I wanted to love it but.. didn't. I still really liked the story, but it didn't live up to my expectations.
My main issue is that for most of the book it feels like Brock is doing all the work and a relatoinship involves two (or sometimes more) people. But those in the relationship *all* have work to do. It can't just be one person who's trying their best to keep things going, who compromises on things and the other one only demands more.
I understand the point Gigi is coming from. His experiences, particularly in high school, shaped who he is and he promised himself that he would never be "Toby" again. This, by the ways, is portrayed very well in that when it comes to flashbacks his birth name is used, while the rest of the time he is Gigi "LaMore" when he's using more of a armor and "Rosenberg" when he's not feeling so insecure.
So I understand why he reacts and behaves the way he does, I just didn't like it a lot.
His time in school wasn't the best, to put it nicely, and he was hurt more than once because he was different. We all know how vicious kids in school can be, so I can definitely relate to that...but it's still no excuse. As an adult Gigi is unapologetic flamboyant. He doesn't hide anymore. And knowing a bit from Brocks and Gigi's story from FYF I could relate more to him. At times is was still frustrating though.

There's a lot I can relate to with Gigi but other instances I wish he wasn't so uncompromising and blind to what concerns Brock.
I do like the transformation from Toby to Gigi. I love how strong he became and how he's like "fuck it" - in that regard I'd definitely like to get a little piece of his confidence. He just has to learn that there's two in this relationship. ;) And for me it just took him too long to actually consider Brocks side and feelings.

The reveal of Brocks past was quite well done. There were hints here and there, but to see the full picture really hit me. Without wanting to put it all out there, because it is personal, but I understood him quite well. Same as Gigi it's not an excuse for what he did. But honestly...in his situation I'm not sure I wouldn't have done the same. He was a teen, scared of what would happen at home so he just tried to protect himself.

I really loved how Brock grew throughout this story. Before reading Growing Pains I would have said that Gigi is my fave but I think Brock overtook him.

Overall I liked Growing Pains. Lennox did a great job fleshing the characters, we had previously met, out. I liked how Growing Pains focused more on the post-honeymoon phase when the rose-colored glasses are gone and you have to work to make things work, but overall Gigi's attitude - even though I can somewhat relate to it - just left a bad taste.

The epilogue was satisfying and in the end I was sad to say goodbye to Gigi and Brock.

Gigi, as a character, can be annoying at times. But you know what? My characters don't have to be saints, or even nice. I loved Sutphin Boulevard by Santino Hassell despite the fact that I spent most of the book wanting to smack the main character. This book was enjoyable. The author can write well - and I'm tempted to check out the others in the series, this is the first I read. It's got its issues, and some of the roadblocks are a little off to me, but it's fine as a book.

Growing Pains is the third installment in Cass Lennox’s Toronto Connections series. This novella focuses on Gigi and Brock, who were minor characters in book #2. The two stories stand alone, but this one will probably be more meaningful if you have read the second one first. I thoroughly enjoyed the first two books in this series, but in all honesty, I didn’t enjoy this one as much. It takes place after Gigi and Brock have been dating for a year and focuses on them having to return to their hometown for Gigi’s sister’s wedding. Both of them really struggled growing up in this town and Brock has sworn he would never go back again. After he found out where the wedding was taking place, he backed out of going to the wedding with Gigi until Gigi called him after leaving for the wedding and essentially demands Brock accompany him because that’s what a supportive boyfriend would do. This pretty much sets the tone for the rest of the book. I realize that Gigi, as a character, it’s supposed to be melodramatic, and high maintenance, and campy, but there’s a difference in high maintenance and selfish. For much of the book, Gigi just came off to me as selfish and completely disregarding Brock’s feelings and needs. Gigi redeemed himself in the last two chapters so in the end, the story was mostly satisfying. However, it would’ve been nice to see at least some small glances of compassion and understanding toward Brock’s situation before the last two chapters. As it was, I spent much of the book having trouble connecting with Gigi and feeling like he was being incredibly self-centered and annoying. The book is a good read but doesn’t hold up to the others in the series.

Growing Pains is the third in the Toronto Connections series and I absolutely loved it. I really liked the first two, but this is probably my favorite of the bunch. Gigi and Brock have a pretty big role in the second book - Finding Your Feet - but this book is all about them. The two have been dating for awhile now, after a high school history that left Gigi heartbroken, and things seem to be going well. That is until the two are supposed to go back to their hometown for the wedding of Gigi's sister. Brock is pretty adamant that he doesn't want to be there.

