Reviewed by Annika
TITLE: Faith & Fidelity
SERIES: Faith, Love and Devotion #1
AUTHOR: Tere Michaels
NARRATOR: JP Handler
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 9 hours, 48 minutes
RELEASE DATE: October 7, 2014
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.
REVIEW:
Like so many before me, I read this book when I first started my m/m journey some years back. Along with a few other books it’s almost a rite of passage of sorts to read this book at some point. I also figured now was the time to give the audio version a try to see how that was.
What drew me to this book was that it was about everyday people. About you and me, the person you see every day on your commute to work, someone you meet in the grocery store. About real people. Nothing and no one in this book is glorified or polished. They are not perfect and that’s what makes you believe in them and their story.
Evan and Matt bonded over beer and an understanding of sudden life changes and the pain it causes. In each other they found a friendship that made them both come alive again. A friendship that slowly developed into something more – causing them both some major freak-outs. Because neither of them were gay or even bi. Evan was a recent widower with four kids and working in law-enforcement wasn’t always easy for gay or bi people.
Evan and Matt went through some major life changes and realisations. I liked how it was allowed for them to take their time with it, be hesitant and even freak out. Especially Evan. I’m not saying it wasn’t hard on Matt – I know it was. But in one year Evan lost his wife and love of his life and became a shell of his former self. In one day he became a single father to four kids. His family was floundering, breaking and he couldn’t really hold them together. So why not throw in a budding bisexuality into the mix – just to liven things up? So it’s messy. But that’s life for you. Life is messy, and things has a tendency to happen all at once.
Narration-wise JP Handler was an okay narrator. He had a good pacing and enunciation and I love that he added feelings and varied it to the events going on in the book. His voice was a bit shaky though and almost sounded like he was on the verge of bursting into tears.
I said earlier that I was curious to see how the audio would hold up against the print version. And sadly, for me it just didn’t. Production-wise the audio didn’t enhance the story, but took from it instead. The sound was harsh and had this edge that was hard on my ears. Added on that was a strange echoing sensation tagged on at the end. Unfortunately it wasn’t a pleasant listening experience and is the main reason why I can’t continue to listen to the rest of the series. I would have loved to see more of this family, watch them grow, but I think that will have to be in print form from now on.
RATING: 
Story: 4 hearts
Audio: 3 hearts
BUY LINKS: