Take You There by Willa Okati

Take You There by Willa Okati
Publisher: Changeling Press
Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Erotic Romance, Paranormal
Rating: 4 stars
Reviewed by Fern

Thoughtful, quiet, and just a wee bit on the dryly sarcastic side, Ethan teaches music at the university in Second Chance. With barely enough time to breathe between hysterical students and faculty shenanigans, he’s not looking for Mr. Right — just Mr. Right Now — and only when the moment calls for it. The beautiful man who calls himself “Blue” in a quick, dirty alley encounter should have satisfied him. But now Ethan can’t get Blue out of his mind, and can’t seem to stop looking for him.

Carter –”Blue” when he wants to stay anonymous — wears his scars on the inside, but they’re deep and still bleeding. He doesn’t venture far outside his antique & pawn shop unless he’s desperate for someone to touch and hold him and make him feel good for a little while. He promised himself he would never want more again. The smoldering musician who caught his eye, and what they did in the alley, should have been enough. That should have been the end of it.
It wasn’t. It isn’t. Their encounter left him pregnant, and he’s been frozen since then, not knowing how to break free of his shell or what he should do. Until Ethan finds him — and then, everything changes. Again.

Author’s Note: Also featuring Oscar, everybody’s favorite sarcastic best friend. We all need an Oscar in our lives.

Ethan teaches music at the university of Second Chance. After a super quick “Mr. Right Now” alley encounter, Ethan should have moved on from Blue almost immediately. But he can’t get the man out of his mind and can’t force himself to stop looking for Blue everywhere he goes. Carter has been deeply hurt before and continues to wear the scars inside from the past. Only he can’t get Ethan out of his mind, and when Blue finds himself pregnant, he realizes everything is about to change. Again.

I found this to be an interesting and slightly different Alpha/omega M/M pregnancy book. While the broad outline is fairly standard (one quicky hook-up ends in pregnancy but neither party really caught the others name so it takes time to reconnect) so much about the characters and their personal situations was refreshingly different it really grabbed me into the story as a whole early on. Carter has been hurt and so is extremely reticent, but he has personal secrets and his history isn’t as straightforward as I expected initially. Equally, Ethan might be an Alpha, but his approach to everything – from his work to his relationships to his general outlook on life – is slightly slanted and different to the typical over-confidant, my-way-is-right style of Alpha that is so often shown. These factors meshed really well together in my mind and I felt this gave the whole story a really different perspective and helped me be really eager to see how it would all unfold.

I also adored the depth of emotion throughout the whole story. Ethan was so patient with Carter, instead of being annoyed or frustrated with Carter’s worries and secrets he could hold back with his own needs and desires and help ease Carter so they could work together. This was such a wonderful thing to read and so different to how these stories often go I really enjoyed it. It also helped really solidify for me the depth of caring and understanding that grew between the two men and I could see how they connected together. The growing romance and relationship between them felt real but also felt like something that would last over time. This made it a far deeper and more emotional romance than I had expected from the brief blurb and I loved every minute of it.

Sexy and fun with a good plot this was a great story and one I enjoyed.