Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Sloan McKenna is going through a tough time. His beloved mother has recently passed away, leaving him her house and beautiful garden. But should he keep the house? Sell it? To make matters worse, he’s in love with one of his best friends, Asher, a man who can’t (or won’t) love him back.

Sloan’s neighbor, Max Turner, is married to an ambitious woman with far-reaching dreams, including moving the family to France. But Max is happy teaching at the local college and living in their nice, quiet town. Then he discovers his fourteen-year-old son is not only gay, but out and proud as well. That throws him into complete disarray, for more than one reason....

When Max’s wife leaves on a two-month business trip to Paris, circumstances throw the two men together. As they become friends, Sloan finds himself falling in love with Max, who is completely unavailable… just like Asher. As for Max, he is discovering that both his son’s coming out and his new friendship with Sloan are stirring up feelings he thought buried long ago. Spring is a time for rebirth—Is there any way the two men can find happiness and a new beginning?

 

Book Review

The characters and the plot of this novel are very much like real life in many ways. I loved that about it! Sloan is struggling with his mother’s death and what to do with her house, while trying to deal with his friends and the unrequited love he’s felt for one of them for years. Sloan’s neighbor Max is having trouble with his wife’s ambitions to move to France while all he wants to do is continue to teach at the local college, until all of that sort of pales in the face of the revelation that Max’s son is gay—which brings out all sorts of long-suppressed feelings in Max. Both of these men have a lot of thinking and learning to do, and even though this may sound like a potentially depressing story, it is anything but! B.G. Thomas’s special touch in dealing with these issues, his humor, and the way he lets the story play out make it a fascinating character study and a touching, gentle romance at the same time. Bravo! 

Sloan starts out just sort of drifting along. His mother’s death has clearly affected him, and “seeing” her everywhere as he remembers her and slowly says good-bye is hard on him. He also goes along with his friends a lot, even though they’re not always nice to him, nor very considerate, not really standing up for himself or expressing his opinion. All that slowly changes as his friendship with Max builds and Sloan begins to understand himself and what he wants better, as well as what it means to him to be gay. It’s as if he was shrouded in a mental fog in the beginning and slowly wakes up as the story progresses. It was a very powerful way of keeping me hooked, waiting and hoping for the next step in his growth.

Max is a different story. He really struggles with being gay, to the point where he has clearly tried to “forget” by getting married and having a “normal” life. When he finds out his son, Logan, is gay, it not only brings up a lot of fears about Logan’s safety, but also his own memories and feelings. He still loves his wife, even though they are not as emotionally close as they used to be, but he also develops feelings for Sloan. Max is one conflicted guy and none of his meditation techniques really help him with any of the decisions he needs to make. There is one extremely powerful scene when Max talks to Logan about what it means to be gay today, and his son tells him he is “proud to have been chosen”. That gives Max a lot to think about and proves to be a turning point in the way he looks at his own life.

As with all B.G. Thomas books I have read to date, they would not be complete without a set of fantastic secondary characters. Max’s wife is just on the edge of being a villain, but never quite crosses the line, Logan is a fantastic fourteen-year-old, and Sloan’s three closest friends are in turns hilarious and aggravating. The entire mix makes for fantastic reading and had me laughing out loud in some spots as well as crying during other scenes. A true emotional roller coaster in the best way!

If you like stories that start like a gentle brook only to develop into a raging river of emotions that sweep you along, if you enjoy stories about real men with real issues, and if you’re looking for a read that will have you on the edge of your seat, rooting for the characters to finally “get it”, then I can wholeheartedly recommend this novel. I totally adore it!

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review.

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 350 pages/101221 words
Heat Level
Publication Date	25-April-2014
Price	$6.99 ebook, $17.99 paperback, $17.99 bundle
Buy Link	https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/spring-affair-by-bg-thomas-5665-b