Title: Moment of Impact (Moments in Time #1)
Author Name: Karen Stivali
Publication Date & Length: January 7, 2015 – 110pgs
Outside Collin Fitzpatrick’s dorm room is a dangerous place. Beyond his door the students of his small, conservative college think he’s straight, as does his Catholic family who’d disown him if they learned the truth. Inside, he’s safe with his incredibly sexy roommate Tanner D’Amico. Their room makes a perfect place to hide away and fall in love. The moment they cross the line from roommates to lovers, Collin becomes caught between their heavenly passionate encounters and the hellish reality that someone might find out and destroy everything. Tanner’s not used to being so confined, and wants to show the world how much he loves Collin. But Collin’s not sure he’s ready for the impact stepping outside will make.
This is the story of Collin and Tanner, college roommates. The story is told in the first-person, from Collin’s perspective. As well as the central romance, the book tells the story of Collin’s coming out, his relationship with his religious family, his emerging sexuality and his struggle to accept himself and trust others.
This book falls into the genre of New Adult – but a better term might be emerging adult. At the start of the book, Collin is still very entangled with his mother’s beliefs and rules. He doesn’t start to think for himself until Tanner pushes him. In this story, readers watch Collin start to lose his fear and begin to establish himself as his own adult.
Tanner is very different. His bohemian parents accept and encourage him – but they are both noticeably absent from his life as a young adult. While Collin is strangled by family ties, Tanner seems completely untethered to his own family.
The relationship starts slow and builds gently through the story. Most of the time it is believable and the two main characters are genuinely likeable. The supporting characters never move beyond stereotype which is a bit of a let down.
I was put off by a formatting error in this book. Numbers randomly appear and the text is often displaced around each number. In places, it was hard to read around the interruptions.
I am also annoyed that this story has been broken into two separate books when the whole story is only the length of a short novel. Whenever an author does this, it feels like a cash-grab at the expense of readers.
This is a simple New Adult romance. It is an easy read with likeable characters.
Sarah
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