Dream (Skins Book 1)

This book was NOT an easy read. Like most of Garrett's books, it's the kind to break your heart to too many pieces before it is reassembled back together. Yet there is always a sort of hope because we KNOW Garrett will bring us a HEA even if it will takes us a while to get there.The story is told from both the MCs POV which was perfect in this one. We needed to understand them both and I gotta say it wasn't easy. We've technically met Dylan Hart before in Garrett's only MF novel "What Matters" (written as Gracie Leigh). His relationship with his best friend Sam turns to be more than he can handle now that he realizes he can never get more than a threesome with him and his girlfriend Eddie. Thing is, Eddie and Sam are soulmates and he feels like an intruder, nothing more. Not knowing how to deal he shuts both of them off and goes to a kinky sex club to blow some steam.Angelo Giordano life couldn't be more miserable. He used to be a successful dancer but after being diagnosed with an illness he finds himself back home, barely able to get up off bed in the morning yet needing to do it so he can run his father's failed coffee house. His debts are all over the place and his mother refuses to sell the place which only piles more debts. Everything is closing in on him and with his body failing him again and again he can't see any future. His only escape is a kinky sex club he used to work in before he left for the states for his dancing career.Dylan and Angelo meet in discrete room. One that suppose to be safe enough to be who you want to be without having the consequences of meeting the other person ever again.. yet something happen in their first encounter and when they accidently meet in Dylan's work things get confusing fast. Angelo behaved like a dick, but Dylan is genuinely intrigued by the guy, enough to try and pursue him. Yet Angelo has enough on his plate, besides a bit of sex as his other alter-ego "Angel" he isn't ready to reveal his secrets to anyone. Even his family doesn't know anything about his current medical situation.Dylan offers Angelo a friendship and through it, somehow Angelo confesses. It's not easy for Dylan to learn everything that Angelo is dealing with but he truly wants to pursue a relationship with him even if they started off with mostly a physical relationship, playing games at the club where they can be whomever they want to be. But little by little things change for both of them and so decisions needs to be made.What I really enjoyed though was even though you'd expect Angelo to be the more "needy" one because of his situation, Angelo proved that he sees Dylan enough to take care of him as well and not just fall into the role of 'the one in need'. For me, it was really important seeing how much EACH of them impacted the other's lives. They both changed and grew through falling in love with one another.This one was a tender loving story, but don't be fooled.. it also had quite a lot of kinky sex sprinkled in (mostly at the start). Really enjoyed this one. Yet something was missing for me. At the moment I haven't a clue what it was. But it left me at times too impatient. One last thing I want to add, I've read Angelo's "diagnosis" on Garrett's facebook group and actually I wish I hadn't. It would have given a different sense to the story learning it all as Dylan did, which is why I haven't written a word about what Angelo is dealing with.You should try this one, it's quite unique not only in what Angelo is dealing with but also the way their relationship was building somehow backwards.Tags: Contemporary MM RomanceMore @ Ultra Meital Reviews.

I can’t get enough of Garrett Leigh’s wonderfully crafted guys and their love stories. She takes such care in the details of giving her characters real-world struggles and finding just who they need to take a little weight of the world off their shoulders. This book won’t let you put it down with a story that brings 2 good men together with some serious spicy heat and enough angst to keep you in your feels.Dylan has just left the FOB relationship he was in with his two best friends and is feeling very lonely. His job is taxing and he just needs some release. He escapes to a sex club for the night and he has a night that he can’t get off his mind. At his job as a financial advisor in walks in the anonymous man he can’t forget from the club, and before they realize it the walls that have been closing in on them both fall away. Angelo is drowning in debt, obligation to his family, a life he can’t escape, and a disease that is crippling him. Dylan might be just what he needs, and Angelo might be the man Dylan needs to love.Angelo and Dylan both stole my heart right along with each other’s. I loved the care and patience Dylan had for Angelo, who has all the stereotypical fire of an Italian man. Very rarely is falling in love easy, and I loved how their story took some twists and turns to get there with real world problems and a major kick in the pants for Angelo to realize what he wants and that being vulnerable doesn't make you weak. This sweet story had me from page one all the way to the end and left me one clicking the rest of the series.

Ah, the delicious pain of a Garrett Leigh book. I think those familiar with this author can agree, if you’re looking for light and fluffy love stories, look elsewhere. If you want something that will twist your heart, this is the ticket. I return time and again to this author because, though I know there will be heartache, I know it will also include a story worth telling and the characters will be people worth knowing. In those ways, Dream was similar to the many of my favorite hurt/comfort romances by this author. I enjoyed the characters, found their backstories incredibly interesting, and was looking forward to seeing how their time together would play out. I also love that I regularly get to see couples in the true sense of the word. Dylan and Angelo both lean on one another and help make each other’s life better- there’s no white knight rescuing the downtrodden character, but a real partnership.As much as Dream had the hallmarks I’ve come to expect and love from the author. It was also a bit different from many of her other books. A lot of readers commented that this book was significantly hotter than her other works. Considering how Angelo and Dylan meet, that’s not all that surprising, but it’s worth noting there is a noticeable focus on the sex scenes in Dream. The scenes were well done and didn’t detract from the relationship and character development, but it was an approach I normally don’t expect from this author. Beyond the physical aspects, I thought there was a bit of a different feel to the book overall. There’s certainly a good amount of angst, both between characters and with things the men are facing individually, but Dream felt less weighty and the conflict less drawn out than many of Miss Leigh’s other novels. That isn’t to say I was unsatisfied with the resolutions, the pacing, or this couple as a whole, I just didn’t get quite as drawn into their universe as I normally am. All in all, I enjoyed Dream and would certainly recommend it to fans of hurt/comfort romances. After this book, I can say I’m definitely looking forward to more from the new series.

While I really enjoyed this story and the couple, I felt like there was something missing with their relationship. I needed more for their connection and with regards to their intimacy and relationship; it built up nicely yet I was left still feeling a little bit unsatisfied.Also, I felt the mother's arc wasn't handled well. She did a sudden three-sixty with zero explanation and then all was forgiven and forgotten? I wish her arc could have been tied up more tightly.All in all, an enjoyable read.

I enjoyed this book, I liked the characters and the storyline. However, I didn't really like the graphic sex scenes and I thought a lot of it was irrelevant to the main story, but that's just a personal opinion.

A fairly bleak and emotional read overall. It had its moments but at first it really lacked any sort of hope and I wasnt sure what direction the plot was going to go in. Main characters; Angelo and Dylan were nice enough and I found myself rooting for them without really meaning too. Overall a decent read.

Wasn’t sure about this one at first because the characters did my head in but the more I read the more I grew to like them and the story. By the end I liked them a lot and I enjoyed the story more than I thought I was going to

First time with this author Realy enjoyed this one about Dylan and Angel great chemistry between them loved how they met and how got together not saying much about book don't want to spoil it