The thing with Brock and Gigi that might bother some is that they don't always communicate. However, there are reasons for this and they work for me, so hopefully you won't be agitated by that. The two fight a lot over the weekend, but truths are slowly revealed and hurts are addressed. While they might not be getting along all the time in the present, there are chapters that show their love story coming together in the past - and moments in the present that remind them and the readers that they are meant to be. There is drama - and some of it is quite serious (though that's not between our two main characters) and it definitely broke my heart a little. I loved these two together, and I thought their journey was written well!

Growing Pains is very different than the previous two books in the series. This time we’re following Gigi and Brock, whom we met in Finding Your Feet. We already know a little bit about their past and how they winded up together again. However, there’s a lot more going on there and it’s certainly not happy. Gigi is heading back to their hometown for his sister’s wedding, but Brock is not with him. At least not at first, which means the book starts with a fight.

The tone of Growing Pains is very dark and heavy, which is not what I would have expected given Gigi’s very bright personality. But he is clearly not happy with Brock’s decision to initially stay behind without giving him a reason why. I was frustrated with Brock at first because he just refuses to talk to Gigi at all. But then I found myself frustrated with Gigi, because he is quite overbaring and doesn’t even stop to think that Brock may have a very, very good reason for not wanting to return home. This did not read like a Romance Novel for the most part, which threw me off. But once I settled into what it was, I did enjoy it a lot.

Growing Pains deals a lot with abuse. Brock doesn’t want to go home because he’s not out to his parents. He’s been lying to Gigi about that fact, which is not okay. But it was even more not okay for Gigi to pressure him into coming out. Brock’s father is highly homophobic to the point of physical abuse. Brock also had used self harm as a way to deal with being in that household. It is absolutely understandable for him to not want to be back there with a boyfriend in tow. Of course, things do work out at the end. Not in a sunshine and rainbows kind of way, but Brock faces his demons and comes out alive. I was very nervous for him for awhile, since I wasn’t sure how it would turn out since the book had not had typical Romance vibes.

Growing Pains was just a heavy read. I could see both Brock’s and Gigi’s sides as they were fighting, because there was such a lack of communication between the two that they couldn’t possible know when they were in the right or in the wrong. This felt realistic, if it was frustrating. Although that just shows that I was very emotionally invested in their story.

I love the characters in this book. I think Gigi and Brock are definitely my favorites in the Toronto Connections universe. This book made me laugh, but it also made my heart absolutely ache for these two whenever something went wrong. I was a bit tentative about reading this after really only knowing Gigi's explanation of their history in Finding Your Feet. However, things get explained from Brock's POV this time and it's just heartbreaking.

This was a really emotional read. Gigi and Brock have some rough history together. They grew up in a small Canadian town and Gigi had been bullied all throughout high school for being gay. Brock hid his sexuality, and was going through his own issues, but what he knew was that he really liked Gigi. All these years later, and Brock still loves Gigi and their love is so...fragile. They both love each other, but neither of them are great at communicating their feelings. Okay, well maybe Gigi shares too much, and then there's Brock who scared that one wrong thing will be the catalyst that drives Gigi to leave him.

Their weekend going back to their hometown for Gigi's sister's wedding means that there's not a lot of cameos from characters in the previous two books. These books all work as a standalone, but even the small interaction between Gigi and Jonah is hilarious and I would love to read a scene where the couples are all together. Gigi is also hilarious when he asks Mark, his dance partner from Finding Your Feet, advice on what to expect at a straight bachelor party. Gigi is an absolute queen and the confidence and shade she throws out as Gigi Lamore is everything. I love that Brock just loves Gigi, no matter if one minute he's Gigi Rosenberg, or the next, she's Gigi Lamore.

Brock's story about his past just kills me. I like what the author put into the author's note at the end of the book, because how Brock and Gigi handled situation isn't at all recommended, but it was nice to read about in a book where, Brock especially, gets a really great moment and realizes he has nothing to be afraid of. I'm kind of sad how he didn't try to help his mom out at all, but I think I can understand. It's a sad situation, and in real life situations, I'm not sure there is a right answer for it. Especially, not with what his mother put into that shoe box. Was it her choice to remind Brock that he got out and that he should never look back on those times?

