The Hand-me-down by Zahra Owens

The Hand-me-down by Zahra Owens
Deamspinner Press
Novel: 250pgs
DNF

Blurb:
When a volcano erupts in Iceland and leaves globetrotting headhunter Jez Robinson stranded in Barcelona, he isn’t sure what to do. He has a hard time sitting still, so deciding to make the best of his situation, he pays a visit to his old friend Nick Stone, a retired porn star he shares a history with. Only the visit doesn’t go anything like Jez expected.

First Nick introduces Jamie, his much younger lover, a man so painfully shy he can’t even bring himself to talk to strangers. The love he and Nick share is plain to Jez, but also puzzling, because Nick was never the monogamous type. Then Nick tells Jez he’s dying and wants Jez to look after Jamie.

In his whole life, Jez has never committed to so much as a house plant, so at first he refuses. But Nick and Jamie are insistent, and soon Jamie worms his way into Jez’s graces and his bed, determined to do the convincing Jez’s heart needs.

Thoughts:
I rarely DNF a book because I am one those people who stick with a book until its finish. In regards to this book, I had to quit because if I had continued I would have wrote a one not so good review.  Here is why it didn't work for me.

I was really excited about reading this one, because the premise sounded so interesting. When Jez is stranded in Barcelona, he reconnects with an old friend who also came with benefits. Back in the day, Nick was the biggest porn star and one of Jez's closest friends but then suddenly he fell of the grid. Seems Nick has settled down with his beautiful young lover Jaime. Jez later finds out Nick is dying, and his request is for him to care for Jaime because he doesn’t know how to function on his own.

I won’t give much away because this is not a review but I stopped reading because of all the unsafe sex and the complete lack of respect for the character Jez. I know it could be considered angst and probably add something to the storyline, but Jaime lacks remorse and shrugs his shoulder for everything (for big very unsafe things). Maybe I should have been sympathetic to his plight but since the entire story is told from Jez's pov (talking directly to the reader); all my feelings for Jaime are bad ones.

So at around 65% I called it quits, I just no longer cared. It seemed like maybe things were going to start looking up, but by then it was just too late. This could just be all me, because people seem to like this one a lot.  Just wasn't for me in the end.

Upside- It was nice to read about older characters and all the wonderful food Jaime makes.