In the Rough

Title: In the Rough
Author: JB McDonald
Publisher: Torquere Books
Genre: M/M contemporary Romance
Length: 196 pages
Rating: 4.25 stars out of 5

A guest review by Jenre

THE BLURB

When Jay’s daughter is molested in his ex-wife’s care, Jay has to fight to take custody of Emmy. But before he can take her in he has to clean up his act, get a job, an apartment, go into therapy, and prove he isn’t an alcoholic. And that isn’t the hardest part of all of it. To succeed, Jay has to come to terms with his own dark past and learn how to finally put those inner demons to rest.

Rick was abused as a child and always told himself he never wanted to date anyone like his father — out of work, quick to temper, unable to get his life together. As a young man Rick couldn’t help falling in love with Jay, but he knew better than to do anything about it. Jay was his best friend, not what Rick needed in a partner. Now, though, Jay is doing his best for his daughter, overcoming his past and moving forward with his life. Being with Jay might just be Rick’s undoing, if he can find the courage to risk his heart.

THE REVIEW

In the Rough is a sort of follow on from By Degrees – reviewed here – in that the heroes in this book, Rick and Jay were minor characters in the previous book. Both men are in their thirties, with only three years separating them by age. They both have similar backgrounds in that they ran away from home as children and survived on the streets for a time. They also both used martial arts as a way to survive their time during childhood. The similarity ends there as Rick was taken into Social care and Jay was allowed to sleep at the local dogo (a place where martial arts are taught) by the man in charge of it at the time. When we meet the men at the beginning of the book they seem to be complete opposites. Rick now owns and runs the dogo where he spent most of his childhood. He’s not making a lot of money – just enough to buy his own house and feed himself – but he works hard and gets a great deal of self-satisfaction out of his job. Jay is a drifter and a drinker. He moves from one job to another, never settling with anything or living in one place for too long. Jay has also been married and fathered a little girl who is now eight. He sees his daughter, Emmy, at the weekends and, although he loves her, is quite content to pass her back to her mother on Sundays.

All this changes when Jay discovers that his ex-wife’s new boyfriend has been acting inappropriately towards his daughter. He calls his lawyer, who calls social services, who takes Emmy into care. Jay’s wife won’t get rid of her boyfriend and Jay isn’t deemed fit to take Emmy as he has no job and no apartment at the moment.  The authorities give Jay one month to sober up, find a decent job and get a home for him and Emmy. Otherwise Emmy will remain in care.

The story then follows Jay as he tries to get himself sorted out in time. Rick is there as a help for Jay but theirs is a strange relationship. For many years they have been ‘friends with benefits’ which has led to them sharing physically but not emotionally. I found this aspect of the book quite infuriating at times. Because of their pasts, both men are emotionally shut-down. They never share their pasts or even their own thoughts and feelings for each other. Rick is in love with Jay and has been for the past 15 years. However, Jay has rejected anything Rick has had to offer except for the occasional bout of sex. I was annoyed at both Rick and Jay because they could have solved so many of their problems if they had just talked to one another. Instead they hedge round difficult topics, keep everything firmly hidden away and even just leave when things start to become emotionally intense. On one hand I could understand that, given their past hurts, they didn’t want to expose themselves to further harm, yet on the other hand their actions and the way they deliberately shut each other out became annoying after a while.

I have to admit that I found this book quite heavy going. The themes within the book of physical and sexual abuse and low self-esteem meant that the book was unrelievingly bleak at times. A few times whilst I was reading I longed for a bit of light relief that even some of the scenes with Tim and Con from the previous book didn’t provide. This is a perfect book for those of you who like angst, which I usually do enjoy, but even I found it too much. It didn’t help that the book focuses almost wholly on Jay and Rick and their problems, especially Jay, whose past was brought to us by a series of flashbacks.  One part of their relationship which was handled well is the way that their physical relationship changes incrementally throughout the book, each time becoming less just about sex and more tender and emotion-led.  This mirrored the way that the men begin to open up to one another as well, so that by the end of the book, even though things are still not perfect, Rick especially had come to a better understanding of why Jay acts as he does.

In the Rough is incredibly well written. The characters of Jay and Rick were realistic as were the problems that Jay faces in getting Emmy back. The way that Rick feels alternatively frustrated and annoyed by Jay and his refusal to go back to school and better himself, was also done well.  I was pleased that the ending reflected the overall realistic tone and whilst it was upbeat, still retained a subdued tone which fit the rest of the book.

Overall, this is another great book by JB McDonald which shows that she is a talented author who is unafraid of tackling serious subjects in her books.  I would recommend that you read In the Rough: Its themes of abuse and the struggle to overcome the gripping effect of the past may not appeal to everyone but it’s still a book which I considered well worth reading.