything for us and we struggled to finish.  We struggled to hear Kay’s voice in wither character and with so many themes and twists, this one did not work at all.

Hank Bartlett is a gay 25-year old man leaving, for the first time his small Ohio family home, and stiking out to San Diego to rope himself a wealthy husband.  On his first night in town he meets Bennett, a handsome older man who seems just his type.  But Ben was disowned by his father when he came out, only to find out that his father willed him his entire estate, but he has to get married.  Ben doesn’t really seem to care if he inherits the millions, but his family benefits if he doesn’t get married. And just as he starts getting closer to Hank, he starts getting death threats.

SO many things going on, we have a Virgin May/December insta love – oh yes.  Even though Hank and Ben don’t hook up the first night they meet, they basically fall in love and Ben installs Hank as a permanent feature in his life; helping to fid somewhere to live, giving him a job at his company. Of course with the age-gap, Hank is also a virgin, and Ben finds himself wanting to keep and protect Ben forever.   And then there is the mystery – who wants Ben dead?  There is ex-boyfriend trouble and family infighting, and twists and turns which we found confusing.  Unfortunately in the end when the perp was uncovered, we were kinda like – really, hunh???

Needless to say we struggled.  To Love and Protect was too sappy, confusing, and lacked a flow.  Honestly we ended up skimming just to finish this book.  As hard as we tried to like To Love and Protect, we didn’t enjoy this author team up.