One promise.
One summer to see it through.
One explosive love fueled by mutual obsession.
The day Clint sees his son, Joey, off to basic training, the young man he’s devoted his life to extracts one promise from him: spend the summer doing something selfish for a change. The request seems harmless enough until Joey puts his best friend, Raven, in charge of seeing it through.
Raven would do anything for the people who took him in as a teen, and, when it comes to Clint, anything comes without limits. When encouraging Clint to explore his selfish side reveals Raven’s love for the older man, Raven is shocked to discover his feelings may not be unrequited. Not only are they returned, but all his darkest, most hidden desires have finally found their match.
Clint’s possession feeds every craving Raven’s ever known. Raven’s openness provides Clint the freedom he’s longed for to take whatever he wants, and soon boundaries are abandoned at the bedroom door. As summer’s promise bleeds into winter, and the threat of Joey’s impending return looms over their heads, Clint and Raven love faster and harder.
When Joey’s disapproval ends up being the least of their concerns, Raven and Clint go to desperate extremes to stay close because something is better than nothing. Facing an uncertain future, both men are left wondering if you can ever go too far or risk too much and still come out on the other side whole.
Bad Wrong Things is an age-gap, best friend’s dad romance with two possessive MCs and themes of hurt/comfort and second chances. Both MCs are consenting adults and eventually get their hard-earned HEA. Use the look inside feature for trigger warnings.
🏳️🌈 Queer romance
⚠️ intense subject matter, won’t be for everyone
🖊 superb writing! Emotional, doesn’t pull punches.
😱 will shock you! (and I love that!)
I love C.P. Harris’ writing. That is probably the most succinct I will be in this review because this book left me speechless. Since I read “Surviving the Merge” I have been waiting for each book that Harris is released and I haven’t been disappointed yet. I think that Harris continually raises the bar!
After I first got through Bad, Wrong, Things I took a bit to try and sort through my emotions and then I read it again. I love when a book makes me do that. The thing about Harris’ writing is that it is full-on, intense, and doesn’t pull any punches. In spite of the fact that all of her books shock me at least once, I have never read anything that compares.
The story of Clint and Raven is complicated and painful, joyous and terrifying. This is the kind of love that should be the basis of all romance, the kind of love that a reader can feel so intensely that it’s painful to read. Their story is complicated because their relationship is a bit complicated. When Raven is young… he is brought to live with Clint and his son Joey. While Raven is growing up, Clint is a type of father figure to him but that quickly changes when Raven is old enough to develop feelings for Clint. Add in the fact that Clint’s son is Raven’s ride or die… and there’s our tangled web.
I loved the juxtaposition of the best friends’ relationship… and the later intensity of Clint and Raven getting to know one another as adults. There is something sweet and caring that Joey and Raven share. They have a friendship that should survive anything the world can throw at them… but will it? Some things are unforgivable, and some things are impossible to move beyond. Harris has a remarkable talent for being able to write authentic relationships… believable broken men and love stories that defy every rule there is.
Harris has such a way with words, whether she’s crafting an intricate conversation, a feverish sexual encounter, or a soul-crushing breakup. This book is stunning. I’m not kidding about having to put it down for a while once I finished it for the first time. The last third of the book rattled me – because there was something massive that I didn’t see coming. Yes, it’s shocking… and I cried…but if there is anyone I want handling a story like this one, it’s C.P. Harris.
I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend any of Harris’ books…but read this one if you want to ache, love, hurt, cry and hurl the book across the room. It’s amazing.
I received an ARC of Bad Wrong Things by C.P. Harris from the author in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 