Reviewed by Dee
TITLE: Walking by Faith
AUTHOR: A.M. Leibowitz
PUBLISHER: Supposed Crimes
LENGTH: 261 Pages
RELEASE DATE: November 01, 2016
BLURB:
For Becket “Cat” Rowland, falling in love has never been easy. The summer he meets Micah Forbes, the intensity of his feelings brings back all the memories of eight years earlier.
Following a brutal attack that left him nearly dead, Cat is a mess inside and out. To cope with the trauma and with his view of himself that he’s nothing but an empty shell, he’s taken three vows: simplicity, chastity, and silence. His once colorful, trendy, and often feminine wardrobe has been replaced with jeans and t-shirts, and he’s sworn off men. He locks himself away from the world, using the memorized prayers of his childhood as his only speech.
Cat is lost to himself and everyone around him until another hospitalization introduces him to nurse David Simms. David takes Cat’s silence in stride, caring for him without pushing and slowly building Cat’s trust.
Outside the hospital, Cat discovers he has more in common with David than he knew, and they begin to build a friendship. As it slowly grows into love, David reveals his own need for someone to take him as he is. Cat begins to let go of his vows one by one, only holding onto the silence.
Despite how far he’s come, Cat’s increasingly severe panic attacks threaten to undo everything David has helped him build. Cat’s only hope is to break the final vow and tell the truth about the night of his attack. When David fails to keep a promise he made to be there for him, Cat has to stand on his own and prove to himself he’s strong enough to survive.
REVIEW:
Even though I read Passing on Faith in preparation of reading this book, I feel it can be read as a standalone. In one way, I wish I’d read this story first, so I had a deeper understanding of Cat. Yet in another way, had I not already met Cat I don’t think I would’ve taken to him the same. Honestly, when he chose a vow of silence, his family should’ve been knighted for their endless amount of love and support, because I wanted to bitch slap him more than once.
This story flicks between past and present, present being where book 1 left off, Cat and Micah as a couple. And past, Cat and David six years prior. Three quarter of the book is Cat and David’s story.
As with book 1, this is the first time I’ve been introduced to a character with hemophilia, and such a severe type at that. The story goes to great lengths, emotionally and physically to show the struggles Cat went through, not only with being wrapped in cotton wool because of his condition, but the struggles with being accepted as ‘queer.’ And OMG he is adorable. I loved the relationship between him and his sister. The way she supported his choice of clothing and many other things.
Cat and David cross paths when Cat ends up in hospital, beaten and in a bad way. David is another delightful character who takes Cat’s vow of silence, and reciting biblical verses in lieu of a reply, in his stride. If you’re not a fan of religion in books don’t let that comment put you off, this book is far from preachy on that front. Oh, one thing that struck me as odd was the random info drop that David had HIV. Given it too is a serious condition I expected to be given more page time than – “Maybe I’m lucky HIV is the only thing I got out of the deal – that time.”
There some adult content in this story but it’s not the central focus by a long shot. I’m not going to rehash the entire plot, but will say the angst in this story is emotional rather than convoluted BS. If you enjoy deep character building, with a cast of people you’ll fall in love with, you can’t go wrong by picking up a copy of Walking by Faith.
RATING: 
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