Another one for the 'eh' shelf
A nice enough story with an emphasis on the storyboarding of one character. Joe's family background and history is compelling, but for me it came at the expense of Mackenzie's story -- which was odd, because Mackenzie's the one with the angsty, abusive past. The relationship between the two thins out for lack of it; their interactions are obviously meant to be loaded with meaning, but they just felt awkward and inadequate. Mackenzie's POV feels very hastily sketched in, and his actual story arc is a bit feeble: some vague idea about starting a business with no real movement towards doing it and no real explanation for the lack of movement.
The saving grace of the whole thing really is Joe and his family, and all the deep family dynamics that the author explores. In some ways this would have benefitted from being a two-part series, with Mackenzie's story explored a little more in the second book and shitloads of UST through the first. As it was it was a little flat, though the writing was sound enough and the characters were pleasant. I hear there's a sequel, which I might check out at some stage though I'm not going to set the world on fire to get to it or anything.
Not especially recommended, but you could do worse.
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