My Review: Want You Still: by CE Ricci & Marley Valentine

Total Star Rating: 4 Stars

I feel nothing. Yet, I feel fucking everything. ❞

– CE Ricci & Marley Valentine, “Want You Still”

What It’s About:

The official synopsis:

The heart always wants what it can’t have…

Duty, honor, and sacrifice. Dedicating my life to these elements, for family and country, leaves little for myself in return. It’s why I indulge in a no-strings hookup with a handsome stranger mere days before heading half-a-world away. Except one night turns into a week-long fling, creating a connection at the most inopportune time. And neither of us want it to end.

Staying in touch is easy at first, but dwindles to radio silence and distant memories as time passes. I didn’t expect him to reemerge in my life months later, now belonging to someone else.

It should be enough for us both to walk away. To push down this relentless, aching want. But we don’t… We can’t. Because the heart always wants what it can’t have.

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What a hot and steamy forbidden romance this one was! CE Ricci and Marley made for a great writing duo with this book! I enjoyed it tremendously! The romance, the angst, the drama, the forbidden sneaking around, I was here for ALL of it. If you want a hot and angsty military MM romance, definitely get your hands on this book if you can! Will and Pierce make an awesome couple and even though the set up to their conflict/predicament in the story may feel a little farfetched, I was still all for the drama and see who was going to break first…

The story revolves around Will and Pierce, two 20-something year old men who randomly meet each other in passing in a small coastal town in Oregon, and they instantly connect and feel the sparks connect in a sizzling way. They act on their desires and end up having a week long fling that ends up leaving a bigger lasting impression on them than either care to admit…it’s funny how those things always happen when we least expect it. But Will is in the military and is due to be deployed for a year and he’s actually on his way to that and this trip was a total pit stop along the way. Pierce is moving up to Seattle as a much needed restart to his life, and similar circumstances.

After their smutty week shacking up together, they agree to write each other letters like the good ole days. At first it goes along so well, and they really open up to each other. But distance being the big boundary between these sorts of relationships, it soons becomes apparent that time and distance causes them to slowly drift apart. But that doesn’t mean they necessarily forget each other….they simply turn into that one that got away and that big “what if?”…

I’m not going to lie, this love story isn’t going to be for everyone, and that’s okay. It’s both a beautiful story for these two men, but it’s also filled with pain and it’s messy at times too with things that happen that not everyone will be able to support them with at the end of the day based off what they’ve dealt with in their past and again, I’m not going to discredit anyone on that journey because if they can’t agree with choices made.

But no one ever said true love is easy and that everyone comes out of it unscathed. This story is a great example of that.

I will give a warning without giving too much detail for spoiler reasons and say that their is a CW of cheating to worry about in this book, and part of me felt like the person who was cheated on maybe handled the whole thing a little TOO well and there should’ve been more conflict there… but at the same time, I’m still happy to see a happy ending for every notable character in this story.

One thing I will kind of critique is how the predicament Will and Pierce get into. It felt not the most believable and one of those “what are the odds” kind of situations that I almost feel like could only happen in a book or a soap opera. But I still gasped and was at the edge of my seat as the characters discovered it for themselves all the same, so can I really critique this aspect of the story?

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What I Liked:

1. The Constant Forced Proximity! Will and Pierce at a certain point in the story constantly find themselves stuck in the same spot and are forced to talk about issues and things that are keeping them apart, and I loved it every time! I did wonder also every time how far things would go if it was just the two of them.
2. The MM Spice! So much spice in this book! Even in the first chapter it’s there and all throughout the book, there’s definitely not a slow burn here!
3. The Forbidden Romance! I’m just always a sucker for this trope. The more forbidden, the better for me
4. The Letters After Their Eventful Week! I liked that the bridge between the two parts of the story were separated between the letters Will and Pierce exchange. I also especially loved how with the letters you see Pierce begin to pull away and drift apart from this whole relationship and become a good way to shift into the next stage of this book. Excellently done here in terms of writing!
5. Characters From Other Stories Incorporated! I won’t give too much away from this, but if you’ve read other books from both these authors, you may recognize a side character or a few! I like little surprises like that! It definitely makes me want to check out another book from CE Ricci now because of this!

What I Didn’t Like:

1. I Wish the Letters Showed Up More Throughout… I loved the small section of letters inbetween the two parts of the story and how these letters become a big part of the story to connect Will and Pierce for them to refer back to. Part of me wishes the letter writing would’ve continued or been more consistent in the story? Like maybe Will did go away for awhile and they did try to be friends and exchange letters as a way to keep in touch? Maybe, maybe not.
2. I Felt So Bad For Wills Sister…She did absolutely nothing wrong to get what happened to her in this story, and part of me feels like she really did handle this whole situation TOO well…I feel like that all resolved itself too easily. Not that I WANT to read a book with lots of family drama because I have enough dysfunction in my own, but I still feel like there should’ve been MORE here.
3. The Wedding Set Up Seemed Too Farfetched…The set up to the wedding, like Pierce seeing photos and it being the way it turned out….what are the freakin odds?? I didn’t feel like this was the most believable thing in the story. Like there’s no way Pierce would meet HER of all people and wouldn’t piece it together before the big day….I rolled my eyes at this twist, but like I said, I gasped a dramatic gasp all the same.

Conclusion:

Overall, this was a spicy, angsty, and forbidden MM romance that I totally devoured! I understand this won’t be a story that everyone can get into or support based off what happens and what choices certain characters make, and that’s okay! I can say I was able to look past these things and that while this love story gets messy at times, I still felt like it was meant to be and that everyone ended up with the right person!

CE Ricci never disappoints, and I’m becoming a fan of Marley Valentine now too! This one and “Without You” are my two books that I’ve read, and trust me when I say I’m not planning on stopping here!

Thanks for Reading!

— Nick Goodsell