It's Not You by Becca Seymour Blog Tour

When a protective ex-cop helps his gorgeous tenant through his recovery, their complicated history is asking for trouble. Will the fear of the past repeating itself destroy any possibility of happiness?

Daredevil drifter Lawrence Crawford is hunting for a place to call home. After ten years of looking, he believes he’s found what he’s been searching for. With a job that pays the bills and a small group of friends he’s opening up to, he lets down his guard. Perhaps too much so. Finding himself in need of support, Lawrence is forced to accept help from the one man who’s been driving him to distraction for the past year. His landlord.

Former cop Billy Hilton made a mistake—admittedly there’ve been many over the years. The latest is when he lets Lawrence believe he isn’t interested in pursuing anything with him. It’s not even the age difference or the fact the guy lives in Billy’s studio apartment that’s the problem. Instead, it’s all him. When Billy offers to play nursemaid to Lawrence, his intentions may not be pure, but they’re honest. And that honesty blows their lives wide open when Lawrence’s past comes knocking on the door, demanding changes and threatening an upheaval neither man may ever recover from.

The fifth installment in Becca Seymour’s stand-alone low-angst, feel-good LGBTQ series, True-Blue. In this small town, there are busybodies, dogs who cause chaos, families who have the “best” of timing, and opportunities for good men to find their perfect match.

Don’t miss our reviews of the rest of the True-Blue series!
For book one, Let Me Show You, click HERE.
For book two, I’ve Got You, click HERE.
For the novella, Becoming Us, click HERE.
For book three, Thinking It Over, click HERE.

 

 

Book 4
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
~ Also Available with KindleUnlimited ~

 

 

He didn’t shrug, nor did he shy away when he answered, “I think you need help and I can give it to you. I want to give it to you,” he clarified. “Honestly, I want to get to know you better.”

Wide-eyed at his honesty, the question of what happened all those months ago burned in my throat. Asking that, without any guarantee of what his answer would be, was too much for now. Already I felt vulnerable. Not only did my foot and wrist throb, but my head stung and threatened to explode, and the cuts and scrapes stung something fierce.

As if sensing my inner battle, he said, “Listen, I am sorry about what happened… before.” His jaw clenched at the words, an emotion flashing in his eyes that I couldn’t read. “I wasn’t in a great place, and I’m just now trying to sort my own shit out. I pushed you away in the worst possible way—”

“The shittiest,” I added, cutting him off, finally finding my voice and the confidence to speak up. This wasn’t the first apology he’d given, but with my ego hurt after his brush-off, I hadn’t been in the right place to accept it.

His lips tilted high, the movement sending those damn wings crazy. “The shittiest,” he agreed. “I want to help you and get to know you in whatever way you’ll let me. What do you say?” A small shrug followed, the first hint of uncertainty I’d seen from him.

I tilted my head back, wincing at the pull, the bump forming on my head reminding me it was probably best I shouldn’t ignore my injuries. Heading to the hospital wasn’t going to put me at risk. Intellectually I knew that, but despite both time and distance, some habits were hard to break.

Looking back at Billy, who remained crouched at my feet, hand still touching me, I said, “Okay. I could probably do with getting my head checked out.”

 

 

 

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Veronica – ☆☆☆☆
The first scene in this book left me expecting an angst-filled story, but that wasn’t what I got. Things didn’t always go smoothly between Billy and Lawrence but even when challenges were thrown up, I felt like they dealt with things like adults, even if they weren't perfect.

There is a more than 10-year age gap between Billy and Lawrence. I’m not usually a huge fan of large age gaps in romance, but except for a few times when it was mentioned, I didn’t even notice it. I really enjoyed watching Billy earn a second chance for love with Lawrence. Their romance was lovely and natural and was never overly emotional or gushy.

I enjoyed It’s Not You, it made for easy reading. My only criticism would be at times there was too much telling us what had happened and not enough showing us. But really. this is another good romance from Becca Seymour.


Angie – ☆☆☆☆
Billy and Lawrence are so wonderful together. They had one hot encounter and then cooled off and really got to know each other. Both men have a lot of issues and had to work through them to get their slice of happiness. Great addition to the series.


Sarah – ☆☆☆
3.5 stars

The age gap in this book feels enormous at the start. Lawrence is an under-employed Gen Z skater/parkour daredevil while Billy is a retired cop. They’re an unlikely match and Billy’s dickish behaviour only makes things worse.

Thankfully, both men have some redeeming qualities. Lawrence’s accident brings out Billy’s nurturing side and while Lawrence is young, he has an emotional maturity that makes him feel older than Billy at times. However, the quiet domesticity that Lawrence and Billy sink into doesn’t completely make sense for adventure-seeking Lawrence, age gap or not. Whenever something reminded me of Lawrence’s age or his interests pre-Billy, I found it impossible to cheer on the relationship.

The first part of this book is cute and fairly predictable. Living together brings the men closer and the men soon learn to make room for each other in their lives. There’s a plot twist about halfway through – that I didn’t predict – which adds a whole lot of over-the-top drama to an otherwise gentle romance. I really don’t think this book needed to plunge into soap opera territory with high society drama and an unredeemable villain. I think this subplot actually detracts from the slow, careful relationship building and character development in the rest of the book.

Like the previous books in the series, I struggled to fully engage with Billy and Lawrence. They’re a little too domestic, a little too conservative, a little too serious for me.

 

 

 

BECCA SEYMOUR lives and breathes all things book related. Usually with at least three books being read and two WiPs being written at the same time, life is merrily hectic. She tends to do nothing by halves so happily seeks the craziness and busyness life offers.

Living on her small property in Queensland with her human family as well as her animal family of cows, chooks, and dogs, Becca appreciates the beauty of the world around her and is a believer that love truly is love.

Connect with Becca

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Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of It’s Not You (True-Blue #4) by Becca Seymour to read and review.