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Note: An ARC was provided by Heart Eyes Press.

A.E. Wasp is a new-to-me author, and Heartsong is my introduction to their writing. This is the thirteenth book in the Vino & Veritas series, and there was no bad luck on my end when it came to reading this. Sean Johnson (23) moves from West Virginia to Vermont in order to attend college. His Uncle Troy, whose story can be read in Wasp's Veterans Affairs series starter, Incoming, makes plans for Sean to stay with an old Army buddy of his, Cooper Hill (35). After an accident led to Cooper losing his leg, he had no choice but to leave the Army and life as he knew it behind. His return to Vermont is meant to be a fresh start, but his unexpected attraction to his friend's nephew gives him pause. While Sean is openly gay, he still struggles with his sexuality, and Cooper hesitates to become involved with him, especially given Sean's ties to one of Cooper's closest friends as well as their age difference.

This is going to sound weird, especially since it would be pretty easy to read the blurb to the book and the paragraph above gives the basic to the story, but I think going into this blind is a good idea. When I started reading the book, I'd forgotten what it was going to be about since it had been quite a while since I last read the blurb. This was far angstier than I'd expected, which isn't necessarily a bad thing, since I'm all about the angst, especially when it's written and incorporated well into the story. My heart went out to Sean, particularly when details about his past were revealed. I think that having a support system that included Cooper and Troy was helpful for him to deal with stuff that he had buried for years. A.E. Wasp did a good job with Heartsong, which gets four stars.