N.R. Walker's Galaxies and Oceans

This was the second book I read after finishing Heated Rivalry, and I think was the book that sort of secured my love for M/M. It also put me on to Walker's works. They have a great knack for writing sympathetic characters and have a deft hand when it comes to how those characters tell each other things like "I love you". A simple and straight forward statement but some authors, like Walker, just know how to make it land.

This is a very low key book, and even with some of the darker subject matter at the start of the book, it reads like so many of your contemporary cinematic rom-dramas. A sleepy sea side village, two souls untethered by their pasts, and a light house.Just two guys trying to make their way while balancing the baggage that they're carrying. This was the first book that was just romantic and I just spent the entire time cuddled on the couch. It stoked a yearning in me to see more queer stories mirror everything I've grown up watching that is just herto-normative and fills every media category known to man. It has the benefit of being among the first of the books I started reading in the M/M genre, so in hindsight I can't say it breaks any rules or defines the genre, but it was well written and comforting and didn't have anyone chasing the Stanly Cup. Also, it has seals. You'll understand that later. 9/10