3,5 stars ( )

Again, the narrator drops the rating. ( )

Unfortunately, this is a three star read for me.
Everyone and their cousin was eye-deep in Daniel's business. That attitude constantly grated on my nerves and spoiled most of the book.
There are only three people that I liked: Daniel, Cam and Jordan. In the end - Bree, she really came through for Dan. The rest, even Jake, I really didn't care much for. Haters hated, the rest assumed, judged, nagged, stalked or practiced hissy fits. If I were Dan I wouldn't want to live in that meddling swarm of righteous pricks of St. Nachos either.
I am adding "abuse" tag mostly because of the "good" people of St. Nachos, not the abusive parent.
Jake and Dan's half sister didn't make much sense either. Why was she seeking out Dan? It didn't seem like she wanted anything from him financially, emotionally or otherwise. She showed up, muddied up the waters and left. WTF?

PS I am not going into the fact that story itself felt disjointed, especially towards the end. Other reviews mentioned it plenty. ( )

I've loved this whole series and this book certainly lives up to the previous ones. I don't want to say it's my favourite 'coz that would be like picking a favourite among your children! But, for sure, Daniel touched something in my heart. It's a story of redemption and integrity, love and compromise all told from Daniel's perspective and yet, through him, we learn so much about the people in his life.

A definite Recommend! ( )

The St. Nacho’s gay series is set in a small coastal California town where a group of interesting individuals live and for the most part get along peacefully. While there’s a little prejudice and bias, the laid-back community mostly accepts any and all who settle there.

In Maxfield’s Jacob’s Ladder, Yasha (AKA Jake) and his brother Daniel were in a horrific car accident caused by the coastal fog and Daniel was pulled out of his expensive sports car by firefighter Cameron Rooney, whom Daniel has nicknamed the “abdominal firefighter” because of his huge size. Daniel has recently come out and is in the process of divorcing his exacting, finicky wife whose many rules have kept Daniel bound and unhappy for decades. Although he’s known since his teens that he’s gay, successful, wealthy developer Daniel married because his mother was heartbroken when his brother came out, leaving Daniel as the only “normal” son.

After the accident, Daniel is left with a mangled but repaired hand, physical therapy, and a succession of one-night stands as well as a Kanji tattoo on his back. He’s fighting his attraction to Cam until they become best men at Yasha’s upcoming wedding. As they get closer, Daniel realizes he loves Cam. But how can someone as shallow and manipulative as he is gain the love or someone as gentle and giving as Cam? And even if Cam loved him, they’d have no future since Cam sees St. Nacho’s as his ultimate haven while Daniel sees it as a prison.

The power of the story relies on readers liking both the wealthy Daniel and the altruistic, big-hearted Cam.

Read the rest of my review at AAR: http://www.likesbooks.com/cgi-bin/bookReview.pl?BookReviewId=9529 ( )