The Wrong Man

4.5 I love Mack starsAnother winner in a series I had somehow neglected in my reader/Audible library!This a second chance romance, featuring Brandon Good, Luke's BFF from [b:The Right Words 23547087 The Right Words (Right and Wrong, #1) Lane Hayes https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1415773611s/23547087.jpg 43146536]. At 29, despite some early set backs in his life, Bran seems to be the picture of success, and one could say he is. He's young, healthy, and easy on the eyes. He has trusted and beloved friends, some, like Luke, are chosen family, he owns a thriving home decor store in trendy WeHo, and yet ... a sense of blah has crept in. Luckily the past comes knocking on his door in the form of Jake Westley, his former boyfriend, and his dog Mack. Mack who is perhaps one my favorite characters in any book I've read. He's freakin' awesome. Jake and Bran were a couple during their senior year of high school, but only Bran was ‘out' and things didn't end well. It's now 12 years later and both have travelled far from their teenage selves. Jake, particularly, didn't have a smooth ride but he's an adult now. He might be a bit frayed around the edges, but he also knows who he is and what he wants. Bran thinks he knows what he wants, but a pair of brown liquid eyes (belonging to Mack) and Jake's steady, solid, presence are about to show him that the best plan is the unexpected one.I liked everything about this. I liked that though Bran had these rules, and who he thought Jake was, there was no long, contrived ‘will they? won't they?' The attraction clearly hadn't abated, and neither of the MCs did the coy dance. I liked how the relationship developed organically, during the course of months over which they shared deep conversation, silly times, and scorching smexy times. I love how [a:Lane Hayes 7125719 Lane Hayes https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1559106511p2/7125719.jpg] brings to life characters who may have been through the wringer but are still on their feet and living, without schmaltz but with tons of heart. Speaking of hearts, I'll just say that Mack now owns mine. I only have two quibbles. 1) Towards the end (at around 80%) some ‘stuff' happens and Bran acts a little stupid. It seemed to me that, though he denied it, he was holding a grudge for what a 17 y.o. did or didn't do. A bit sanctimonious.2) I did the audio by [a:Michael Ferraiuolo 13467952 Michael Ferraiuolo https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1498214961p2/13467952.jpg], and he did a bang up job except that at one point Michael Martinez, from [b:The Right Words 23547087 The Right Words (Right and Wrong, #1) Lane Hayes https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1415773611s/23547087.jpg 43146536] appears (he and Luke stop by Bran's store) and for some reason the narrator decides to give him an ‘accent', which is bizarre because he didn't have one in the previous book, and as far as I know, though of Mexican parentage, he was born and raised in California. Things that bother me. Shrug