Truth & Betrayal by K.C. Wells - Release Day Review

403 Kindle Pages

Buy links: Amazon US | Amazon UK

Available in KU

Blurb

All the light went out of Jake’s life when his older brother Caleb died in a traffic accident. Getting through the aftermath was always going to be the hardest thing he’d ever done, but finding out that the tall stranger at the graveside was the one driving the car? At least Jake now has a target for all the rage inside him. Because the man responsible for stealing Caleb’s light from the world has no right to intrude on their grief. 

Liam had known deep down that it was a mistake to go to Tennessee, but he’d hoped saying goodbye to Caleb would ease the pain inside him. The hostile reception from Caleb’s family and friends comes as no surprise, and Liam flees before things get ugly. They obviously know nothing of Caleb’s life in Atlanta, and maybe it’s better that way. Caleb’s secrets can die with him. 

When Jake turns up at Caleb’s apartment to collect his brother’s possessions, what he discovers is the first shock in what is to be a series of revelations, turning Jake’s world upside down. New knowledge brings fresh pain and anguish. 

Jake isn’t the only one who’s hurting… 

Review

I have a problem. As some of you may have noticed, I’m a huge fan of K.C. Wells’ stories. All of them. Be they self-published, co-written, or under a different pseudonym, I’ve so far loved every single word from her. So what does a reviewer do when an author who almost invariably ends up with a five star rating, writes a book that surpasses everything she’s produced in the past? I can’t speak for anybody else but in my case it will probably lead to a lot of fan-girling, the over-use of superlatives, and plenty of nonsensical gushing. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

Whereas most romances start of light and easy, giving the reader a (more often than not) false sense of security, only to bring them to tears and heartache sometime after the midway point, Truth & Betrayal threw me straight into the deep end where I feared I might drown in the tears caused by Jake’s pain.

Losing his Caleb, his only brother was bad enough. The fact that he never got to share a closely held secret with the older brother he adored, makes Jake’s grief even more heart-wrenching. Coming face to face with the man who drove the car in which Caleb died during his brother’s funeral, is more than Jake can take and he lashes out.

When Jake meets Liam again he soon discovers that he was an important part of Caleb’s life. It turns out that Jake wasn’t the only one with a secret he kept close to his chest. If Jake wants to learn more about his brother and the secret life he led, he’ll have to talk to Liam. Fortunately, Liam turns out to be a nice person who doesn’t hold Jake’s outburst against him and is happy to share information with Luke.

What starts as a quest for information soon turns into a developing friendship between Liam and Jake; a friendship that awakens unexpected feelings in both of them.

And so we venture into a developing romance without easy answers. Both men have to come to terms with the loss they suffered and the guilt falling for each other engenders. Jake has to face issues associated with being gay in a community where most would condemn him for his feelings and even his own family might abandon him. And then there’s the fact that Liam is black and Jake lives in a town were race relations are strained, at best. K.C. Wells deals with all of these in an honest yet sensitive manner. She doesn’t gloss over the problems they face but neither does she overstate them. I’m in awe of the way she managed to insert sometimes brutal realism into her story without ever making it harsher to prove a point. Here is a writer who knows there is no need to exaggerate because the plain truth is more than bleak enough.

And while I’m on the subject of realism; it doesn’t end with the issues Liam and Jake have to overcome to reach their happy ending. While an ordinary writer might have thought dealing with the gay and the race ‘issues’ was enough controversy for one story, this author goes a few steps further and also deals with open relationships, PrEP, and bare-back sex. And yet, the story never felt hurried, purposely controversial, or over the top.

Truth & Betrayal is a slow-burn love story, but it is so much more. It’s a coming of age story too. It’s a book about love; for families, for friends, and for that special person who completes your life. It’s a tale that will break your heart before putting it back together. The book will make you think, ask yourself questions, and make you feel every single emotion you can think of at least once. As per usual with K.C. Wells, the cast of secondary characters is fabulous and I have to say I’m delighted that one of them will be getting a story of his own in the not too distant future.

