First

\"Yeah, acknowledging he was gay was one thing—doing anything with that knowledge was something else entirely. And Tommy wasn’t ready to go down that road just yet. In fact, not for a long while yet.\"
Do you know that feeling when a very favorite author releases a new book? It's practically incendiary, and that's how I felt when KC Wells premiered 'First'. The blurb pulled me right in and, well, let's face it people, the cover isn't half-bad. Actually the cover is gorgeous, and it even prompted me to buy a paperback at GRL2015 for KC to sign. Not only is the model gorgeous, rumor has it he's the sweetest, nicest, and most talented man you could ever meet.
I fell in love with Tommy from the first moment. He’s a shy, quiet guy from a tiny little town in Georgia, means that everything in Atlanta causes massive culture shock. It broke my heart when he came out to his parents at Christmas. Tommy was sure that they loved him enough to accept him being gay. Unfortunately, Tommy dealt with the hardcore reality that too many kids deal with, and he was disowned and banished from the house.
\"For a man who’d lost count of how many times he’d made a guy come, there had been something so new about the whole experience. For the first time, Mike had seen the act through someone else’s eyes, and it had been almost… humbling.\"
Tommy is the best thing to happen to Mike, he just doesn't know it at the time. Mike has been in the porn industry for twenty years, and he's lost out on many relationships because of it. Mike isn't ashamed of what he does, he has strict standards, and the new bareback porn he's staying far away from. Unfortunately there's a lot of new stuff coming down the pipes, i.e. gay-for-pay actors who are horrible to work with, that's making Mike wonder whether it isn't time to be done.
Tommy brings such joy and zest into Mike's world, awakening it in a way he hasn't experienced in a long time. He is so very different from the majority of guys Mike has ever known. He's very afraid that will change if Tommy knows about the porn. Tommy may have rejected his family’s beliefs about homosexuality, but his small-town upbringing is very evident in his thoughts about relationships and trying to see where one might go with Mike. It's a time of getting to know one another, and it warmed my heart and soul many times.
\"He was in love with a guy who he’d just discovered made his living from having sex with guys for thousands of other people to watch. And that was just the tip of the iceberg. There were the feelings of betrayal that twisted Tommy’s guts into an ugly mess. Because Mike had just taken something that was theirs and stomped all over it.\"
I have to give a gigantic amount of kudos to the author. This could have been a wonderful, yet predictable, book. Instead, KC really delved deeply into the emotions of both characters, and didn't shrug off the issues. There was no insta-cure, and I'm more in awe of her talent than I was before. This is a magnificent story that I loved more and more with each page.
NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews

5 Stars
I was given this ARC by Inked Rainbow Reads in exchange for an honest review.
I absolutely loved this book. Tommy was sweet and Mike was much older, but their relation worked. It was great to see how the author brought them together. I had a connection with both of them almost immediately. I really fell in love with both of them.
Mike’s friends were absolutely hilarious. The author was able to show how someone who was disowned by their family was able to raise above everything and still be able to find love and a new family.