Ami's Reviews > Rescue Me

So here's the thing ... when you read ANY of Scarlet Blackwell's stories, you have to prepare for few things: (1) She has this ability to write such a prick characters, you want to bodily harm them (at the least) and kill them, probably (at the worst) ... (2) She also has push-and-pull "theme" between the two main guys (usually one is the determined and the other is the prick) that can get you frustrated ... and (3) She doesn't do sugary sweet saccharine; her stories are usually intense, raw, or complicated, that you don't know whether you root for the relationship or wonder if the two guys are best to stay apart.

AND how I LOVE Ms. Blackwell's stories. I always prefer this type of stories rather than the sugary sweet ones. Why? Because the sugary sweet ones are usually forgettable for me. But this complicated relationship, that is the one that stays.

In Rescue Me , Matt Harmon hires a male nurse, James Hayden, to nurse him back after a fatal car crash that almost gets Matt killed. The accident leaves Matt scarred both physically and mentally. Added in with an lack-of-love childhood, Matt is cold, insensetive, and OMG, one of the biggest bastards in all of Scarlet Blackwell's stories! He plain hurts people with his attitude and sharp words -- and he also sort of a homophobe in the beginning, which just makes me itch to seriously hit him in the solar plexus. When he starts to have feeling for James, and they both act on their attraction, the relationship is toxic, twisted, and volatile. They keep going back and forth, even if Matt treats James like sh*t, and more than one occasion, I wish that James can say "no" and leave Matt forever, since I'm not sure why James lets himself being emotionally abused like that.

... I guess that's the beauty of this story. You either think that the relationship is plain abusive or complicated. And honestly, you will either hate this story or love it. Me, I love it. Of course, I'm used to Ms. Blackwell's stories. The way she pens out Matt and James's relationship is brutal, but I stick to it because I become emotionally involved with it and I want to see how Matt redeem himself. Matt might still need to do a lot of grovelling to James, but when he surrenders to his feeling, he does it thoroughly. The ending is so rewarding, I'm happy that I make it to the end (some of you probably need tissue when you get to that part ^_^)

This kind of stories are the one that has impact for me longer than the angst-free ones.