Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE:  Finley Embraces Heart and Home

SERIES:  Love, Austen #4

AUTHOR:  Anyta Sunday

PUBLISHER:  Self Published

LENGTH:  275 pages

RELEASE DATE:  September 13, 2021

BLURB:

MUM is the love of his life. Until he meets his STEP-BROTHER.

For years it’s been just Finley and Mum. Now she’s getting married, and they’re moving into a flash mansion and his step-dad is lording it over him. He’s clearly a homophobe, and doesn’t want him rubbing off (so to speak) on his son.

Like that would ever happen. No way he’d ever go for someone who shares his DNA.

Even if Ethan and his dad don’t look anything alike. Even if Ethan and his dad don’t act anything alike.

Even if . . .

This can’t happen. They’re whānau now, family, there are boundaries.

Secret. Forbidden. Irresistible. A reimagining of Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park.

REVIEW:

“I fell in love with you the moment I met you.”

Our moods and current life circumstances inevitably influence our reading experiences. Sometimes I’ll read a book everyone raves about and wonder what I missed. Other times, I’m elated about a book that the majority find average. I have to remind myself how much our moods matter.

I cried most of the way through Finley Embraces Heart and Home. I hated it; I resented the heck out of Anyta Sunday for writing this reimagining of Mansfield Park. I despised Jane Austen for writing the original. I cried for all of Finley and Ethan’s suffering and then I cried some more. And in the end, I admitted to myself what a beautiful love story this is. The ending was everything. Perfect and worth the pain.

See, today my best friend of twenty years moved across the country. We’re like sisters, raised our children together, have been through thick and thin for decades. Today I said goodbye, came home, and … began reading Finley. Lousy timing, really. Of course, I sobbed – my heightened emotional state impacted my reading and my response to Ms. Sunday’s prose.

The story is poignant, heartbreaking, and visceral. Stunning. It’s about hope battling with hopelessness. Devotion, loyalty, sacrifice. It’s about the denial of one’s true self and the suppression of deep love. The boys almost admit their feelings for each other, nearly utter the words out loud, but then they’re pulled apart for days, weeks, and more by college and years abroad. Boys become men, years pass and they acknowledge their feelings, but their love is forbidden. Eventually, they find the courage to take the only path forward to survival and happiness.

This was a difficult read for me, mirroring a rough day. But at this moment, my life seems easier in comparison to the years Finley and Ethan spent apart when all they wanted to do was be in each other’s arms. Every speck of Finley and Ethan is scrumptious. I want to know them and hug them and love them. I want to tell them it’ll work out okay, even if theirs is the slowest of all slow burns.

The storytelling is engaging and gripping. It left me raw, but ultimately, I feel blessed to have read Finley and purge my sadness. Thanks, Ms. Sunday, for dragging me through the wringer and back, and allowing all my tears to escape.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Amazon