"Sex, Lies and Wedding Bells" by E.M. Lynley

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25187400-sex-lies-wedding-bells

3 stars:

Note: This book was kindly provided by the author through the mm romance group. 

Let me say this first, I liked the backstory (in spite of my opinion that it had a few blanks and unreasonable parts) and I really liked Kieran (at least most of the time) ... but I neither liked Jaxon nor their love story. Why? Because for me it often seemed really unrealistic.

But, let's start at the beginnig. Kieran is one of the most popular colummnists at gloss. He has time problems with the deadline, so he decides to write a colummn about some letters of his readers. In the mountain of letters he finds a wedding invitation for one of his coworkers, Alexa (she's really sweet, just so you know...). But she doesn't want to go. Now, why is that? Well, that's the fourth wedding invitation she received from Danetta and the girl still isn't married. She has a reputation (consisting of 3 grooms) for letting her intended husbands stand at the altar, while she disappears... Mysterious, right? Why would somebody still want to marry her? Kieran wants to find out the secret, so he travels to the small city in Texas where the wedding is ought to take place.

While meeting up with Danetta, he also comes in contact with Jaxon and it's lust on the first look. Nothing wrong with that. But. As soon as Jaxon meets Kieran, he suddenly realizes that some things Danetta does annoy him. "That might have been a good realization before you decided that you want to marry her.", that was my thought in that moment. But, it's much more complicated than that and there are reasons why he would marry Danetta even though she might not be perfect for him.

But. Just a few hours after meeting Jaxon (and he was almost blinded by his beauty), Kieran almost starts to draw hearts around Jaxon's name. This seems to be the behaviour of a lovesick teenager, and not of a grown man, however it was sweet. But Jaxon's sudden interest in kissing men, was ... sudden. All in all, Jaxon was very undecisive and naive. Kieran's personality was overall much more interesting.

But. Their love was kind of an insta-love/-lust and I couldn't feel their struggle. The sex scene was also rather anticlimatic, I had hoped to get more feelings there. Even the twist at the end, where I totally liked the portrayal of the characters, was destroyed by their behavior afterwards. In my eyes it just wasn't realistic. 

Of course, there were also the grooms. Well, they are totally friendly with Danetta and wish her and Jaxon the best. We are given a reason here that's for the most part plausible, but it seems that they never talked to each other about it, even when they knew more about it. I didn't quite understand why... And although I partly felt for Danetta, I couldn't bring myself to like her at all.

So, it's a sweet story, that had a great story idea. Although I had many things I criticized, I found myself enjoying the book when I overlooked the parts that antagonized me. So, if you want a cute romance with not much angst but still with an interesting storyline, then I would recommend this book.

"In Front of God and Everyone" by Nealy Wagner

"In Front of God and Everyone" by Nealy Wagner

Title: 

In Front of God and Everyone

Author:

Nealy Wagner

Buy link:

Amazon

Summary: (231 pages)

Most people called it a cult. But for twenty years, Josh and Caleb called it home. 

On the Compound, there is no television. No fast food. Just long hours of farm work and prayer on a dusty Wyoming ranch, and nights in a crowded bunkhouse. The boys of the Compound are kept far from the sinners’ world. 

But Joshua doesn’t need any help from TV or porn to sin. His whole life, he’s wanted his best friend, Caleb. By day they work side by side. Only when Josh closes his eyes at night can they be together in the way he’s always craved. 

Yet it can never be. And his survival depends on keeping his terrible desires secret. 

Caleb has always protected Josh against the worst of the bullying at the Compound. But he has secrets of his own, and a plan to get away — until it all backfires, and Josh finds himself homeless in a world that doesn’t want him. 

Luckily, there is someone who does. But can Caleb find him in time? And will they find a place of safety, where he can admit to Josh how he really feels? 

Rating: 5 stars

Review: 

I really wasn't in the mood for a religious book, so I was very sceptic in the first 7% or so, but I was really surprised. What I read was really good and though religion plays a significant role, it isn't overwhelming.

The book starts out at the compound, where the cult members, also Josh and Caleb, live. Polygamy is the norm and men receive several wives when they are in their twenties. Before that age, they have to work. Because of the several wives policy though, there are too many men. So some of them are tossed out and left to fend for themselves. That’s a significant problem for them, because just the children of the first wives receive birth certificates and the tossed out men aren’t the children of the people that stand high in the hierarchy.

Joshua and Caleb’s story continues when Josh is tossed out at the age of 19 and Caleb follows him, because he loved Joshua for years. But Josh never realized it before and because of his fear of corrupting Caleb (because the morals of the church teach that lying with a man is a sin), he never made a move on his feelings for Caleb. Caleb is a lot less concerned by these morals, because he realized that no one is hurt by not following them. 

That’s most likely a consequence of his much more carefree life than Joshua’s. Due to being born to the first wife of an important family, he was able to leave the compound regularly, owns a birth certificate and a drivers license. But he still tries to help Joshua whenever he can.

Joshua is a lot more insecure. He sees himself as weak and a burden for Caleb. But while reading the book, you realize how caring he is and that his opinions about himself were just a result of the behavior of the other members of the cult.

Joshua and Caleb find an ally in Maggie (another runaway) and her husband, where they have a place to stay. But even then, their lives aren’t easy, they have to overcome many problems. On  one hand, money, but on the other hand, feeling as if they are useless, unimportant or a burden. 

“In Front of God and Everyone” is a story of love and acceptance, of overcoming prejudice, pain, problems and of finding happiness. But also of overcoming dumb decisions and unnecessary self-sacrifices … It made me smile, it made me cry, it made me angry, it made me feel happy and it made me feel relieved. It’s a really great book and I would recommend it to everyone who likes an interesting storyline, wonderful characters and heartbreaking emotions. Well, like I said, everyone.

Note: This book was kindly provided by the author through the MM Romance group in exchange for an honest review.

Goodreads