First and First

Well slap me around and call me silly! No really. Why would I start this book thinking it was going to be anything but amazing when [a:Santino Hassell 4942228 Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1445991731p2/4942228.jpg] already took my number in the previous Five Boroughs Books? In [b:First and First 28427134 First and First (Five Boroughs, #3) Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1457064366s/28427134.jpg 48535333] we move on to another strata of NYC. The unhappy Manhattan dwelling sons and daughters of the 1%. Here we have Caleb Stone, David's long suffering former boyfriend who came off as something of a stiff in [b:Sunset Park 25842991 Sunset Park (Five Boroughs, #2) Santino Hassell https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1445081788s/25842991.jpg 45707493] but not necessarily a bad guy and Oliver Buckley, one of David's wide circle of acquaintances whom we know next to nothing about. Inauspicious start right? Oh so wrong. These two are explosive together.Caleb finds himself at a New Year's party at which David & Raymond are too along with other people from the 5Borough universe. Seeing them so happy only highlights how rudderless, useless and inadequate he feels. One thing leads to another and he ends up spending a spectacular and utterly surprising night with the last person he expected. Oliver Buckley. Oliver Fucking Buckley. I won't rehash the plot of the book but quite a lot happens and all of it great and totally believable. What's more is that the rightness of this relationship is plain as day to everyone except perhaps Oli who because of reasons doesn't want to be a couple. Fool. Good luck with that. He's a goner for Caleb from Day One. He just doesn't know it. Caleb has lived his whole life trying to conform to an image of what his family and social class deem acceptable which was why he failed so spectacularly with David. He was too busy playing a role and not being himself. The night spent with Oli and all of their subsequent encounters throw those notions by the wayside and he's finally able to embrace himself as a gay man with wants and desires which his partner celebrates. JOY! Caleb has many hang-ups about his appearance, about his sexual turn ons and whether he is enough to hold someone's interest. I felt deeply for him and identified with his insecurities. But in the end Caleb showed a strength and backbone that we hadn't expected. He fought for what he wanted even when he was quacking inside, he came up with a plan to help his loved ones and give himself a sense of purpose divorced from his family's wealth and station. He's courageous in a real sense of the word. He risks his heart and himself even when he has no guarantee that he'll be rewarded.The person who really has to change his life plan is Oli. Oliver Fucking Buckley who had been traipsing through life in a no-strings-attached hedonistic spree. He fights the good fight but it's no use. I'd love to have a chapter or something with Oli's POV. How he sees the world, how he sees Caleb? Clearly with adoration even before he has reluctantly admitted it to himself. For proof see: the carefully chosen food and other fun stuff he sends/brings to Caleb's apartment to pass the stormI love how Oli was with Caleb, totally taking care of him, his needs and wants but not with kid gloves. Similar backgrounds give them a sort of shorthand which helped bridge their outward differences. And when they are together? Damn! My reader almost caught fire. I'll just leave this one little bit here:“I love seeing you like this.” I spread my legs farther, and my lips parted when his fingers found their way to my ass. “Like what?' “Like fucking devastatingly sexy.” Oli worked his fingers into me with nothing more than a glide of saliva and precome, and the stimulation quelled my automatic denial. “I know you don't think much of yourself. I know you think I'm lying when I say it.” “Because –” “Shh.” He curved his fingers up with expert precision, and then he was massaging my prostate as he said, “But regardless of what you think of yourself, when I look at you, I see someone beautiful. Someone who makes me insane, because all I can fucking think about is touching you. Being close to you. Being inside you And there's a reason for that baby.”That to me is as good as an I love you. Better.As an extra bonus we got to see David and Raymond. OMG Ray!!! Here he is imparting some of his Queens wisdom:“What do you fuckers want?” “They're having milk frothing problems,” David said stonily. Raymond blinked. “Is that some white boy gay sex lingo? You people be saying some weird-ass shit for no reason.” Oli started laughing again. Even David bit back a smile. “Yeah, laugh, but I'm dead serious. Like breeding. The fuck's that? Sounds like dudes have livestock in their backyards.”I almost peed my pants reading/listening to that. Which brings me to the fantastic audio work by [a:Michael Ferraiuolo 13467952 Michael Ferraiuolo https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1498214961p2/13467952.jpg]. Just perfect. Every character, voice, emotion and pacing. As a last rambling note I'd love to get some short (I think it's in the works?) about Aiden & Jace. And last but not least that cover is perfect!

One thing I really enjoy about Hassell's books is how an unlikable character in one book might come to the forefront of the next book and really shine. Strong point-of-view writing means you experience a character's feelings and opinions about other characters. I was really surprised that this book centered around Caleb, who I didn't like in Sunset Park. By the end, though, I definitely felt like I'd seen a human side to him – with his baggage and all.

Overall, I preferred the first two books to this one, but I did like how Caleb and Oli dealt with their backgrounds, experiences, and desires. Hassell also incorporated sneak peeks about what was happening behind the scenes with Michael, Nunzio, David, and Raymond too, which is refreshing. You feel that the books are very sequential as opposed to happening in parallel, so you see how characters who were once protagonists mature in their relationships as supporting characters.