Recovering the Hard Way

Trying to recover from alcohol addiction and taking pictures for a photo journal as his dying second mother begs him to do are taking a toll on central character Jamie in Con Riley's Recovery, the sequel to Salvage.

Here's the first few paragraphs of my review that was posted today at The Romance Reviews:

When the only real mother he's ever known is diagnosed with terminal cancer, a former bad boy, now a rising photographer, meets the challenge with love and art.

Jamie Carlson, last seen in Riley's Salvage, has turned his life around after joining Alcoholics Anonymous and being given Alec Bailey as his sponsor. Bailey brings with him his wife Belle, who has given Jamie what he's always missed: a mother.

When Belle is diagnosed with cancer, she asks Jamie, now a rising photographer, to record the family's last years. This is difficult on many levels for Jamie, particularly as he's still struggling with sobriety and watching her dwindle away makes him crave the blackouts alcohol provides.

Into his life comes successful businessman Daniel Priest, twenty years his senior, who's newly divorced after deciding to stop living a lie and embrace the fact that he's gay. As he watches Jamie struggle with Belle's decline, Daniel provides part of the support the younger man needs to fulfill his promise to Belle.

A source of irritation, however, is Alec and Belle's son, a children's book author, who has resented Jamie since his parents informally adopted him and who hates his once-alcoholic father for his past neglect of the family.

When I first started reading the book, I thought that Jamie and the children's book author were going to be the ones to hook up since they started out sniping at one another, but seemed to have a solid bond. I discounted Daniel, not because of his age, but because he seemed to be exploring his new life as a gay man. Even though he kept saying that he'd had his flings while he was married, Daniel struck me as someone who was ready to play rather than settle down again.
Read the rest of review at The Romance Reviews.

Two Book Reviews Posted Today

The stars must be aligning because two of my reviews are running today.

Unfortunately, Forty-Two Stairs doesn't publish until June 2014, but it's like everything else I've read by A. F. Henley--brilliant.  If you've never tried reading a gay romance novel because you really don't want to know anything about gay sex, then this is a book I'd recommend.  While the two men acknowledge that they have sex, it isn't described in depth, at least not as in depth as so many of the straight contemporary romances I've been reading these days.  Instead, Forty-Two Steps is an honest look at overcoming addiction--that it's not the program but the person who makes the difference.  Here's an excerpt from The Romance Reviews:

There might be 12 steps to the AA program, but for Owen, a recovering alcoholic, the 42 stairs leading up to his new apartment are the real challenge.

Owen started drinking heavily when he was a teen, but it took two DUI's and nearly killing people in another car as well as a judge's sentence to persuade him to get his life in order. In the process, Owen, who's in his early thirties, loses his boyfriend Eli, his house, his money, and job while picking up a mountain of debt as a result of legal expenses, fines and penalties.

What he retained was an AA sponsor, his loyal younger brother Dennis, who helps him move into a minuscule low-rent apartment, and 42 stairs from ground floor up to his new life.

On move-in day, Owen meets Sebastian who has the apartment below his. In his mid-twenties, Sebastian, with his purple hair, elfin face, and artistic nature, is completely out of Owen's experience as a former white collar worker with a flashy car and elegant home. More than anything, Sebastian challenges Owen to find out who he really is and what he wants out of life.