Reviewed by Vicki
TITLE: Love Means… Endurance 
SERIES: Farm #8
AUTHOR: Andrew Grey
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 pages
BLURB:
A Love Means… Story
Together for over ten years, Geoff and Eli built a fulfilling life. Their love and support helped raise their adopted son. Their hard work and dedication grew their farm from raising cattle and boarding horses to expanding into therapy riding sessions. Surrounded by a loving circle of friends, Geoff and Eli couldn’t ask for more. Until driven Eli loses his energy, and the doctor gives them the dire diagnosis of cancer.
Caught up in never-ending doctor’s appointments, surgeries, and treatments, their world turns upside down. With so many people dependent on them, they must pull together to put on a brave face, continue living as best they can, and care for their family. Geoff fears Eli, the love of his life, while a fighter, may not endure this battle, but neither is willing to consider succumbing as an option.
REVIEW:
Oh what a hard book to read! I LOVE Eli, and I HATED to see him sick… it just about broke my heart.
Let’s do a quick recap in case someone reading this review isn’t familiar with the series. The first book, Love Means… No Shame, is about Geoff Laughton, the owner of Laughton Farms, and Eli Henninger, an Amish man Geoff finds sleeping in his barn. They fall in love, Eli gives up his family to stay with Geoff, and they have a fantastic life together with many friends over the years. The Love Means books all center around Laughton Farm and Geoff and Eli, although most feature different couples that all come in and out of the farm. Some staying and living there, some passing through. But all form a close bond of love and friendship with Geoff and Eli, and eventually their adopted son, Jakey. They are all wonderful books, but my favorite by far are the ones that feature Geoff and Eli.
This book takes place quite some time after Geoff and Eli become a couple, and was very hard for me to read! As you can see from the blurb, Eli has developed cancer, and has a hard battle ahead of him. With the support of his family and friends, he fights for his life. Geoff is right there with him, caring for him and loving him every step of the way. This is a very internal story, there is no drama caused by external sources, it’s very simply about Eli and his cancer. On one hand I tend to prefer books that have external drama, something causing strife between a couple, and they need to fight to be together. But on the other hand, with Geoff and Eli being a couple for so long, there isn’t much that can pull them apart. This worked very well for me, an illness as devastating as cancer was a great cause of stress and angst within their story. There is some drama involving Eli’s Amish family that has ostracized him for being gay and leaving the community, and I liked the addition of that to the storyline, and I loved that bit of resolution. It fit very well. It was difficult to see such a vibrant character in such a bad place though, Eli is sick for 90% of the book. We see him go through surgery, radiation, and chemo, with all of the side effects these things bring. Geoff is scared and miserable most of the time, and Jakey is a very afraid nine year old.
So this is a romance novel, written by Andrew Grey, so I think you can imagine how it ends. It was what I needed in this case, I was comforted knowing how it would end going in to such a scary story. It was very well done, Andrew walked a very fine with giving us details about Eli’s illness, without making it too icky. I knew Eli was suffering from the treatment, but there was not an over abundance of sickness and misery (minimal vomiting scenes!). The love these two characters have for one another came through very clearly, in the care that Geoff takes of Eli, and the stress they both experience fearing that Eli might not make it. Jakey was almost annoying, but not quite. I’ve not always liked him in the other books, but he was ok in this one. I loved seeing the other couples and Adelle (their housekeeper/mother hen) participating in the story, and showing their love and caring of Geoff and Eli. I love the sense of community that has formed for these people around this farm, and this couple.
Even though it was hard to see such strong characters in a horrible situation, I think this book was a very good addition to the series. I was happy to see a book focused on Geoff and Eli, even if it was a bad time for them. I have read almost everything Andrew Grey has written, and loved 90% of it. Every once in a while I don’t care for one of his books, and I’m happy to say the last few I have read have been great. This one was very well written, the characters are familiar,and this felt authentic to me, how they would react in this situation. It was not a pretty story, not over romanticized, but a realistic look at what a devastating illness can do to a family. And the strength they need to overcome it.
If you have read the series you HAVE to read this one, it was one of my favorites. If you haven’t read the series, you need to before you read this one. It is not a stand alone novel, they need to be read in order. Go buy the first one and try it, if you like family focused books, you’ll probably like them. They are about the family that you make, not necessarily the one you are born in to.
RATING: 
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