Product Description

New York City Vice Detective Evan Cerelli has lost his wife, the only person he ever loved and slept with. He's trying to get on with his life, build a life for his children. Former Homicide Detective Matt Haight is a ladies' man, all sex/no commitment. He's depressed, having a midlife crisis, and not sure where his life is headed.

The two find friendship in the bottom of a shared bottle. When the friendship turns to love, it shakes two straight men to the core and flips their lives inside out. Kids, families, careers that are not gay-friendly -- can all the love in the world overcome the obstacles to faith and fidelity?

Publisher's Note: This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find objectionable: Anal play/intercourse, male/male sexual practices.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #80098 in Books
• Published on: 2009-01-22
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 336 pages

Customer Reviews

ON OF MY ALL TIME FAVORITES
Tere Michaels is a new author and this is her first book. I purchased it months ago in ebook and have now ordered it in print. I rarely reread a book in its entirety but have read through this one no less than 4 times. It's earned a keeper spot on my very small bookshelf.

This is a poignant, rich and complex love story that shows that love knows no gender. The characters are so well written that they grab hold of your heart and hold it the whole way through.

For those looking for a sketchily written m/m erotica that focuses more on the sex and less on the relationship this book may not be for you. If, however, you like to read a book where you fall in love with the characters and happen to enjoy m/m, you couldn't find a better book IMO.

"Most realistic H/H Flip-flop tale ever to.........
........have reached my reading chair." In truth, this Hetero-to-Homo conversion story should be a top contender** for every gay book award out there: "Most Realistic!"--------"Most Exciting!"--------"Most Memorable!"

((Here is my approach to obtaining/reading/reviewing Gay romance tales in book form. Simply, it's seeking the holy grail of that genre---or looking for the "Addictive Read"). Selection of read materials is based mainly on purchase of new stories by favorite authors or on comments/reviews by you in these online "Book" pages. Sometimes I feel correctly steered by you (the "Keepers" filling my shelves), other times mislead---occasionally badly (the "Throwaways"). Rarely, I come across the "Addictive," those I can reread at least monthly (see below starred *** area for a list......and for some "near-Addictive" as well). For some reads, I'll share comments with you, as follows. Thanks for sticking with me so far.))

Bar none, this is the greatest and most well written novel, involving this type storyline, I've had the good fortune to read. Every gay story publisher in the country.....the world.....the universe......should be pursuing this author (while at it, they should be reaching out for one Z. A. Maxwell, as well). And Loose Id has them both.

Just a few "here and there" thoughts that stick out for me after my initial and almost immediate reread of this wonderful novel:

- Here's what Tere Michaels is great at: she makes BEING with her characters so NATURAL for us.......so easy. She wonderfully covers all emotional reactions---even the one of embarrassment over one's body condition when getting naked with a someone special, or even a someone of the moment. She makes us realize we've all been there.....she makes us feel comfortable about it. Then there's her marvelous ability to describe that ultimate in "physical release" sensations; it's an ability not as well honed by most other writers. After all's said and done, when an author's words can truly "take us there," one may only imagine what a distinguished writing career lies ahead!

- When this writer gets a sense of humor going---at a point when these two men's distraught lives are beginning to find some light at the end of the tunnel---she's truly great at getting that across. And what a sigh of relief and happiness that becomes for we whom she's gotten involved in "seeing them through." In the end, you'll also find this author has led us to connect with these two lead characters in a way few other writers have been able.

- The only storyline complaint I might have is that Michaels brings up the "L" word a little quickly in the minds of our two leads (Page 63 for Evan, Matt even earlier). After all, we're talking lifelong "straight" guys here. Other than that, she makes absolutely none of the many mistakes I've seen from other "straight-to-gay" storyline authors.

A couple of favorite exerpts:

- On Page 207, when she give us Evan's thoughts: "And he wanted...wanted...no. No." (Michaels has led us to know exactly what "it" is that he wants.....yet what he fears as well. And further, just exactly what kind of sex he wants). She makes it so simple for us, doesn't she? Then, moving on to ......

- Page 53, we have this author giving us the Straight(?) Guy Statement-of-the-Year, 2009: "Dear God, please don't let anything weird happen, like me getting excited because I'm looking through Evan's underwear drawer. Amen." (This is a priceless moment---read story to find out why). And then.....

