Review: Wonderful - Almost As Good As The First Book
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 1, 2013
I must confess that I loved this book - even though, at times, I got so pissed off at the main characters. They all rejected Lewis, a 23-year-old Wimbledon champion, in deciding to force him away "for his own good" and for the good of his career.While that may have seemed noble, in fact, it's an extremely selfish act to decide someone else's life and career without even consulting them. After all, it is their life, isn't it?If you haven't read the first book in the Naked Hero story, read it first. While "The Journey Home" is readable as a stand-alone novel, your understanding and insight will be limited without knowing how the hero got to where this book begins.In the first book, Lewis is the first male tennis pro to come out of the closet - of all things, in his victory speech at Wimbledon. He pays, big time for that act of courage, and then has to rebuild and come back with the help of several men who love him. He makes a choice among them, and it's Lee Porter, the proprietor of a gay beefcake website and an escort agency, whose gift at self-promotion rivals only his stunning body, well-displayed on his site. Together, they make a great couple with Lee egging Lewis on to even more success while gathering endorsements for him, both getting filthy rich in the process.This book opens a few months after Lee takes off, abandoning Lewis, supposedly "for all the right reasons". Lewis is about to play Wimbledon again, trying to regain his title. As a humorous aside, in an interview that asks who would be his "perfect man", he agrees that Gavin, a muscle-bound former contestant on a Big-Brother-Like reality show would fit the bill. Well, one thing leads to another and Gavin gets invited to Lewis' VIP box to watch the match and, later, head off to a tiny Maltese island where they are assured of escaping the tabloid press for a few weeks of desperately needed rest and privacy.And that's really what this book is all about. The themes and conflicts are a little more romance-novel-trite than the first book ("he hasn't come to my bedroom, so maybe he's not attracted to me" and "I'm just not good enough for him"). The whole point of this getaway was to give Lewis time away from the media crush that's suffocating him. Inadvertently, Gavin becomes the source of scandal news for the tabloids.  Against his wishes, Gavin's agent follows him to Gozo to snap some intimate pictures and sell them to The Star. Miscommunications abound, and ultimately, Gavin rejects Lewis viciously, telling him that he sold the pictures and story to make money (not true), in an attempt to make sure that Lewis continues on with his career and not get sidelined by his feelings for this "unworthy" big galoot.The rest of the book is about how they get back together and Lewis sorts out his life.Brighton is an excellent writer, and so what may be totally trite in lesser writers' hands still propels you forward and keeps you on the edge of your seat. And, at several places in the book's closing pages, it brings you (or at least me) to tears. Hence, the five-stars.My only real reservation is that I was surprised that the editing was not as good in this book as it was in the last. There were several places where plurals had apostrophes, where the plural "s" was omitted, leaving a raised eyebrow at what the hell the author intended, and other outright misspellings. For a Kindle book, this one was moderately expensive, and even if it weren't, someone should have taken better care to respect the reader with thorough and polished editing.Still, there weren't all that many glaring errors, and book really moved me, so I recommend it highly.