Reviewed by: Taylor

TITLE: Faith & Fidelity

SERIES: Faith, Love, and Devotion #1 (2nd edition)

AUTHOR: Tere Michaels

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 290 pages

BLURB:

Reeling from the recent death of his wife, police officer Evan Cerelli looks at his four children and can only see how he fails them. His loving wife was the caretaker and nurturer, and now the single father feels himself being crushed by the pain of loss and the heavy responsibility of raising his kids.

At the urging of his partner, Evan celebrates a coworker’s retirement and meets disgraced former cop turned security consultant Matt Haight. A friendship born out of loneliness and the solace of the bottle turns out to be exactly what they both need.

The past year has been a slow death for Matt Haight. Ostracized from his beloved police force, facing middle age and perpetual loneliness, Matt sees only a black hole where his future should be. When he discovers another lost soul in Evan, some of the pieces he thought he lost start to fall back in place. Their friendship turns into something deeper, but love is the last thing either man expected, and both of them struggle to reconcile their new and overwhelming feelings for one another.

1st Edition published by Loose Id LLC, September 2008.

REVIEW:

When I first read Faith & Fidelity years ago, it immediately went on my favorites shelf, flaws and all.  This go around much of the charm was still there, but I wasn’t quite in love with it as before.   Maybe I’m just jaded or have been reading m/m too long.  I don’t know, but I do think overall this is just a really heartwarming story.

Basically we have two broken men, Evan and Matt, forging a friendship late at night over beers and bar food, which then turns to daily phone calls and then eventually getting together often and meeting the family – at least Evan’s children.  Evan is still reeling a year later from the death of his wife, who was his first and only love.  Matt is trying to pick himself back up and rebuild his self-worth after losing his job and suffering from anger issues (which I never saw that he had, actually).  Both men have always been straight and there’s a lot to consider once feelings awaken.  I bought the friendship between these two, but I’m not so sure I bought or understood fully the romantic connection between them.  There didn’t appear to be quite enough buildup between them before they both felt something, and at times it felt like Matt was more invested, Matt was in a way pushing Evan, and it left me feeling like I didn’t know where Evan’s head was at.

In saying that, the times where they explored each other felt soft and gentle.  It just felt like two regular guys, guys with families and coworkers, guys whose cocks weren’t constantly twitching or suffering from perma hard-ons.  I thought the author dealt with the guilt of moving on from a partner’s death beautifully.  Things such as not wanting to sleep in the bed that you once slept in with your wife touched me, and I loved how she showed that Evan had checked out of his dad role with his kids, and that it took finding a friend and some happiness for him to see that he needed to step up again.

And the kids were actually really adorable.  Helena, Evan’s cop partner, a breath of fresh air for a female character.

A little side note, though:  this is very, very light on the smut.  Yes, there is on page sexual encounters, but Evan and Matt take their time — a long time — just exploring things bit by bit.

So I enjoyed this story the second go around, and if you are looking for something to just smile at, I’d suggest this for characters alone.

RATING:

BUY LINKS:

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon

Amazon.uk