- At story's end, there's daughter, Miranda's, funnily "gagging" behavior and her comment on "scarring" (you just gotta read all this in context; you'll explode with happy---and relieved---laughter).

Lastly, Ms. Michaels is great with the right words and phrasing, just great. Oh, and BIG Plus (for this finicky reader), she doesn't have a problem of so many others about when to use "that" and "who." BUT.....she's been let down sometimes in the proofreading department (noticeably worse in the last few dozen pages). And throughout there are occasional misspelled words and punctuation omitted. This isn't the higher level of proofing work Loose Id applied in another of their recent publications: Z. A. Maxwell's "Crossing Borders." Still, all in all it's more than passable.....and, frankly, above the level of many other such publishing houses (God, I'd like to get hold of some of these things before they ever go to press!).

**Interestingly enough, in thinking of other similarily story-lined, but far less successfully written novels out there, one has to go no farther than this same publishing camp's (Loose Id) earlier released work, "The Assignment." (you'll find my very brief comments on this work here soon on Amazon.com).

PS--All readers should BEWARE: this book is so addictive I've found it's already begun to creep to the front edge of my "Addictive Read" shelf, just to make grabbing it easier for me (oh, dear.....oh, dear, what if it should fall off and get misplaced?)

***Other reads which are "Addictive:" "Crossing Borders" // "Caught Running" (Urban & Roux) // "Freshman Pledge: The Magic of Love" (Larry Coles) // "Diplomacy" (Zahra Owens) // "Bareback" (Chris Owen). Some "near-Addictives: "Brokeback Mountain" (Annie Proulx) // "The Dreyfus Affair: A Love Story" (Peter Lefcourt) // "The Carnivorous Lamb (Little Sister's Classics)" (Agustin Gomez-Arcos) // "Afterlife" (Paul Monette) // "Cowboy Up" (short stories edited by Rob Knight)

****

Faith & Fidelity by Tere Michaels
I think that the moral of this story is that love has not sex... and don't get me wrong since now I will explain why.

Evan is a NYPD Vice detective. He is the perfect good boy, a wife, four children, a suburban house. His life is perfect till the day his wife is killed in a car accident. After that Evan is lost: Sherri was his highschool sweetheart, they met when they were 14 years old and there was no other woman in his life; they grew together and Evan was perfectly happy, really. He never regretted to marry at 18 years old and to have soon after his first child. And now at 34 years old he is still young, but he seems to not have any reason to live if not his children.

Matt is a former NYPD Homicide detective. He trod on the toes of the wrong people and he was reassigned to patrol car service in Staten Island. Not suffering to fake his policeman role, he resigned and now he works in a security firm. But he is alone; the police department was his home, he has no family, and he seems to have no any purpose to go on.

Matt and Evan meet in a pub with a beer between them. They recognize the mutual loneliness and they make an unusual alliance; whenever Evan can have a night free from the kids, they meet at the same pub. They talk of work, sport, and whatever else two men can talk, but not of feelings or of the real reason they are together, that they are both alone. When Matt starts to realize that he has feelings for his friend, he is stunned: he has never had the same reaction to another man, he has always gone along well with women.

This is a love story, but I believe that this is also the tale of a deeply friendship. Both men have their reason to seek a gay relationship, even if maybe they don't realize it. Evan was so in love with his wife, that the thought of a new relationship with another woman is impossible, it would be a betrayal, like losing his wife again; loving a man is different, Matt is completely different from his wife, pun intended, and also the feelings and the sex is different. Evan can have both Matt and his wife memory at the same time, without having the feeling to betray one of them.

Matt sees in Evan the family he never had. Since he has always considered the Police Department his family, the fact that Evan is a detective is even better, it's something more that links them. And then Evan has a real family just ready to be picked and loved. Loving Evan in a physical way is easy since with him arrives an heavy luggage that Matt is eager to share. And loving Evan is also a way to re-enter the Police Department family he lost.

There is sex in this romance? Yes there is, but it's the sex you would expect from two apparently straight men who get together: clumsy, tentative, tender and sweet. It's always strange when you read about two men that should know nothing about gay sex, and that from the first time seems that they are playing in a porn; instead Matt and Evan don't know nothing and have also some fears, and you read and understand it. But they try and trying they are so sweet.

It's the first book I read by Tere Michaels, and it's also a very long book, 330 pages, but I hope not the last.