Author Interview, Review & Giveaway ~~ Never Too Late by Sloan Johnson
Series: Home in the Heartland #1
Author: Sloan Johnson
Genre: Adult, M/M Romance
Published: March 7, 2016
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Dax: My life ended six years ago. No, really. I was dead on the side of the road following a gruesome motorcycle accident. From what I’ve been told, it’s only because of one stubborn man that I have another chance to make something of my life. I no longer hate him for screwing up what I thought I wanted. I want to thank him. NEED to tell him what his actions mean to me.
Now, I’m headed back to the town I’ve never set foot in even though it’s a huge part of my life. I’m not thrilled about that, but the job offers haven’t exactly been flowing in. They’ll probably think I’m crazy, because there’s no way I won’t be able to look at every guy I walk past, wondering if he’s the one who saved me. Michael: My entire life, I wanted to save lives. I’d earned a full-ride scholarship and had been accepted to med schools across the country. I was so close to making those dreams a reality until the night held a dying man in my arms. I’ve never been able to get the images of his lifeless body caked in mud out of my head. Even when the paramedics tried to take over trying to save him, I couldn’t let go. I never let go. Eventually, my guilt over not doing more cost me everything but my son. And now, I worry I’ll lose him if I don’t get it together. I’ve often thought that if I could find him, maybe I could get some closure and finally get my life back on track. Now he’s here and I’m more of a mess than ever. Once the truth comes out, will he keep trying to save me or will he realize that it’s too late? |
Inspiration is a funny thing. Sometimes, a fleeting moment in time sparks this huge idea. That’s definitely what happened with Never Too Late.
Last summer was my twentieth class reunion. I was never a huge joiner in school. I was the fat kid who could usually be found in the choir room, orchestra room, or library when I wasn’t volunteering to help teachers with the underclassmen. There were kids I talked to, but I wasn’t best friends with anyone. The only time I went to prom was as a freshman, when one of my friends set me up with her boyfriend’s friend. They were both far too old to be there, which was why she wanted her boyfriend to have his friend there. I wore a satin, dusty rose, off-the-shoulder number that looked horrid, even in the early nineties. By all rights, my reunion should have come and gone unnoticed by me.
But that’s not what happened. I was excited about it. For the first time in my life, I was damn proud of what I’d accomplished in my life. No, I’m not a college basketball coach, a professor, a cancer researcher, or anything along those lines, but I’m living my dream. I wanted to show that off.
The funny thing about reunions is that some people haven’t changed a bit. They still look so much like they did during school that there’s no mistaking who they are. Then, there are the other ones… the classmates who’ve aged in such a way you can’t remember them. At all. And even hearing their name makes you cock your head to the side and think about who in the hell they are.
That was the case with one guy in particular. I wasn’t surprised that I didn’t recognize him. We’d run in completely different groups. Completely. But for some reason, he and I got to talking that night.
He told me the story of the night he almost died. The night a flight nurse revived him because he was dead on the side of the road. And as he talked about how he’d give anything to find the person who refused to give up on him, my heart ached. I don’t remember much about him from our time in school, but I know the man openly crying at the bar while talking about the shambles of his life was not the man he’d have wanted to grow up to be.
Being a fiction writer is wonderful. To some, it may seem strange, but to me, it allows me to give someone a happily-ever-after. No, I can’t change my former classmate’s life. I can’t take him by the hand and lead him to the nurse who saved him. But I can take that piece of him and mold it into something magical. I’d give anything to be able to help him find peace in real life. Since I can’t, I have taken a piece of him, woven pieces of other people I’ve met on this crazy journey of life, and written a story that ends with a smile. I can only hope that others enjoy the story as much as I did when I wrote Dax and Michael.
3.75 Stars
As always Sloan Johnson delivers the goods! Never Too Late is another beautifully written, heart felt and inspirational story.
Two people who’s lives are entwined by a horrific accident. Neither one getting over the night their lives were forever changed, but in very different ways… For Dax Collins it was like a rebirth and for Michael Underwood it was only the beginning of his downward spiral.
Years later, Michael is a widower with a young son, who has lost everything and is just trying to hold it together. While Dax’s life is beginning to turn around… He is starting over in a new town with a new job. When they meet again neither one knows who the other is. Just two strangers… .Due to some misunderstandings, they seem to dislike each other greatly and it’s the opposite of love at first site! After they get to know each other, they both realize they were hasty in their judgement. They start to form a magnetic friendship that they both seem to need desperately. Michaels’s young son Jagger is the catalyst… His bond with Dax was simply beautiful. I loved the chemistry between all three characters. As the men get closer, lines get blurred. Feelings are starting to develop… Micheal seems to accept his feeling rather quickly. I wanted to see him struggle a bit more with his romantic feeling towards a man instead of a woman. I did loved how their relationship evolved, friends to lovers. Once their secret is revealed, I was expecting more of an eruption between the two…. Michael’s insecurity and constant belittling of himself did seem unwarranted at times, but Dax was right there being encouraging and supportive. They are both caring and tender… maybe saving each other along the way. Was it fate that brought them together? Can they let go of the past and move on together?? Read and find out.
An ARC was provided to Blushing Babes Are Up All Night in exchange for an honest review.
| Sloan Johnson is a big city girl trapped in a country girl’s life. While she longs for the hustle and bustle of New York City or Las Vegas, she hasn’t yet figured out how to sit on the deck with her morning coffee, watching the deer and wild turkeys in the fields while surrounded by concrete and glass.
When she was three, her parents received their first call from the principal asking them to pick her up from school. Apparently, if you aren’t enrolled, you can’t attend classes, even in Kindergarten. The next week, she was in preschool and started plotting her first story soon after. Later in life, her parents needed to do something to help their socially awkward, uncoordinated child come out of her shell and figured there was no better place than a bar on Wednesday nights. It’s a good thing they did because this is where she found her love of reading and writing. Who needs socialization when you can sit alone in your bedroom with a good book? Now, Sloan is a tattooed mom with a mohawk and two kids. She’s been kicked out of the PTA in two school districts and is no longer asked to help with fundraisers because she’s been known to lose herself with a good book and forget she has somewhere to be. |
