Who We Are by Nicola Haken

I absolutely fell in love with Oliver straight away. What a wonderful young man entirely devoted to raising his brother after their mother passed away from cancer. Ollie sacrificed his own young adulthood and now that his baby brother Tyler is 14 is trying to re-claim his life a little bit. Oliver is a hairdresser with a creative flair that overflows to his own image and character. He is colourful and theatrical and his alter ego Mis Tique allows him to sing and perform and exude a confidence he doesn’t always feel in his everyday life. There has been little activity in the boyfriend department until Seb literally falls into his life at the bar he is boosting his earning at.

Seb doesn’t usually go out to bars but his best friend Benny is celebrating his birthday and has dragged Seb out to join in the fun. At one bar they go to, Seb is so enamoured with the sexy barman that he ends up asking him out and thus the story of Ollie and Seb begins. Seb is bi sexual and has a 15 year old son Scott and also hasn’t dated for a while. Oliver and Seb fall for each other hard and fast and their love story is just so wonderful it made me cry. A lot.

The book pulled me in and held me captive till the last page. Many trials and tribulations fill the pages and I was enthralled from the first word to the last. I loved that it was set in Manchester and it has a very British feel to the book throughout. All the characters were well thought out and had lots of personality and individuality. Without ‘spoiling’ the story, I was slayed by the turn of events and the saying ‘what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger’ was never more apt.

Nicola Haken has written another wonderful, human, heart wrenching tale that had me hooked all the way along until I felt I could finally breathe again at the end.