Reviewed by Sheena
TITLE: Passing on Faith
AUTHOR: AM Leibowitz
PUBLISHER: Supposed Crimes, LLC
LENGTH: 276 Pages
BLURB:
Following his father’s death, Micah Forbes believes he can finally put the family who rejected him and their religious bigotry behind him. In a cruel twist, his older brother calls to tell him he’s inherited their father’s abandoned vacation home. Micah discovers the house comes complete with a long list of repairs, boxes full of family secrets, and a handful of quirky neighbors. Despite not wanting to get in too deep, he can’t help the spark of interest stirred when the sexy redhead next door offers his help. Everything about the enigmatic Cat Rowland throws Micah off-balance, from his gender-bending sense of fashion to his handy repair skills to his deep spirituality. Before long, Micah is swept up by Cat and his friends, but Cat himself keeps his heart carefully protected. When Micah’s past and his present collide in a painful way, his self-destructive coping habits threaten to overwhelm him. To save himself, he needs to open his soul and let someone in. Cat has the key to unlock him, if he can let down his guard and trust his faith enough to catch Micah as he falls.
REVIEW:
I admit to being surprised by this book. Not my usual fare, as I make it a point to avoid religion, especially in my romance novels. But it’s not the religion that has me so surprised—it’s the talent.
First off, I have to say that the characters in this book are delightful. Unique, fleshed out, interesting and arresting—even the ones you only meet over the phone. Even the obligatory bad guys (i.e. the bigoted brothers) have depth and dimension to them that is sorely lacking in a lot of m/m romance out there today. This is no quick read—at almost 300 pages Ms. Leibowitz crafts her plot, builds her characters, and provides a setting that is fully realized.
Micah is calm, cool, and sarcastic and then remote—right up until the stress he hides gets too much, and he snaps. Like flash paper, his emotions come out and sear across the lines of this book, and you can feel it. Take this quote, from a scene early in the book:
“Micah spent the next five minutes throwing things and watching them shatter, releasing the rage he hadn’t realized he’d bottled in….. He tried to laugh, but that, too, broke into pieces, and instead, he sobbed, sinking to his knees in the middle of the floor.”
At barely 10 pages into the book, the first crack in my jaded, “I’ve read 700 m/m novels and seen it all” armor appeared. The smooth setup to this first emotional upheaval was expertly done, and snuck up on me, leaving me as wrecked as poor Micah. Ms. Leibowitz builds the tension, with a deft touch and practiced technique that shows a steady confidence in her plot and characters that is impossible to miss. Micah is weighed down by his past, the stress of his present, and the expectations of his future being more of the same.
Cat Rowland, the other MC, is an ephemeral delight. He bucks all expectation, and I have to say, I fell for him pretty quickly. I have my favorite heroes in the m/m genre, as we all do, and Cat, like his namesake, slinked and sashayed his way into the top ten most awesome fictional characters. Cat is unpredictable, though reliable; he is unique, yet carries a strength in him that is easy to sense and feel. His backstory is immediately engaging and surprising, evident in the quick, single page of interaction between the MCs in the beginning. If any of you have read my previous reviews, then you’ll know I have a severe weakness for well-researched topics, well-informed and intelligent writers, and with a single line of dialogue, Ms. Leibowitz hit all my sweet spots. Cat is a beautifully crafted character that has as many flaws as he does perfections, and it’s the fine balancing act of those traits that makes him a newfound favorite.
I’ll leave the surprise of Zayne, Micah’s bestie, unspoiled. She is phenomenal. Zayne is a superstar, brilliant and beautiful and everything lovely on the rainbow spectrum, and her scenes left me smiling and laughing. I think I fell in love.
A.M. Leibowitz manages to create a story that carries relevant social issues without weighing down the plot; she gives us characters that touch on every end of the Kinney scale and every shade on the Rainbow Spectrum; she gifts her emotional scenes with strong technical support; and the plot is neatly tied up and tidy. The religious element may not be my favorite, and by the end, it’s not about religion, but the spirituality of love and passion and true relationships.
Family, like faith, is what we make it. We choose who we love, and what we have faith in. This book makes the case for love, no matter the form it arrives in, and the very simple message comes through with an elegance and grace I deeply appreciated.
This is my first book by this author, and after reading it, I’m going to go buy the rest of her books. A.M. Leibowitz impressed me, and that is enough of an endorsement for me to try the rest of her work.
RATING: 
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