Product Description

When Aubrey Jacek hits bottom, he goes all out. When he finds out his man is cheating on him, all of the trouble at home spills over into work, and Aubrey just can't keep it together. Fights break out, shots are fired, and Aubrey is pushed to his limit. He hits the bottle hard, hits other things harder, all the while spiraling out of control. The one good thing in his life is Kelly, the kid who might just turn his life around. Aubrey meets Kelly at the worst possible time, when he can't climb out of the hole he's dug for himself, and Aubrey leaves Kelly behind, thinking he's doing what's best for both of them. Through all of the wandering from one dead end job to another, through all of the drinking and despair, Kelly is like a shining beacon at hope, the one constant good thing Aubrey can remember. Kelly's letters brighten his day, and when they stop coming, Aubrey knows he has to find his way back. Can Aubrey clean up his act and make his way home to Kelly before it's too late to start over? Jodi Payne is the author of String of Pearls, For Better or Worse, and is co-author of the popular Deviations series with Chris Owen.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #559636 in Books
• Published on: 2008-07-16
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 200 pages

Customer Reviews

Founder by Jodi Payne
To the hell and back. This is the story of Aubrey and of his journey of discovery.

When his boyfriend cheats on him Aubrey dumps him and tryies to lose his sadness in the alcohol. When he meets Kelly he doesn't deserve this sweet and young guy and he is conscious of that and decides to leave. He thinks to never return home and instead he engages in the search of his nobility.

He changes partners and experiences and manages to not remain killed in the process. But only when he finally meets a man who really can share love and not only sex, he only could think to Kelly and works to be a better man and regain Kelly's love. But he has never lost his love...

This is a wonderful story of love and pain, of need and generosity. It's also a tale of the various shades of love, from the anonymous love of a one standing night to the deeply love of friendship. All of these shades help Aubrey to make clear in his mind and see the full color of his true love.

Aubrey is not a perfect hero, like the Marlboro Man cowboy, he has defects and merits, and for this reason he is the perfect hero for me!

A very well written and compelling story but not my cup of tea.
OK, I am rating this 5 stars to do justice to Jodi's fine writing, the compelling storyline, the emotional content and the credible characters. However this is the type of M/M romance I do not favor as Aubrey is just not likable as I prefer my "heroes" to be more alpha and not immersed in a self destruction mode.

That said, Aubrey is a credible character and does epitomize a life which could go horribly wrong just because of a few stupid mistakes. It is not easy to read once Aubrey starts his spiral downwards in life. All I could do was pull my hair in frustration. Neither could I stop reading because of Jodi's compelling writing as I found myself waiting for Aubrey to just "wake-up", chapter after chapter, and return to the one fine young man who waits most patiently for him to come home. This fine young man is of course Kelly and I wish Jodi has written more on him.

Half of me root for them to be together as a happy ending for my heroes is a must for a M/M romance. The other half however hope Kelly will be unfaithful and get himself a better man, and just maybe give Aubrey a second chance later.

So that said, while I find "Founder" an engrossing read, I do not find myself reading it again or flipping through favorite parts as I tend to do for my favorite M/M romance eroticas. Still I strongly recommend this to M/M fans who savor a credible M/M romance heavy on emotional content, angst with a solid plotline and believable characters.