Reviewed by Donna

TITLE: Hometown Secrets
AUTHOR: Dawn Flemington
PUBLISHER: Loose ID
LENGTH: 260 Pages
BLURB: An old secret. A new secret. A surprising secret. A dirty secret.
Coming to terms with his sexuality, Pete Stubbs has found his ‘Mr. Wonderful’ and wants to celebrate his happiness by coming out. Yet admitting he is gay to his family is taking more courage than he originally thought, especially when his mother stuns him with her unexpected homophobic hatred. He starts to wonder if his coming out will be more selfish than freeing.
Out and proud Asher Gilford is tired of always being the ‘throw away boy’. He deserves to be loved by a man who’s not ashamed to be with him. Though his current lover reassures him it’s only that ‘more time is needed’ before they can go public, Asher fears he’s becoming someone’s ‘dirty little secret’ yet again.
When a church sponsors Pete and Asher for a charity event, it explodes a series of startling secrets within their hometown. As Pete watches life crumble around him, he realizes that by remaining in the closet, he could lose more than his family. If he doesn’t step up, he could lose Asher.

REVIEW: A closeted gay man, living in a small town, scared to come out to his family and friends. We’ve all read plenty of these stories before and going into yet another one I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best. Not that I’m complaining. It’s a storyline I tend to enjoy, but at the same time you don’t want it to be the same old dramas again and again. But while Hometown Secrets was exactly what I was expecting it was also distinctive enough to remain memorable.
The story begins with our two main characters, Asher and Pete, already in a relationship, although they haven’t been seeing each other long. Their relationship is a secret as Pete is very definitely not ready to come out. Somehow they find themselves chosen as the two-man team who will represent the local church in the cowboy games.
Pete has always had a few doubts about his sexuality but it wasn’t until he met Asher that he realized for certain he was gay. As crazy as he is about Asher he resorts to sneaking out at night to see him, not feeling comfortable enough to even be friends with an openly gay man where anyone might see. To be honest, I didn’t like Pete at the beginning and I didn’t like Pete at the end. While I can’t claim to understand the fear of coming out as gay to your family, I still say Pete is a bit of an ass. I lost count of how many times Asher was called a fag and worse by Pete’s family and friends, sometimes directly to his face. At most Pete offered some token protest but then just let it continue or once, even joined in.

When Pete’s fifteen year old nephew stood up for Asher because Pete wouldn’t, Pete failed to protect the boy from the verbal attack he then received. “But I thought Asher’s your…” He swallowed and reformed his next words. “Your friend too. How could you stand by and let them treat him like that?” You can see why I don’t like Pete, right? I didn’t dislike Asher but the amount of crap he was willing to put up with from Pete did annoy me.
So, normally when I read a book and I dislike one main character and think the other main character is just okay I’m probably not going to like the story. Strangely at no point was that the case with this book. I actually really enjoyed reading this.

Firstly, since I’m already discussing characters, there were three who stood out as exceptional to me. Pete’s nephew, Trenton-Lee, who I’ve already mentioned, is one of those three. While the adults are getting insulting and violent and causing problems for his friend and music teacher, Asher, Trenton-Lee is the only person who goes out of his way to defend him. Even knowing it will likely turn everybody against him too. “Someday, when you’re a real man, you’ll know when to stand up and fight for what you believe in.” “Then today, I become a man.” Trenton-Lee squared his shoulders, his knuckles clenched so tight the blood drained from them. His gaze blazed around the picnic tables and locked onto Pete.
And they do turn on Trenton-Lee, which is when exceptional character number two steps up. Trenton-Lee’s father Randal is a bit of a drunken womanizer and I had written him off as a loser before he even made an actual appearance. Which just goes to show I shouldn’t be so judgmental. When his son is verbally attacked after his defense of Asher, Randal doesn’t hesitate to protect his child. Randal geared himself up in front of Pete’s mother. “Lady, I don’t care if you’re his grandma or the queen of the religious right. You don’t go around calling my son a damn pervert. It ain’t like he’s a rapist, a murderer, or a two-faced bigot.”
I love characters who behave in ways I don’t expect, who buck the stereotype. Which is the perfect lead in to mention the third character I thought was really well done and that is Virgil, Pete’s father. Usually when a character comes out to his family and one parent accepts it and the other doesn’t it will be the mother who will make a stand and say- I love my child no matter what. In fact, I’d say a vast majority of these types of story, especially small town farming ones, cast the father as a bit of a villain. Pete’s father offers him nothing but support and encouragement despite his wife’s views and Pete’s attitude. “Son, I’m standing at the closet door and handing you a flashlight. It ain’t for me to fight this battle, but I will support you when you man up and accept who you are.”

Another reason I liked this book, the church was not the evil enemy. The church selected a gay man to represent them in the cowboy games and was willing to stand by that decision when some of the bigoted town folk started protesting and causing trouble. Like I already said with the characters, I like when I’m surprised because something doesn’t play out in the way I’m expecting.
I felt the ending of the story came a little abruptly and left a few things unresolved but Pete and Asher’s relationship issues were all wrapped up satisfactorily and I guess that’s the most important part. This was the first book I’ve read from Dawn Flemington and I’d certainly like to check out a few more. For those of you that enjoy a good coming out story, when Pete finally does do it, well, he doesn’t hold back.

RATING:

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