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Tony award-winning musician Reese Matheson’s life resembles a natural disaster, and caregiver Jude De La Torre is caught in the eye of the storm. Can the love these two opposites find together survive caring for an ornery octogenarian with wayward balls and a meddling family insistent upon tradition?
A public break-up is not what Reese expects upon returning from the successful run of his musical in London. All he wants to do is spend time with his beloved grandfather and musical mentor, who suffers from Alzheimer’s. Reese knows he doesn’t have much time left before the elder Matheson doesn’t remember him. In classic “Hurricane Reese” form, he moves into the cottage by the sea, displacing Jude, the intriguing caregiver he’d hired two years before. When Grandpa proves too much for Reese to handle on his own, Jude comes to his rescue, taming Grandpa… and the Hurricane as well. Soon all Reese can think about is how to get Jude out of his scrubs and into his bed. Permanently. Will Hurricane Reese destroy everything in its wake, or will this gay odd couple learn to harmonize together?
Review:
A fun, quick read, I found the characters to be delightful and moving. Merrill tackles difficult subjects like Alzheimer’s, religious intolerance and coming out in a non-sensationalist way. I found the writing to be solid and the pacing good, except for the second half of the novel but that was because I was impatient for the characters to come together, and not a writing flaw.
Reese is impulsive and overbearing and Jude is stubborn and hard to read. But their character defects made them relatable to the reader and even complimented each other. Jude is Filipino and I really appreciate the author using Filipino culture in a meaningful way, addressing not only their food and religion, but she also captured the importance of family. Refreshingly, family also matters to Reese and it is another place in which their compatibility intersects. His care of his grandfather feels authentic and endears the reader even more to Reese’s character.
The book is part of a trilogy. I look forward to reading the other books in the series.
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