Long (and not altogether coherent) story short. Truth and Betrayal is the book to read if you want to completely lose yourself in a world filled with emotions. If you like stories and characters that will stay with you for a long time after you’ve closed your reader/paperback, you need to pick this one up. Be prepared to start with tears. It’s not impossible you’ll end with tears too, but those will be of a completely different nature.

As for the question as to what a reviewer does when a favourite author surpasses herself, the answer is simple. You add the title to your list of extra-special books and rate the book six stars, even if you won’t be able to actually award as many on Goodreads or Amazon. Because yes, Truth & Betrayal is that good.

FRACTURED

TITLE: FRACTURED

AUTHOR: MICKIE B. ASHLING

Pages: 221

Date: 29/04/2014

Grade: 3.5

Details: A Bay Area Professionals book

            Received from Dreamspinner Press

            Through Love Romances and More

Own / Kindle

The blurb:

“Roque “Ro” Celdran dreams of a better life, far away from the hand-to-mouth existence of his migrant worker family. He moves to San Francisco to study Landscape Design but finds himself short of cash. Tony, Ro’s identical twin, comes up with a plan to help Ro make ends meet. The BDSM club Tony frequents is looking for gay men to act as submissives to the Dommes-in-training. Ro reluctantly takes the job and falls headfirst into a world he neither understands nor desires. 

Lance Roberts is the new doctor at the dental practice started by Scott Gregory and Robin Kennedy. On the surface, he seems to have it all: the Mensa IQ, blond and blue-eyed good looks, and the determination to make it in his competitive field. Underneath lies a frustrated Dom in search of the perfect sub who can handle his obsessive behavior and debilitating need for control. 

When Ro ends up in Lance’s dental chair, the last thing either one expects is a physical and mental connection. Ro’s attraction to “White Bread” never pans out, and Lance’s weakness for Latinos always leads to a dead end. Could this time be different? What happens between the two alphas leads to a lot of soul-searching and some surprising conclusions.”

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My thoughts:

I do like a book that starts right in the middle of the action, and ‘Fractured’ certainly does that. The very first thing the reader encounters is poor Roque – Ro - Celdran being beating into a pulp not knowing what has provoked the attack and unable to adequately defend himself.

The beating leaves Ro with severe damage to his mouth and teeth which brings him to Lance Roberts’ surgery and the free dental care he so desperately needs. From the moment the two man meet there is an attraction between them. While both of them try to deny it to themselves for a while, it isn’t long before they are spending more time together and not much longer before they act on the irresistible pull.

Both Lance and Ro have issues they’d prefer not to share. Lance tries to hide his ODC from the man he’s attracted to, afraid his compulsive need for order will scare the other man off. Conscious that Ro is as much of an alpha as he is, Lance also decides against sharing his need to dominate with Ro. Ro has things he’s ashamed of as well and fails to mention that he has been supplementing his income by working as a submissive in a BDSM club. He doesn’t believe in BDSM or that it could ever be a viable life-style or relationship choice and has no interest in ever exploring it further. Ro also fails to mention his troubled twin brother Tony and the huge chip his has on his shoulder about being Latino.

The slow emergence of their secrets initially only brings the two man closer together. But when everything Tony has done comes back to haunt Ro, the time for secrets is over. And even full disclosure might not be enough to safe the relationship between these two man who thought they’d at last found what they’d been looking for all along. Even without the secrets they are still two dominant males wanting to control their counterpart. A delicate and surprising balance will have to be found.

There were quite a few things in this book I really liked. It was refreshing to read a book in which the two main characters were equally flawed and needed each other to the same extend. The issues between these two men and the secrets they wanted or needed to keep made perfect sense and added interest to the story. I also really approved of the fact that the conflict in this book was not drawn out. I do prefer a story in which a problem is dealt with rather than allowed to linger on for chapters on end. And most of all, I loved how these two dominant man managed to find a way to make their relationship work. I adored the give and take between them, with both Lance and Ro willing to give themselves to their partner in ways they’d never considered before.

I did have one issue with this book though. 52% into the story there’s a huge ‘for-telling’ of what’s to come. I had no objection to knowing that trouble lay ahead – I had known that since the start of the book. Nor did it bother me that I those few lines revealed who would be the cause of the problems – that had been clear from the start as well. I didn’t like that the exact from the problem would take was spelled out in detail nor the way in which it was described in those few line. In fact this frustrated me so much that I had to put the book down and walk away from it and found myself reluctant to pick it up again. And that was a shame because up until that point I had loved the story and was really invested in the characters and their journey.

