Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Heartsong
SERIES: Vino & Veritas
AUTHOR: A.E. Wasp
PUBLISHER: Heart Eyes Press
LENGTH: 289 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 10, 2021
BLURB:
“It just figures that the first guy I’m bringing back to my place is cute, single, and totally off-limits…”
Sean Johnson has spent his life waiting to get the hell out of West Virginia. His plans got derailed when his dad shipped him off to “pray the gay away,” but he’s over it, ready to prove that he’s a grown-ass man who can take care of himself. Of course, he’d have a better chance convincing himself if he could stop lusting after his grumpy roommate.
Army veteran Cooper Hill returned to Vermont minus one leg and one career, but determined to build a new life. When an army buddy asks Cooper to keep an eye on his nephew, a junior at the local college, Cooper can’t say no. He’s expecting a sheltered kid. What he gets is a gorgeous young man whose brilliant poetry gives voice to everything Cooper’s been trying to express. He wants Sean more than he’s ever wanted anything. And somehow, miraculously, Sean wants him too.
But wanting each other isn’t the same as being good for each other . . . especially when past pain threatens to write its own verse in their song.
A stand-alone novel in Sarina Bowen’s True North world, Heartsong contains first love, found family, kisses around the campfire, and two caring men who discover they make beautiful music together.
REVIEW:
“It’s like the universe is telling me pay attention, this person is important. I felt it tonight. My eyes met his and I knew down to my bones that my life would never be the same.”
Heartsong is book thirteen in the shared world of the Vino & Veritas series. This time around, Cooper, one of the leading men, provides the tie in to the series through his guitar playing at the wine bar.
Cooper’s love interest, Sean, considers himself abnormal. It’s been drilled into him his whole life by his parents – if he’s gay, he can’t be normal. So now at the age of twenty-three, Sean is confused and broken inside. He’s innocent, uninformed, and riddled with internalized homophobia. The need to escape his family, his bad memories, and his home in West Virginia is pressing, so his uncle arranges with a former Army buddy, Cooper, to take Sean in while he starts college in Burlington, Vermont. Cooper agrees to house Sean in exchange for help renovating his beloved home.
Cooper is a loner with no family and no close friends. He lost his leg, and his military career, in the war, and having his own home, and the independence it grants him, means everything to him. He’s not sure how this arrangement will work out, and once he meets Sean, it becomes even more complicated.
The chemistry is immediate when they meet. There is a twelve year age gap between the men, but an even greater gap exists in their life experience, particularly their sexual experience. Sean is a virgin – he says all of his experience with men is “theoretical” – but it goes beyond that. He’s confused about dating and all things gay. For example, he’s scandalized by the titillating covers of MM romance novels in the Vino & Veritas bookstore. He turns to Cooper for guidance, and let’s just say Cooper’s guidance in the sexual realm is eye opening and extraordinary for Sean. Cooper has never felt such strong attraction to anyone before, his need overwhelming. He experiences great satisfaction in encouraging, teaching, and showing Sean about sex and love.
But Sean is still troubled by his deeply ingrained homophobia and the PTSD that arose from horrific events in his late teens. He has never received therapy or family support to help with recovery. His best friend, Richie, from his hometown stands by him as a much needed ally, though.
I was thrilled by the cameo appearances of Emmett and Tai from Jay Hogan’s Unguarded, a previous, highly recommended book in the Vino & Veritas series. Briar, Oz, and Molly are other characters from the V&V universe.
I commend the author on her amputee representation. Cooper is matter of fact and speaks with bluntness about his missing leg. I’ve read a number of books where the hero wore a prosthetic limb, but never have I learned so much. In this regard, the book was educational about the ins and outs of life for an amputee – which I enjoyed – without it being preachy. Snapshots of Cooper’s everyday life have just enough detail to bring realism but not boredom.
Heartsong is a well-written book with strong characterization and a sweet happy ending. I am pleased to recommend this book.
Trigger Warning: I’m adding my own warning since they aren’t provided by the author and I do think they’re important in this book. Sean suffers from PTSD, and there is reference to kidnapping and conversion camp in his past.
RATING: 
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