I was disappointed in Wake Up Call after enjoying several of J.L. Merrow's previous releases, especially her Shamwell Tales series. The book started with great promise, as we are introduced to the absolutely adorable Devan Thompson, a friendly auto mechanic who has come to the fictional port village of Porthkennack in search of answers about his past. He meets Kyle Anthony, whose narcolepsy/cataplexy has been mistaken for alcoholism by the Porthkennack residents. The two strike up an unlikely friendship and then become lovers, but Dev is sure that a posh barrister wouldn't want anything serious with a grease moneky from South London, and Kyle doesn't want to burden anyone with his illness, especially a nice guy like Dev who has his whole future ahead of him.
One of my favorite romance tropes is when two wounded people meet and can't believe they are lucky enough to have found each other. Conversely, my least favorite trope is when two wounded people meet and decide they aren't good enough for each other, leading to one Big Misunderstanding after another because they refuse to communicate their feelings and fears. Dev and Kyle make a lot of assumptions about each other that at first results in repeated scenes of storming away from each other in the old cliched “I'll just keep away from him for his own good” behavior.
I'll admit that it's heartening to watch Dev, a former foster child, find the family that he has always wanted even if that family doesn't quite resemble what he came to Porthkennack to find, but Merrow's choice to focus on the relationships Dev develops with secondary characters means, regrettably, there is less time for his relationship with Kyle.
Wake Up Call is cute and frequently amusing, but frustrating as well. Ultimately the romance suffers from too little communication, and the HEA is less than 100% convincing.