I love every minute Gigi and Brock are together and not arguing. Their relationship in this book is very hot and cold. And everyone staying over at the Rosenberg's place for the wedding has noticed. All the family members and all the secondary characters attending the wedding are so lovely. I wouldn't mind more stories with the other characters. One key point I really liked about this book is that Gigi's sister is marrying a Chinese guy and *gasp* he's a lawyer and not some doctor, karate master, or some other stereotypical Chinese role. The book treats everyone equally and doesn't make any cringeworthy skin color comparisons. GOOD JOB.

This review turned out quite long, so I'll just wrap this up by saying that I loved this book, loved the characters, and I can't wait to read the next book in the Toronto Connections universe, The Wrong Woman!

I really wanted to enjoy this one but more often than not I found myself putting the book down and switching to something else. Maybe it just wasn't the right time for this one for me. I do plan on giving this a second chance in the future but for now I'm leaving off with that this fell flat and something was missing from the overall story. I did DNF but I found myself not caring what was happening.

If you're paying attention, you may have noticed that I read the first book in the Toronto Connections (Blank Spaces) series, but not the second (Finding Your Feet) and now I'm reviewing the third. It's not my usual squirrel brain hard at work, this time I skipped one on purpose. Not sure why, but Finding Your Feet just didn't grab me, but Growing Pains did. In case you're curious, I'll probably skip The Wrong Woman too, but you never know...

Anyway, for what it's worth, I'm really glad that I decided to read Growing Pains. I really liked Brock and Gigi's story... for a lot of reasons. I'm kind of a sucker for a story that brings out the 'momma bear' in me and Brock did just that. It would have been easy to sympathize with Gigi in Growing Pains, and I did... kind of.

You'll have to read the story to understand, but one of the reasons why I loved Gigi's family so much was because they loved him, supported him and they were everything that Brock's family wasn't. What made me really respect them was the fact that they saw his faults and weren't afraid to call him out on them. To Gigi's credit, he may have complained a little, but he loved them for it. They weren't perfect, but not many families are. The point is, I loved the honesty as much as I loved the unconditional love. On the flip side, I walked away from Growing Pains with absolutely no respect for Brock's parents at all.

I may find myself going back to pick up the two books I skipped, but right now I'm fine with the taste of Toronto Connections I decided to read. You'll have to let me know if I missed anything if you decide to read the whole series. ;)

I received Growing Pains in exchange for a fair and honest review.

It's another great book by Cass Lennox. I strongly recommend it.
(Full review on website)

I was super excited to see Growing Pains on Netgalley, since I really enjoyed Finding Your Feet. Sadly, it came to my attention that Finding Your Feet was quite problematic (read the top review on Goodreads), so I decided to go into Growing Pains with critical eyes.

Also, I want to apologize for not picking up on the problematic aspects of this book sooner. I’ll do better. Now, let’s get into the review.

I’m going to be completely honest here and tell you I ended up DNF’ing the book. I always try to at least finish books that I get for review, but this was just too painful to read.
The first big painful thing I encountered was the fact that, during a sex scene, one of the main characters “molested their shoulders”. What? That’s just not an okay thing to say/write? And using the word ‘molested’ in a sex scene just seems very very wrong.

Then came the fact that one of the main characters told the other main character (who was abused by his parents) that his parents probably weren’t that bad. Seriously? The abused main character was also forced into situations where he had to interact with his abusers, and it was just, as I’ve previously mentioned, too painful to read. The whole ‘abuse’-story line just wasn’t handled well.

Then you add a few fat shaming comments in the mix and a bit of ableist language, and ta da, we have a DNF.

The writing was still okay. It was very easy to read, and easy to be sucked into, but I couldn’t look past the problematic-ness of the book. I wouldn’t recommend this book, at all.

I think the biggest problem with this novel was that it was attempting to conform to a romance novel format.

There were some really big things being dealt with in this book, most specifically physical abuse, shaming and family. Because of the format of a romance novel, however, the beginning of the book read as Brock being unreasonable in not wanting to go to the wedding of his partner of one year's sister.

For a long time, Brock gives no reason for this, longer in the world of the story than in the pages of the book, and from that point of view it's completely reasonable that Gigi is absolutely fed up with it.

