JAMES
I don't know what's more shocking—the sudden end to my marriage, or the fact that I'd married a woman at all. But now I'm broke and homeless, kicked out of my Upper West Side apartment while my ex-wife walks away with everything we've ever worked for. So what's an executive chef stripped of his dignity gonna do? Go back to Jersey with his tail between his legs, that's what.
BEN
I can’t say that spending a decade pining after my best friend was the best use of my time. While I'd pretty much become an expert at the whole unrequited love thing, I'd resigned myself to the fact that Jimmy and I were never gonna happen. But when Jimmy turned up on my doorstep in his hour of need, I jumped at the chance to offer him my bed—er, couch. I mean, what are friends for, right? Now that he's released from the shackles of matrimony, I can't wait to show him exactly what he's been missing out on all these years. What I didn't anticipate was him showing me that maybe I'd been missing out too.
I love second chance romances and Home Skillet ticked all the boxes there. James and Ben have been best friends for, well, pretty much ever and I could easily feel their connection in the writing. The story is told in alternating POV’s, which is good because the two of them have very different styles of communication and I don’t think they would have been as well fleshed out as they were with just one side of the story. Especially with James. If I hadn’t had his perspective I would have been way fussier with him than I kind of already was.
Both Ben and James work in the culinary world and while it could be said that James works in the culinary arts it could also be said that Ben has a job in a kitchen. James is passionate about his career and sacrificed Ben for that passion. I didn’t like that. I understood it, but that didn’t mean I had to be on board with it. James and Ben were bone buddies from way back and James ended that so he could marry a woman and further his career. He and his wife had a business transaction, nothing more and frankly, I just can’t wrap my romance-loving-brain around it.
Ben was in love with James since forever and it was just plain sad to read his perspective a lot of the times. Dude had it bad and James was all about James. Right up until he lost it all and had to get his proverbial house in order. I think that’s where my issue was. James changed because he had to, not because of some innate desire to connect with another human outside of a kitchen, and that too made me sad.
Ben was snarky, funny and charming. I liked him even if his self deprecation was a little much at times. When James (Jimmy, to Ben) left, Ben put his life on hiatus and lived from paycheck to paycheck, hating his boss and one-night-standing his way through the gay clubs in town. So, on his side it made me wonder, what would have happened to him if Jimmy wouldn’t have come home to him because he needed a place to crash? Would he have still been a miserable job zombie or would he have finally grown up and become something better for himself?
I loved the premise for this story and the characters were flawed but had hope. Part of what I love about second chance stories is the inevitability of the relationship and that was the one thing that was missing in Home Skillet for me. Ben and Jimmy were back together because of the life path Jimmy’s wife chose, not because the two of them finally got their shit together. Good on her, but shame and damn on the two of them (mostly Jimmy TBH).
I wanted to tell Ben to get off his ass and get himself some happy for his own well being and to slap some sense into Jimmy for being a selfish prick for so many years. BUT, all that ranting being said, the two of them do belong together and while I may be bitter and bitchy about Jimmy’s early life choices, I was pretty happy that they ended up together with a solid HEA.
**a copy of this story was provided for an honest review**
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