Running to You

Billy Joe ran away from his white supremacy family in the middle of the night with his son Tyler.
He drove as far as he could from Mississippi until his car broke in the middle of a snowstorm in Pennsylvania.
Carlos saw Billy Joe and Tyler in the middle of the road and decided to help them. What’s supposed to be help for a night, becomes the beginning of a life of all three together, but their families have other ideas.
Carlos and Billy Joe will have to stand up for what they believe in and who they are, together but also alone.
Waow this book is poetically beautiful.

Billy Joe grew up in a white supremacy family with all that implied (racism, homophobia, hate). One day, after witnesses something awful (I cried, and cried, and cried when I knew what it was) he decided to save his son and run away. Billy Joe had years of conditioning in him, even if he realized that it was wrong. He can’t erase all of it suddenly. He lived in fear all his life, being gay in a family like his, is a death sentence. When he meets Carlos, he’s afraid, lost, and needs to reevaluate his beliefs and fight his fears and prejudice. I really loved Billy Joe, he’s strong and brave, and when he found the courage to fight back, and not hide, he did it beautifully. It wasn’t easy, and Tyler’s safety was at stake. He had a choice, but he decided to fight and have justice. I admired him and wanted to hug him a lot.

Carlos was thrown out by his family when they find out he was gay. Like Billy Joe, he had to leave his family, life, city, and start over on his own. After years of struggling with money while in college, Carlos succeeded to become a librarian and being a proud gay man. He refuses to hide who he is, not after everything he’d been through. That’s why, when he meets Billy Joe, he understood what he’d lived with back home, even if didn’t know everything at first. Carlos is strong and brave, and he had a strength in him that I loved, but deep down, he was still a child who had been rejected by the people who were supposed to love him unconditionally, and it broke me.

Billy Joe is the strength that Carlos needs to stand in front of his family, and Carlos is the balm in Billy Joe’s heart and soul.
The book is beautiful and poetic. I love how the author took me with him into Carlos and Billy Joe’s piece of life. Andrew Grey gives me a wonderful palette of feelings, like a rainbow, I had a lot of emotion throughout the book.

This book delivers two powerful messages, that you’re not a statue, how you’ve been raised doesn’t define who you become, and your family isn’t the one who shares your blood and DNA, but the one who shares your heart.
This book definitely shares my heart…

It’s 5 amazing OptimuMMs…Because…Helliard

Review by Jay at Kimmers' Erotic Book Banter: http://bit.ly/2tPRYln

'Running to You' by Andrew Grey is a story where love is found for two men (and a child) whose histories are full of hatred, discrimination, prejudice, and even dark and unforgivable actions. With 'Running to You', Andrew takes us on a journey full of strength, perseverance and determination to make a better life.

Billy Joe knows that he cannot stay in his Mississippi hometown under the roof of his white supremacist family. He longs for a better life for himself and his son. After witnessing a horrible cruelty sanctioned by his own family, he plans his escape. In the dead of night Billy Joe packs himself, his son, and what belongings he can into his car and sets off with no destination in mind, making it to Pennsylvania before his car gives out during an early winter storm.

Carlos, rejected by his own family for being gay, has made a life for himself. He has put himself through college and begun his career as a librarian. He has friends and is happy with his job but is ultimately a lonely, albeit determined, young man.

On Carlos’ way home from the library navigating the first winter storm of the season he comes across a stranded motorist. When he discovers Billy Joe and his son trying to stay warm his unbelievably big heart offers assistance. Carlos can see himself in the eyes of this stranger and immediately knows there is an unpleasant story ruling Billy Joe and his actions.

On the heels of adversity, what starts out as a chance meeting between Billy Joe and Carlos blooms and these two men set off in a new direction while they grab onto their future. Their path while opposite from their past, is haunted and tested by what they have endured. As they move ahead each man finds a reserve of strength within themselves to support and prop up the other each time the past comes crashing back in.

I read and thoroughly enjoy a lot of Andrew Grey’s work and 'Running to You' is no exception. However, it felt different from his usual style quite possibly due to the nature of this particular story. It blends together beautifully the sad and sometimes dark details of the past with the events of the present and future.

'Running to You' is a heartbreaking story that hits true with today's political turmoil that I, and many others, just don’t understand. I have to wonder if this book wasn’t spurred by some of Andrew’s personal unease with current events. The tale depicts the strength that many have taken and continue to take in the name of equality, love, and acceptance.

**Copy provided to Bayou Book Junkie by DreamSpinner Press for my reading pleasure in hopes of an unbiased opinion, a review was not a requirement.**

This book is another example of the talent and skill that is Andrew Grey. The way this book starts will have you on the edge of your seat, even though you don’t know what’s going on, you know it’s bad. Billy Joe grabs his son and disappears into the night. The story of what happened unfolds throughout the book, but you get pieces until you know. And it’s not an easy story to read.

I liked Billy Joe and Carlos. These were just two every day men, trying to improve their lives, their situation and creating a new life for themselves. They were both great fathers to Billy Joe’s son and thanks to their families, had learned how not to be a parent. The story is full of great supporting characters who come together to create a family with Billy Joe and Carlos. The relationship between the two men was comfortable from almost the very beginning. They just seemed to make a life together without a lot of effort and thought.

No one writes children into stories like this author. He’s able to utilize them to create the perfect dynamic without letting the story be overwhelmed with their presence. Children always enhance the relationship but don’t detract from the story. He’s also woven quite the story in this one that shows some truly negative aspects of humanity, issues that are usually hidden but happen every day in our world. And, because this is fiction, people get the punishments they deserve and Billy Joe and Carlos get their HEA.

I highly recommend you read Running to You. Though there are some tough issues in this book, it never overwhelms the story.

Rating: 4.5 stars

As usual Andrew Grey wrote another beautiful romance.
Billy Joe was raised in a white supremacist family in Mississippi one night he sees something that makes him certain he needs to get out of there. He doesn't want his son raised with that attitude. He gets some supplies, silently packs up his son and slips out in the middle of the night heading as far as he can. He ends up in Pennsylvania in a snowstorm and his car dies. A nice man stops and helps him get it going and finds him a place to stay overnight.

Carlos knows what Billy Joe is going through having done the same six years prior. He helps Billy Joe get settled in the apartment and find a job. They become close friends.

I absolutely loved this story. It started off with a touch of mystery making you not want to put down the book. It is a real page-turner. I loved Tyler, Billy Joe's son. My only issue with the story was Tyler seemed much older than 2 going on three. That said I adored him and he made the story. The connection with Carlos and Billy Joe is great as well.
If you are looking for a good friend to lovers, coming out, cute kids, and all over great romance I highly recommend this.