Review - Love Life & Circumstance by VL Moon and JT Cheyanne

Love Life & Circumstances by V.L Moon & J.T Cheyanne

The Blurb

Born the son of a preacher man, Elijah Deacon always conformed to his father’s strict religious teachings. He worked hard, devoting his time and energy to the family owned construction firm, leaving little time to focus on the deplorable state of his private life. Small town America was no place to be when all a man craved was the touch of another man. Elijah hid his sexuality and tried in vain to convince himself he could be happy with a woman. Urged on by the dream of having the family he craved, Elijah couldn’t know a drunken one night stand would see him pay the ultimate price.

Leaving the bright lights of Atlanta and placing his own life on hold, paralegal, Seth Jacobs, moved to Alabama hopeful that with a baby on the way, his twin sister Bethany would settle down. His older sister by five minutes, she gave him the confidence he needed while growing to come out and be proud of who he was. It was his turn to return the support. On arrival in Headland, Seth endeavored to make her see the dangers her behavior presented to her and her unborn child. But, to no avail.

When destiny deals a cruel blow, and the life of a newborn baby hangs by a thread, Seth and Elijah are flung together to deal with the tragic circumstances. The grief threatens to consume them, while joy and fear work to unite them. Jealousy, love, lies and bitter truths rise to the surface and threaten to tear them apart. Can the powers of love and life bring them together and heal the loneliness that death leaves behind? Or will circumstance prevail and fuel the embers of love that draw them together?

Review

My rating = A life giving FOUR!

I was looking forward to this story and when I finally grabbed it I was not disappointed. It was an easy read and one that I shall happily read again.

There were some areas that I did whistle between my teeth at but I didn’t let them detract from my enjoyment of this book.

The main MCs are Elijah Deacon (love that name!) and Seth Jacobs who’s first meeting was one born from a tragedy both were pushed into. Neither one would be able to comprehend what this would lead to.

Elijah is the son of a preacher man and for all his life had hidden his sexuality to protect his father from the reality. He was on the way to meet his father to visit his mother’s grave when the tragedy struck and his father killed in a traffic accident. To lose his father the same day as his mother twenty-five years apart was difficult to bear as it was but what he also discovers in the aftermath was something beyond the scope of possibility and his life as he knew it.

Seth was new in town after leaving the big city, Atlanta, to come live with his pregnant sister, Bethany, and to try to keep her safe from herself as she had gone off the rails in recent times, hence her unwanted pregnancy. To lose Bethany but be left with his beautiful baby niece was an emotional punch from both ends of the scale, it left him in a scary and unknown place he didn’t know if he would be able to cope with. What he learns later has him freaking out even more.

The things I loved about this book were the development of the relationship of Elijah and Seth as this would be difficult with the circumstances it had risen from but was nicely done, with all the angst, jealousy, passion and love that brought forth. I liked the secondary characters too, even Elijah’s best friend who started off with me wanting to punch him!

The baby scenario gave some touching scenes with Elijah and Seth and did have me dabbing my eyes. But I would have preferred if it could have been done (for a child to be in the picture) without it having to lead to the death of one the MCs siblings. Not that that doesn’t or hasn’t happened in real life but it’s just that it appears far too frequently in m/m reads. But it was nicely done and the situation around how that happened did throw in some startling surprises to the plotline.

So would I recommend this book? I certainly would as it had me enthralled from start to finish and when I end a book on a contented sigh you know the author (or authors in this case) have got me. A good, solid 4 stars read for me.

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