Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: The Cost of Loving
SERIES: Unconditional Love #2
AUTHOR: Wade Kelly
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 350 Pages
BLURB:
Unconditional Love: Book Two Matt Dixon, a young firefighter, is the golden child of his family, and he never dreamed that coming out would challenge more than the way his church sees him. For years, Matt has led a double life hoping to avoid ridicule. When a self-righteous pastor’s statements provoke him to defend his recently deceased best friend’s honor and subsequently out himself, he suffers the brutal aftermath of his revelation. Everyone in his life, including his family and his new lover, Darian, must deal with the ramifications as Matt struggles to come to terms with guilt, shame, and his very belief in God. Darian Weston lost his fiancé when Jamie took his life, and his feelings for Matt added guilt to his burden of grief. Confused and lonely, Darian clings to Matt despite his inner strife. But small-town realities keep intruding, and if Matt and Darian hope to make a life together, they must first take a stand for what they believe in, even if they fear the cost.
REVIEW:
The Cost of Loving picks up immediately where the previous book in the series (When Love is Not Enough) ends. We are reintroduced to Matt Dixon and Darian Weston.
Both Matt and Darian are still reeling from the incidents in Book 1. The suicide of Jamie, who was Matt’s best friend and Darian’s lover, has drawn them together, but not necessarily in a healthy way. We find Matt and Darian cohabitating at Matt’s apartment, but their entire relationship now seems to be about sex. Darian speaks less and less and wants more and more sex. He also wants the sex to be rougher and rougher.
This book is an interesting account of the aftermath of a young person’s suicide. The two main characters, as well as Matt’s family and Jamie’s family are struggling to get beyond Jamie’s death. Now that the funeral is over, and Matt has outed not only himself but also Jamie at his church of all places, people are trying to pick up the pieces. While Matt and Darian turn to each other, everyone else believes that Matt is using Darian and since no good will come of it, that they must be kept apart.
They are forced to separate, and what follows is mayhem. It is a tale of job loss, church discrimination, drug abuse, sexual addiction, and homophobia. This book has a lot of drama which keeps it moving along quickly. We are told greater details of Matt’s rape that was mentioned in the previous book, which gives us a further look into some of Matt’s resulting trust issues. We get to know Matt much more in this book, both as a fireman, and as a lover. Through it all they keep fighting for their love of each other. But Darian keeps seeing Jamie, who becomes ever increasingly more hostile and nasty to Darian. Is he a ghost or is he a figment of Darian’s deep seated mental psychosis? Can Matt and Darian work past the resistance to their relationship? Will they be together again? You will need to read the book to get more details! One spoiler, Ms. Joan ends up exactly where she should be…in restraints! As a gay man, I loathed that character in book one, and the type of parent she represents!
I highly recommend this book. It very clearly tied up some of the loose ends from the previous book. I enjoy the writer’s writing style and it is refreshing to have books with substance in this genre. 350 pages, and I can’t think of any pages in the book that were meaningless story-stretching content. Great job!
RATING: 
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