Books like Stand By You always make me thankful for the life I have and makes me hurt for those who have had to live through horrendous things in their lives. ~ Slick, Guilty Pleasures
Description:
Three months after his rescue from an abusive boyfriend, twenty-two-year-old Romy Myers has landed his first legitimate job—bussing tables at his friend’s new coffee shop. The job has brought him some stability after years of abuse have left him feeling damaged and broken. He’s working hard on his panic and social anxiety, and those things are often tempered by the big, burly presence of Brendan Walker.
From the moment ex-football player Brendan helped rescue Romy from his ex’s abuse, he’s wanted to protect him. And he does, from a distance, with joking text messages, a new gym routine to toughen him up and a genuine friendship. So far it’s been easy—but Brendan’s feelings aren’t just friendly anymore…
When an argument spirals out of control, a hot and heavy make-out session causes Romy’s friendship with supposedly straight Brendan to reach a new level. The last thing Romy wants is to fall for another guy who could potentially shatter him, but Brendan also wakes up a part of him he thought had been destroyed by violence—his heart.
Review copy provided for an honest review
Sometimes a book just hits you in the gut and knocks the wind out of you and that’s exactly what 
happened to me with Stand By You with A.M. Arthur. This was not an easy book to read there were elements of negligence, abuse, hate, and prejudice. On top of that it’s the story of two men who find each other while one is recovering from a horrific incident and the other is coming to terms with his sexuality; it is raw, harsh, and unfortunately real but I loved that in all the bad, they find something to be happy about, something that makes them smile, and someone who loves them no matter what. It really is quite a remarkable love story despite its gritty underbelly.
It’s hard to know where to begin with this review because the story comes in bits and pieces. Romy Myers is working in his friend’s coffee shop and living in his guest bedroom after a disastrous relationship goes really, really bad. Romy hates being indebted to his friends but for the time being he has to be and he’s trying to make the best of it. He knows he has issues and he has reasons for his issues but at the moment he’s not ready to deal with them. Romy doesn’t understand why Brendan the huge man who is friends with another one of his friends makes him feel safe but he thinks it stems from the fact that the man helped rescue him and held him when he needed it and he likes the say Brendan makes him feel.
These two have so many obstacles to overcome and none of them are easy. Romy doesn’t trust easily and Brendan is just beginning to realize that he is in fact gay and has been suppressing his feelings for years. They have a ton of baggage and Brendan has a family he adores that has no clue he’s ever even had same sex feelings. I really loved watching Romy move forward and begin to heal with gentle urging from Brendan. Brendan was very good for Romy and helped him to start taking better care of himself and to bolster his self esteem which was so low, but it wasn’t one sided Romy encouraged Brendan to also move forward in his life and was there for him when he needed a friend.
This is a very hard review to write without spoilers so I’m just going to say please read it; please remember to love and support your children no matter what, please help others when they need you, and please don’t judge others for doing what they had to do to survive. Books like Stand By You always make me thankful for the life I have and makes me hurt for those who have had to live through horrendous things in their lives. While these two men faced so many obstacles the thing they never lost sight of was the way they felt when they were together and the love they shared and that my friends made it one hell of a fantastic love story.
4.5 Stars
Thanks for the review and author intro Slick