At the age of twenty-five, Leland Meadows has his whole life mapped out in front of him, with four rules to live by:
No new friends.
No dreams or aspirations.
No repeat hookups.
And definitely no committed relationships.
Leland’s looking for safety, not heartbreak and disappointment. Then one day he receives an offer he can’t turn down. Rent is due, and the catering company his best friend’s sister works for is suddenly one server short for the biggest event of the year. Leland accepts the job—but those rules he’s been so careful to follow? They don’t stand a chance against Franklin Kincaid.
At forty-five, the lie Franklin Kincaid has been living his entire life catches up with him.
His job no longer fulfills him—if it ever had.
His marriage is in crisis.
His heart yearns for something he can’t identify—or maybe he’s just too terrified to admit it.
And his children are clueless about all of it.
On a cold and lonely night, Franklin’s search for courage leads him to a rooftop in downtown Seattle, where he finds Leland Meadows instead.
Neither of them would ever be the same again.
***The Fishermen is a best friend’s dad MM romance and Book 2 in the Infidelity series. It ends with a HEA, and can be read as a stand-alone but may be better enjoyed if read in series order. Themes include age-gap, possessiveness, hurt/comfort, and second chances. Both MCs are consenting adults. Please use the “Look Inside” feature for a full list of content warnings.
THE FACTS
📕 visceral and intense
📘 stunning prose
📙 HEA even though you might not think it at times!
📗 wonderful MCs
THE REVIEW
Oh, Leland and Franky.
I have read all C.P. Harris’ writing, so I went into this novel with a pretzel twist of fear and anticipation. Harris has a remarkable skill for riding the line between safe and terrifying when it comes to the intensity of emotion in her man characters. I was not prepared for the journey I went on in this book.
The story begins when Franklin – successful businessman, husband, and father (of familiar souls) – finds himself on a rooftop at a posh party. It is there he meets Leland who has surreptitiously followed Franklin to the roof. Lightening in a bottle is how I would describe this meeting. Two men who are vastly different from one another, begin a journey that neither of them is prepared for.
Whenever I read Harris’ books, I procrastinate about beginning my review. I worry that I won’t be able to write a review in a way that will genuinely sum up the beauty I see in Harris’ writing. Let me clarify I am not a “romance” reader. The work of this author is always so much more than romance. Harris digs into the muck of relationships. She doesn’t shy away from any confronting moments; it all ends up on the page. These characters hurt each other physically and mentally, they make decisions that seem nonsensical, they sob until they can no longer catch their breath, and at other times they hold everything inside until the fire raging within is threatening their existence.
This book is beautiful. It is about being hurt so badly in the past that you forget how to love. It’s about loving so much that you lose your grip on the world around you. This book is about grief, pain, love, loss and families. It’s about mistakes and perhaps most importantly about time. This book is measured in moments spent together, moments breathing in the scent of a lover, a moment of pain at the height of pleasure, and lives lived in bite sized pieces of joy and pain. It’s about the fact that it takes time to heal, to figure ourselves out and to know whether we are meant to be together.
This book made me cry more than once. It’s very real and I found myself so wrapped up in the characters I felt for them both. During their most dangerous arguments, while they were revealing their riskiest truths, I wanted them both to get what they wanted.
As is so often the case in Harris’ books, these two men have a series of trials ahead of them. There is a happy ending to this story … but it is a battle to get there.
The main characters from the first book in the Infidelity Series, “The Good Liar” weave in and out of the plot of the Fisherman. You don’t need to have read the first book in the series to read the second, but I would recommend it just because it is a great novel. Jasper and Cole are connected to Franklin and Cole’s life becomes entangled with Leland’s. I love the web that Harris weaves connecting these lives together – mostly because it’s all completely conceivable as a reality. There are no leaps of faith needed to buy into the journey these characters are on, and I love that.
If you want a nice fluffy romance, this may not be the book for you. If you want a story that will capture, you and leave a mark… this is the one. I feel like I have said it before, but all C.P. Harris’ books leave a mark.
THE LINKS
🖊 Author
I received an ARC of The Fisherman by C.P Harris from the author in exchange for an unbiased review.
Kinzie Things 