Brief Encounters

Title: On the List
Author: LA Witt
Length: 17,000 words
Publisher: Amber Allure
Genre: m/m contemporary
Rating: B

Blurb:
In spite of swearing left and right he’s a bachelor forever, Derek Windsor is ready to settle down with Elliott Chandler. After a long-distance relationship and a few months of wedding planning, it all comes down to this weekend—a wedding on the Washington coast, then they can start their life together on Maui.

But with the ceremony just days away, Derek’s family drops the bomb—they aren’t coming. They refuse to support or be a part of his marriage to another man. All his life, Derek has ached for his parents’ approval, and their last-minute wedding snub leaves him reeling. Though Derek doesn’t question his love for Elliott, can he still go through with a wedding that could irreparably sever his relationship with his family?

Review:
On the List is the third and final instalment of the series with Derek and Elliott. At the end of the last book, Infinity Pools, Derek had proposed to Elliott. The wedding day is fast approaching now and Derek is looking forward to putting the long distance relationship with Elliott to rest and heading off to Maui for his HEA. Everything seems perfect when Derek learns that his family are refusing to attend the wedding, leading to a period of doubt for Derek over whether he could give up his family for Elliott.

I’ve really enjoyed this series so far and this final book was no exception. It’s taken from Derek’s point of view and one of the best parts of the story was seeing his anticipation of spending his life with Elliott. His love for Elliott shines through his thoughts and when they are together their close bond is apparent. When things come crashing down in the form of his family’s homophobia, I thought Derek’s initial confusion was done well. I think in his situation I would have been more angry rather than sad and conflicted, but the way his past feelings for his father especially were set out gave me some insight into why he behaved as he did.

Elliott takes a bit of a back seat in the story as the focus is mostly on Derek, but his gentle patience plus his amusing ability to organise reminded me of why he was such a sympathetic character in the other books. I liked that the two men talk about their problems sensibly, showing good sensitivity and understanding. It made me very optimistic of their HEA.

My only real niggle was that the end of the story was a little sweet for me. That was only a minor point though – after all, who doesn’t get a bit sentimental at weddings?

In the end this was a nicely written character based romance with a touch of angst but which left me with the warm fuzzies. Those readers who enjoyed the previous two books won’t be disappointed with this one and if you’ve not read any of the books in this series so far, then I’d recommend that you pop over to AA and buy them up.