"People in this town are afraid of outsiders, but it's not like regular, small-town paranoia. It's like 'you could learn our secret and get us all killed' paranoia." [p. 145]
Devon Murphy is something of a drifter. Like his mother, he has the knack of getting people to do what he wants -- but unlike his mother he isn't comfortable with his gift, so tends to avoid close relationships. When his grandmother summons him to the small coastal town of Rowan Harbor, Devon packs up his life in his father's old Corvette and hits the road.
And then hits a tree, writing off the car and breaking his wrist, as he swerves to avoid a deer. Luckily he's only a few miles from Rowan Harbor. Even more luckily, the huge wolf which emerges from the woods doesn't seem to be a man-eater. And pretty soon, help is at hand.
Devon feels instantly at home in the town, though it's years since he visited. His old friends are delighted to see him, and he makes new friends too -- though one of them has suffered a spate of 'accidents' that seem rather too coincidental. Devon would like to find out more about Maria's problems, and he'd really like to understand why everyone was so pleased when he got a blast of static electricity shaking 'professional bad cop' Wade Hunter's hand. (Doesn't hurt that Wade is gorgeous.)
But there's something strange about the town, and it's not just the low crime rate or the way that Devon seems to have been expected.
This is a sweet, simple, charming M/M romance with supernatural elements. It's the first in a trilogy of trilogies (so one can forgive the 'happy for now' ending and the lack of resolution). There are some nitpicks: the romance happened almost instantaneously, the protagonist seemed a little too unconcerned that not only his gran but his childhood friends had been keeping the truth from him, there was no real obstacle / antagonist. But the characters were all likeable, the dialogue was good, and the setting delightfully cosy.
Does anyone remember the Nightworld series (never completed) by L. J. Smith? This reminded me of those, which I devoured as quickly as I could find them in the late 90s.
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