Review: Real life issues and Sweet Romance
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 24, 2013
I enjoyed this book. There were a lot of things that might have bothered me, but when a book is written well, that can overcome a lot.POV-- with one being in first-person and the other being in third... Often this doesn't work for me, and at first I wondered why only Trey's POV was first-person. But then I realized that it made it very easy to distinguish one from the other, so it seemed quite natural after a while.Late Realization-- at 40 and after three marriages! That seemed to stretch reality. And with the catalyst being the encounter with the loving gay couple? BUT, the authors took their time to let the plot and the characters reveal themselves, and so it all seemed a lot more natural. Vinnie had hints in the past, but apparently wasn't way far to the extremes of the sexual range, since he wasn't totally turned off by women. He just wasn't at all as hetero as he thought or wished to be. So... denial, but somewhat understandable denial.Virgin/saving it for the right person-- This was rather hard to buy, too. Yes, Trey was over-worked and stressed by all his responsibilities, but as a young, out man, it really wouldn't take much time to help with stress in at least ONE way! It is revealed there are other things that contribute to this--the lack of trust and all. But it still seems a bit odd. It just happens to work in the story because both Trey and Vinnie get to take it slow. But it could have gone slowly without that aspect. I could just about accept Trey's reasons, but it was still a bit odd.Vinnie was a great character. Quirky (plumber with an MBA), macho Italian but in a good way, loves his family but has felt a bit of an outsider, sweet, solid, strong, thoughtful... What's not to like?It was cool to see him carefully figure his way through finding out where his attraction truly lay. In many ways, it made sense that it happened later in life, strange as that is. Older and wiser, and all that.Trey was a great character, too. He had to grow up fast and be the sole-support of his family at a young age, but still try to look forward to a future, trying to put himself through school. He was a mix of young and still aching for a big close family and support, and strong, having to deal with life as it was.I thought the secondary characters were well-drawn, too, even though they didn't have huge parts to play.This was definitely one of the better books I've read in a while.  A sweet, improbable romance with enough real-life issues to ground it and make it feel real.