Review: A gay man with children discovers his true love
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 8, 2014
A much-reviewed title by Amazon readers, I bought The Current Between Us by Kindle Alexander as my third book by the author.An electrical sub-contractor, Trent Cooper, abandons his gay life-style when he becomes the guardian and then adopts his deceased sister’s two young children— two-year-old Hunter and newborn Emalynn. (The children are now six and four years old, respectfully, at the beginning of the story.) Trent chooses the keep his personal and professional life separate, but yearns for a stable relationship.A world-renowned photojournalist, Cage Synclair, prepares to retire from fieldwork now that his final, explosive expose on a hated terrorist/assassin is near completion and his art gallery is soon to open. Cage, also gay,  is content with one-night, uncomplicated sexual encounters until he meets— you guessed it— the electrical sub-contractor summoned to correct missed electrical issues in the remodeling project.Suffice it to say, a mutual sexual attraction between Trent and Cage happens and by the end of the first two-thirds of the narrative the two become lovers. In the final one-third of the story, a major complication arises that could spell doom for their relationship.The plot/storyline is typical of m/m romance tales: boys meet, boys fall in love and boys overcome obstacles before achieving an HEA ending. Unfortunately, the getting-together part (the first two-thirds of the narrative) is ponderous and overdone. The last one-third gains steam and is the most enjoyable part— Cage has to make a choice: release his final expose and lose Trent or abandon his expose and keep Trent’s love.The two main personalities—Trent and Cage—are both handsome and muscular and… well you can fill in the rest. Trent is a blue-collar worker struggling to provide for his adopted family, and Cage is a successful professional from a privileged background. Trent is the more sympathetic of the two because his life is more complicated than is Cage’s life. One admires Trent from the beginning because of the devotion to his adopted family, and one only comes to appreciate Cage toward the end. To support the main personalities is a colorful cast, especially the children, Hunter and Emalynn.A talent author, Alexander, offers another well-written book with minor distractions, and as expected, the book is for adult readers because of the explicit portrayal of gay sex.Not the finest example of Alexander’s titles, The Current Between Us was an enjoyable reading experience for me, and I recommend it for your reading pleasure.