This was an interesting story that would have been better if it the author had been a little bit stingier with the information she shared with the reader, or had timed that sharing differently. Overall though, I loved spending time with Ro and Lance and enjoyed their torturous road to happiness.

SEDUCING HELENA

TITLE: SEDUCING HELENA

AUTHOR: ANN MAYBURN

Pages: 46

Date: 10/04/2014

Grade: 4+

Details: no. 3 Calendar Men

            Received from Decadent Publishing

            Through Love Romances and More

Own / Kindle

The blurb:

“Supermodel Helena Flores didn’t plan to fall in love with her Marine pen-pal, but that’s exactly what happens when she starts corresponding Seth Morgan. He’s funny, kind, and so hot she can’t stand it. In an effort to see if Seth can like her for her who she is on the inside—and not just as a swimsuit model—Helena pretends her job in the fashion industry is behind the camera rather than in front of it. But soon it’s time for Seth to come home and Helena tells him the truth, hoping he can forgive her deception.

Seth Morgan had been falling in love with his sweet and feisty pen-pal for months. When he finds out who Helena is, he wonders what she sees in him. Worse, when he meets her in the flesh, the reality is even better than his fantasy. But what can you do to keep the girl who can have anyone? Seth hopes the answer is a seduction so thorough and pleasurable she won’t ever want him to leave.”

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My thoughts:

Was there ever the possibility of me not reading a book titled ‘Seducing Helena’? I guess not. And, while it can be risky picking a book based solely on the title, I’m very glad to say I got away with it this time.

Helena Flores is a supermodel who enjoys her job and the lifestyle it allows her to have, but feels lonely in a world where everybody knows who she is and wants a piece of her but nobody appears to be interested in exactly who she is. When she sees a picture of Marine Seth Morgan she feels an instant attraction to him and jumps on the opportunity to correspond with him, while keeping her identity secret.

The emails from his funny, sexy and feisty pen-pal are a life line for Seth during his last few months as a Marine. It isn’t long before the two are sharing sexual fantasies as well as anecdotes from their lives. When Seth discovers who Helena really is, he has doubts about his ability to be able to fit into her world. He can’t quite see how a simple man like him could ever be good enough for the superstar the woman he’s beginning to fall for is. But Seth has a plan; his seduction of Helena will be slow and sensual. He is determined to proof that it is the woman he’s interested in, not the beautiful and famous model.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a short, light, funny and sexy read; more or less what I expected. However, ‘Seducing Helena’ was more than that.

For starters, the main characters in this book, especially Helena, are anything but stereotypes.

“Helena knew her beauty was considered unconventional for the modelling world, with her curves, dark brown skin and bold nose.”

That description doesn’t just make her unconventional in the modelling world; romantic fiction could do with a lot more a-typical characters as well and it was wonderful to come across one here. Especially one as fun and captivating as Helena. Here we have a woman who owns her own life, knows what she wants and is not only willing, but happy to pay the price for it.

I liked that Helena was not only in control of her life but also confident about her body and fully engaged and unashamed about her sexual appetite. This woman can give pleasure as well as she can receive it and doesn’t make a secret of her desires. No false modesty, no weakness and no surrender; if Seth finds himself in control of the situation it is because that’s how Helena wants it.

 I liked Seth as well. He may be like fish out of water in Helena’s world, he is willing to embrace it because it is part of who she is and he has fallen for her. The macho Marine is perfectly happy to follow his woman’s lead when he’s out of his comfort zone and looks all the stronger for it. And his slow and restrained seduction of Helena, while suppressing his owns burning need for, her was both touching and hot.

I was impressed with the way the author touched on the fact that this is an interracial romance and pointed out some potential pitfalls without making it the focus of the story.

The very, very hot emails between Seth and Helena were a treat and a wonderful lead up to the moment they get together. In fact, I don’t think I was bored or distracted for a single moment while reading ‘Seducing Helena’. Ann Mayburn may be yet another author I’ll have to further investigate.