Review Acceleration by Amelia C. Gormley

Amelia C. Gormley

Acceleration (Impulse #2)

Amelia C. Gormley (self published), November 30, 2012 | 192 pages

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Backblurb:
GAINING MOMENTUM
Gavin Hayes is everything Derrick could ask for in a lover. Gorgeous. Passionate. Great in bed. Derrick finds it very easy to just let himself go, to let Gavin guide him and teach him all the things he missed during a decade of celibacy. In the course of a single weekend, Derrick’s routine is transformed, his mornings and evenings filled with sex. Sweet, seductive, wild, or raunchy, Gavin offers Derrick all the pleasure he’s denied himself for so long.

But learning how to be a lover in bed is one thing. Learning to be one out of bed is another. For Derrick, being alone has become habit. Sharing his confidences doesn’t come nearly as readily as sharing his bed. After so many losses, the last thing Derrick wants is to become dependent upon another person who might not always be there.
And Gavin always being there is far from certain. With an ex-lover lurking in the background, and the question of Gavin’s future health still outstanding, neither Gavin nor Derrick feel capable of asking for anything more than right now. But Gavin won’t be kept on the fringes of Derrick’s life. Can Derrick let someone in before the opportunity passes him by?

Genre & Keywords: M/M Romance, Contemporary, Troublesome past, Domestic violence, Evil ex, Building trust, Solving communication issues

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Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Heat level: 2.5 out of 3 flames
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In this second installment of Amelia C. Gormley’s Impulse series, titled Acceleration, the romantic relationship between handyman Derrick and accountant Gavin picks up speed as the title so aptly announces, after the slow start of their story in the first book, Inertia.
The way the titles in this series are tied to the pacing so far, is highly promising for the third and final installment, Velocity, that’ll be released soon.
It’s really a series to be read in order for a better understanding of where Derrick and Gavin are coming from.

It’s hard not to fall in love with these guys. I have to admit to being a little bit addicted to them. It’s because we follow them so closely in their building relationship, in which they are still dealing with quite some issues. Talk about a character driven story!
Derrick is holding back, out of some sense of self-protection because of the uncertainty concerning Gavin’s health. Gavin addresses Derrick’s non-communicative behavior and the trust issues they have, which lead to pretty intense situations. This book is far more angsty than the first one due to that.

Gavin’s ex adds some fuel to the fire as well. The guy is manipulative and a master in creating doubts and triggering uncertainties, which he also slightly manages to do with Derrick when the two meet. At the same time meeting Gavin’s ex gives Derrick some new understanding of Gavin’s behavior as well. I think that Gormley masters the skill of uncovering all the little nuances of her main character’s feelings and thoughts to a tee. It’s a joy to see these men grow towards a more solid relationship thanks to their personal growth and insights. I can’t help but like novels with main characters that are this rounded.

Like in the first book, Gavin and Derrick’s story is told solely from Derrick’s point of view again. Where I found that this was slowing down things in the first book, I didn’t have that experience in this second installment. Maybe I just got used to it, but I also started to see its appeal. It certainly intensifies the narrative. It gives us as readers an advantage towards Gavin as well, since he doesn’t know about Derrick’s unspoken thoughts while we do. Sometimes I had to remind myself of his unawareness of Derrick’s feelings and force myself to conjure up more understanding for him and his take on things. I found this rather interesting. In a sense Derrick’s slowly exploring, detailed POV, combined with his inexperience and his personal growth, remind me of a coming of age story.

I have to say that the sex scenes in this second story are not only more frequent but also scorching hot. Some sort of D/s dynamics have slipped into their sexy times together, nothing hardcore and no equipment enters the bedroom, only hot commands and rough manhandling. Their bedroom antics go both ways too, which I liked, and are discussed and dealt with in a careful manner. In my opinion the frequent sex was not just for sex sake, but was an important part of their relationship development as well.

To conclude, as I mentioned in my review of the first book, I was curious about how the author would handle the ending of the second book, since the end of the first was very abrupt and at an arbitrary point. To my relief, it was done much better in Acceleration. This time there’s a decent wrap up with a more solid happy ending while at the same time the author left a few threads open and one big question unanswered, to make sure I’m curious enough to want to read the third book. She found a good balance here, and I honestly can’t wait to read the final book of her trilogy!
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