This was an excellent long novella and much more than your typical gay romance. Tim works in a hospital. He is still grieving for his brother, a marine killed in Iraq. He buries himself in work until he meets ex-Marine Ty. Ty's a new patient, who lashes out at everyone in his anger. Tim agrees to work with him and as Ty heals, they become friends. But, both of them have secrets that need to be overcome before than can move past friendship. The story is touching, especially the painful reality of living through combat. The author handles these issues with compassion, without lessening the sacrifice soldiers make. Ty and Tim are well developed characters; I empathized with their pain, celebrated their happiness, and would love to read more about them. Highly recommended. ( )

This is, somewhat a surprising for me. I'm used to stories by Bobby Michaels full of humor and sex, and instead this time the sex is in second position: more important is the building of the relationship beween Ty, the veteran, and Tim, the social worker who tries to bring out the man from his post traumatic depression.

Ty is a former marine, better and ex-marine, who was thrown out from the Corps. He is angry and injured, but he is not angry with other people. He growls but not bits. And he is gorgeous, tall and muscular. Tim can possibly resist to him and when he is discharged from the hospital, he takes him home. He has immediately felt something for this man,maybe because his beloved brother was a marine, and he died in Iraq, or maybe because Tim is gay and Ty is a beautiful man, or maybe because Ty needs really someone who takes care of him.

So they settle down in a strange relationship, like a marriage without sex. But Memorial Day is near and it will be a day of revelation.

Tim, like many other characters of Bobby Michaels, is a cute guy who has had some problems to be acquainted with his being gay: so he has no sex experience at all. And Ty instead, is a character with a problematic past, but this fact has not hardened his heart, he is still capable to love, even if, maybe, not so able to exprime it.

This is a brief story, very tender and to read all at once.