However, from an abuse point of view, it's completely reasonable that Brock was hiding a lot of this in a small corner of himself and trying to pretend it didn't exist. This is one of the common coping mechanisms of abuse, especially when it's within a family setting, one that makes it harder to separate yourself from.

Most of the stuff that we got from Brock's point of view, experiencing this and also reflecting on it, was spot on to my eye. When he made his separation from them, and burst into tears instead of cheering, I was there. When he worried that he was turning into his father because he exhibited some violent behaviour, I was there. The way it makes you guess and second guess yourself... I was there for all of that.

However, in between all of these wonderfully insightful and well drawn scenes, we got chapters bringing the reader back into the romance between Brock and Gigi. Whether it's three months before, 8 years ago, a couple of seasons ago or whatever, these chapters told their own story. It was a sweet one, where a very closeted Brock was trying to come to terms with his feelings for a very camp Gigi. I absolutely loved some of these scenes. They were gorgeous and made me want to pinch both characters' cheeks.

They just didn't mesh incredibly well with what Brock was trying to deal with in the present. Why? Because Brock and Gigi weren't together in dealing with what was going on in the present. They weren't learning from past mistakes. They were griping with each other, in the lead up to Gigi's sister's wedding. While that added to the abuse story, an the way that Brock felt increasingly cornered and threatened, it didn't add to the romance story, at least for me.

A 5* tale that I might have overlooked based on the not-very-attractive cover.

This is the 3rd book in the Toronto Connections series, but it can be read as a standalone. You know the saying, 'don't judge a book by its cover'? SOOOO true in this case, and happily so, as this was an excellent tale that had depth, love, a supportive family and one that didn't know the meaning of the word family, a wedding, the right amount of angst/misunderstanding, and that ended with the promise of a HEA.

It's a tale of a drag artist, Toby, who prefers to be known full time as Gigi, whether he's playing himself of Ms LaMore, and Brock, his advertising industry boyfriend. They've been together a year - this time round - and it's time to go back to the town that didn't make them feel welcome or safe in their teens. Gigi's out, loud, proud and FABULOUS (yes, the capitals are deliberate), but Brock has secrets that he doesn't want to talk about, like the scars on his body. The tale starts with a falling out as Brock refuses to go at the very last minute, and Gigi drives of, but Brock agrees to go. He doesn't want to, but he loves Gigi and doesn't want to risk losing him...

I'd expected some homophobia from the blurb, but I hadn't expected the reveals in this tale, which were heartbreaking. I always tend to think, 'why stay if things are so bad?', but in this, I had the reasons. I didn't understand them, but I got why they had power and I liked that Brock found his physical and mental strength, buoyed by his love for Gigi, and slayed his demons. I loved the scene where Gigi came to the rescue, all drama, passion and OTTness, and stole the show. He was the weirdest kind of knight in shining armour that I've ever come across, but that made him even more unique.

The tale ends with a lot having been talked about and talked out, with honesty, compromise and a promise of a future that both guys wanted and talked about like it was simply the next step in their life plans. I loved it and whilst it was perfect as it was, I'm greedy enough to want to have had that little bit more icing on my cake - at an event where cake is traditionally served.

ARC courtesy of Riptide Publishing and Bayou Book Junkie, for my reading pleasure.

2.5 stars. This m/m romance takes place over the course of a weekend in which Gigi and Brock return to their hometown for Gigi's sister's wedding. While I enjoyed their sexy dynamic and the setting of Gigi's boisterous family celebration, the major communication issues in their relationship are frustrating considering how long they've been together by this point. More importantly, the book deals with very serious subject matter (including homophobia, bullying, domestic violence, child abuse, self-harm, and weight-related issues) and in some cases resolves this for the characters in a very cursory way.

I read this as an arc from netgalley, but I've pre-ordered the whole series due to the enjoyment of the second book...that might have been a mistake. I didn't like Gigi and Brock's story line in Finding your Feet and I really did not like the book about them. They felt so flat as characters. Gigi seemed to fall into a walking trope and Brock's emotional storyline never had a pay off. The whole thing failed to come together in a way that made me think Gigi and Brock were good for each other in the long rung.

(Cw: physical abuse, parental domestic violence)
Brock is a survivor of abuse, and ends up being forced into situations where he has to interact with his abusers. The whole thing is extremely uncomfortable, and there isn't a lot of processing done by the characters. It felt kind of cheap, like a plot device.