One thing I’ve really appreciated about the Bluewater Bay series is they haven’t been afraid to tackle all types of romantic relationships featuring a wide variety of heroes and heroines. Bluewater Blues is no different, two men both struggling for different reasons meet by accident and forge a connection despite one running from his past and one trying to live his life with Autism and sensory disorders. I loved watching these two work through the land mines both their lives contained in order to forge a relationship they both yearned for and deserved.
Jack Daley has been on the run with his Autistic sister for a few years but recently landed in Bluewater Bay and has put down roots and opened a business. Leaving behind his music career was tough on him, but for Margaret he’d do just about anything to make her life more stable.
As a costume designer for the show Wolf’s Landing, Mark Keao’s life is pretty busy and routine, but for him routine is key to making his life easier. Meeting Jack and his sister opens up his world a bit, but he isn’t sure if Jack can be more given his issues with intimacy.
I really appreciated the way this book and the relationship between Jack and Mark played out. They faced some pretty big problems and had a few moments of being scared, but communication and a whole lot of understanding helped them find a way to be together. I liked the depth of these characters and the fact that their stories weren’t typical. I also appreciated the way this author showed the varying degrees of the Autism spectrum and her respect of people inflicted by this disorder.
Engaging, inspiring and hopeful I very much enjoyed Bluewater Blues.

I am officially obsessed with this series – I have read most (there were a few I couldn’t finish) of the books in this series, and even got denied from the publisher when I requested this book… but I kept tracking it down so I could keep the series alive!

As the series gets up in number, the stories have definitely changed to expand more types of people and circumstance – which is good to see and fun to read. I wasn’t quite sure how the story between Jack and Mark (who is differently wired), would unfold – but it delivered in a great way. First, I am impressed by Gordon’s ability to create characters who weren’t “perfect” and whose differences didn’t magically disappear when they found each other. Who they each were, stayed true throughout the story – which was wonderful.

Individually, the characters were well developed – but I didn’t feel like I knew them as well as I would have liked. For example, I learned that Jack was over-dramatic… but I never really learned it through experience, it was just told to me through Mark. He didn’t seem to come across as dramatic, but again, that was a part of who he was – or how Mark related to him. Mark seemed to be more-developed as a person (yay!) – who was successfully navigating life and making things work, even his relationship with Jack and regardless of his touch sensitivities.

Overall, I’m glad I hunted this book down and happy to have it included in my Bluewater Bay Series bookshelf. This is a great read for anyone who likes unique characters with some depth and differences to carry them through, even when coming together seems like a huge hurdle.