Review: In His Secret Life by Mel Bossa

I fell in love with Mel Bossa's story telling and writing talents when I read her debut full-length romance Split, and then that was reinforced when I read her second novel, the magnificent Franky Gets Real. This year? This year, it is In His Secret Life, the romance between Allan, a gay man who falls in love with Davinder, a bisexual man struggling with his life's choices.

Allan and his sister Elsie are alone in the world and very close to each other. He is very protective of both Elsie and his young niece Faye. It's not surprising then that he's happy but a bit taken aback when she falls in love with Dayton and plans to marry soon follow.

Allan's life really becomes complicated when he meets Dayton's bisexual older brother Davinder. There is an immediate, strong, mutual attraction when they meet and the two begin a secret, passionate affair, but the real conflict comes from the fact that Davinder is married with two children, and he's also about to become Elsie's brother-in-law. Allan continues the affair believing that Davinder is on the verge of ending his marriage, while all along Davinder is conflicted between his feelings for Allan and the responsibility he feels toward his marriage and children. As is the case with secret affairs, there are lies, betrayals, and broken hearts.

When Elsie becomes aware that the affair is going on, she tells Allan that Davinder is really working on his marriage and that he should do the right thing by leaving. Allan ends the affair, sells his condo and moves away, refusing all further contact with Davinder. Years later, a family member in need of clarification brings it all back.

In her romances, or romantic fiction, Bossa focuses on relationships from the perspective of both gay and bisexual males. Her couples find a happy ever after, which places her books firmly into the "romance" category. However, Bossa also presents issues and conflicts confronted by the couple as they enter into a relationship as well as how those issues affect each individual, from both gay and bisexual perspectives. Her characters are three dimensional, human and flawed, which I personally love. This includes her secondary characters and interpersonal relationships that occur between the main characters and those very important secondary characters.

In His Secret Life is a fantastic romance with forbidden love, sexual tension, intense yearning, and angst. It's one of those all-encompassing, sweeping, lasting romantic love stories between two men who are also selfish enough to cheat and lie to be together. They pay a high price, but in the end find their way back to love. The execution in this romance is fantastic, as Bossa follows through with all the characters, the choices, consequences, life and love. My favorite LGBT romance of the year to date... I highly recommend it.

Category: LGBT-Gay/Bisexual Romance
Publisher/Release Date: Bold Strokes Books/May 14, 2013
Grade A

Minis: Sidecar by Amy Lane + Don't Say A Word by Beverly Barton

I hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend. I'm late with my wishes since I haven't had a chance to really chat lately. Mine was quite nice! Nath, her sister Emilie and a couple of their friends came all the way from Canada and stayed over for a couple of days, and that's always fun for me. :) Then we had the opportunity to meet Christine and Mariana for dinner on Saturday evening and that rounded up the goodness of it all! We had a great time! Talked and ate, ate and talked! Of course I don't have any pictures! Nath and Christine took pictures because, unlike me, they are good at that. Maybe they can share those with you all later. :D

Anyway, I didn't really make the time for blogging, preparing my reviews for the week, or reading much during the weekend. However, here are a couple of mini-reviews about two books that I read recently.

Sidecar by Amy Lane (Click on title to read summary)

Sidecar by Amy Lane is a good story spanning a 25 year period of time. I really like the way Lane captured the time period (80's and on) by incorporating music, fashion and attitudes without overdoing it. The relationship between Casey and Joe was wonderful. I like that Lane features a bisexual character with some of the conflicts that present themselves along the way for a man like Joe who doesn't like to be labeled and who has needs that are different from Casey's. There are emotional moments galore in this story. Some of the conflicts are dramatic and a bit over the top at times, and the story is a tad over long. However, all in all an emotional and enjoyable read with great characters. (Dreamspinner Press, June 2012): Grade B-


Don't Say A Word by Beverly Barton (Click on title to read summary)

Don't Say a Word is Beverly Barton's last book, as sadly she passed away earlier this year. A romance suspense, it is part of a series, but as I found out it can easily be read as a stand-alone.

What impressed me the most about this story is how Barton had me guessing until the end as to whom the serial killer turned out to be in this piece. There are multiple murders to be investigated and the murders are gruesome! The story is told from three points of view, the heroine who just moved to town as a policewoman, the hero who is a member of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI) and a few chapters as seen from the killer's perspective. There are clues along the way, but there are also red herrings and they are good ones. So watch out for those!

I found that the romance was incorporated unevenly. It had a good beginning, a tough middle with little to no forward momentum, and then it moved rapidly toward the last third of the book with good results, although not with great sizzling moments. Overall, I enjoyed this book and consider it a solid read that I enjoyed on both fronts, but leaning more toward the suspense.  (ARC Kensington - Zebra, July 31, 2012) Grade: B


That's it for this Thursday. Ohhh, wait! Since I'm catching up, I'll let you all know what I'm reading. I'm all excited because I'm reading the latest western by Jo Goodman, The Last Renegade. I'm really enjoying it so far, but then I love my westerns and Jo Goodman is one of those authors that does it for me. Review to come! :)