1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A truly amazing story, February 13, 2012
This review is from: Fall Into the Sun (Kindle Edition)
4.5 stars
To say I enjoyed this book would be an understatement. It was a well-written, engaging story that I just did not want to put down. The connection these two men have is awe-inspiring and captivating.
This is a story about Bobby and Alejo. Friends from the age of six, they've reached all aspects of a relationship in the decades they've known each other. From friends to lovers, breaking up and drifting apart, to getting reacquainted and becoming lovers all over. The feelings they've had for each other for over two decades never disappeared or lessened. Their lives have been made of love, heartache and missed opportunities but now both men have reached a point in their lives when being friends with benefits is no longer acceptable. Bobby's ready to move forward but Alejo might be too set in his ways to finally grab hold of what he desires most. And that's Bobby.
I absolutely adored these characters. Bobby and Alejo have such a great connection that I felt like I could feel it. They are both stubborn men and that stubbornness sometimes causes tension between them but their love always brings them back together. They are two completely different people. Bobby is an out and proud lawyer who doesn't much care what people think of him or how it'll effect his family. Alejo is a family man. He's divorced with two kids, owns a restaurant, a devout Catholic and can't have much of a life because of his troublemaker son who's desperate for attention. Bobby's forgiving and understanding but even he gets frustrated by Alejo's constant need to coddle the boy especially when it interferes with the limited time they have together.
One of the things I loved about this story was the use of flashbacks. Normally, I don't like flashbacks because when they're not done properly I feel like I'm getting whiplash. Ms. Kovalin, however, has an amazing way of smoothly transitioning the story between the past and the present. We get to see Bobby and Alejo then as teenagers and lovers, we get to see them years later when they meet for the first time after a long silent absence. We get to experience the simmering desire when they realize they're both at a time in their lives when they don't have obligations to other people and that they're once again able to explore what's between them. It's a beautiful story filled with love, hate, desire, and grief and it all shows us who Bobby and Alejo are and how they've come to be in the place they're in.
My only fault with the story is I wished there had been more of Bobby and Alejo in the here and now. I felt like, while the story did good in transitioning between the past and present, there wasn't enough of them alone together in the present.
Overall, this was an amazingly sensual story about second chances. The characters are lovable and interesting while the plot is captivating. Seeing these older men finally able to grab hold of the love they've had for each other was simply amazing and had me staying up late just so I could finish their story in one go. It's definitely a book I'd recommend especially since I know I could never get enough of Bobby or Alejo.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Beautiful Story, February 11, 2012
This review is from: Fall Into the Sun (Kindle Edition)
I really loved this friends to lovers story. It was very well written, the use of flashbacks, I thought was done BRILLIANTLY, and gave the story so many layers, which made for such a great connection with the characters, it was just so GOOD.
Bobby Gallegos and Alejo Sandoval had been in love since they were six years old. They were soul mates, they knew it too. But life, family obligations, religion, fear, circumstances, all got in the way. At 40 years old after they had finally found a way to be together (if only as friends with benefits) it was time to decide who they would be to each other permanently.
I had to think a lot about this book. Both Bobby and Alejo are Latin (Mexican-American). Being Latin I am always very critical about how Latins are portrayed in books or novels. With this book I had to ask myself, was this story just a bunch of stereotypes? Or was this just honest? I had to go with honest. The reality is that in the Latin culture being Catholic is not just your faith, it is part of who you are. Our major life milestones revolve around sacraments, there is not even a choice. You are born, you are Catholic. The grip of the Church is not an easy one to escape. Family obligations in our culture are not something you move on from, oh no no, who you are as a son, a brother, a father it defines the measure of who you are as man. Add homosexuality to a culture that is fueled with expressions like "a Real Man","Men being Men" (which most times involves they notches on their bedpost) and you get a recipe for exactly what Bobby and Alejo had to go through. But at the same time, there is deep and intensely fierce love in our families, and people who will show a love so unfettering and unconditional that is almost miraculous. Bobby and Alejo got that too.
This was both Bobby's and Alejo's story, we get to know both of these men well. Who is talking to us though is Bobby, for the most part we see things through his eyes. Bobby's family had many problems, his father and two of his brothers ended up in a life of crime, and died violent deaths. His other brother struggled with alcoholism, and a gambling addiction. His mother was bitter from all the hardships she endured. Despite all this Bobby knew who he was, he loved Alejo, and was not afraid to let that take his life where it had to go. He was not willing to let the love of his life go, over fear of his family's rejection. Thing was that Bobby had a lot less to loose, all he could do was better.
Alejo was from a good family, very religious, he was the only male son. He lived to make his parents proud of him. Like the good Latin boy he was, he lived and breathed to get approval from his mother. The fear of seeing hate or repulsion in his family's eyes drove him to turn his back on Bobby.
At 18 Alejo broke up with Bobby, drove him away, told him he didn't want him anymore. It broke Bobby's heart, so much so that he had to leave New Mexico. He went to Houston, became a successful attorney, and tried hard to forget Alejo. Alejo married, ran his family's business, had kids, he tried to forget Bobby too. They never could.
So, we meet up with Bobby at 40, waiting for Alejo at a hotel in Albuquerque. For about a year they have been reunited, and have been doing the friends with benefits thing. But they both know that it's HELL OF A LOT MORE than that. They are meant to be together, and they've already wasted too much time.
Alejo is divorced, his kids have grown up, and Bobby, he has reached a place in his life where being with his man, fully and openly, is the only thing he wants.
I really loved the times where the story goes back to show us Bobby and Alejo's history, we see how they met, how they hurt each other, how they healed each other, how they drifted apart, how they found each other again, their passion for each other when they were together as lovers...Just what THEY have always been. Two men meant to be together.
This book was fantastic. I loved it. Not much to complain about for me really. There was a little bit of drama, which was what prompted the desperately needed 'Wake Up Call". That was done well and precisely. So, no bother at all to me. One thing that might be bothersome for some people is the sense that Bobby was always willing to give more than Alejo. Took whatever he could give him, that Bobby gave too much and got back too little.
Maybe that is true, but at the same time a 40 year old man should be able to make up his mind regarding what he is willing to live with, and what he is not. Alejo was more important to him than anything, and his devotion and steadiness finally got him what he wanted. Alejo became the man Bobby knew he could be, and he did it because of HIM.
Completely Recommend this one.
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4.0 out of 5 stars
Sweet story about two men who finally get their happy ending, February 23, 2012
This review is from: Fall Into the Sun (Kindle Edition)
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.
Rating: 7/10
PROS:
- Kovalin makes it interesting right from the get-go. Along with a strongly established physical attraction between the two men (which didn't feel forced to me because of the characters' history together), there are also numerous references to some vague occurrence "in Texas." After about the third mention, I REALLY wanted to know what the heck had happened in Texas. So I was hooked.
- I loved that Alejo is so quiet and restrained. Not that I mind reading about characters who are totally open about their sexual desires, but it's nice to encounter characters who are a little on the shy side now and then, too. "You're so hot for me...It's nice," he says at one point, and Bobby's responding thought is, "For [Alejo], that passed for raunchy sex talk."
- It may be because the story spans such a long time, or it may be simply because Alejo and Bobby's connection is so strongly established, but I was convinced by the end of the book that these two guys couldn't possibly be 100% happy without each other. Sometimes I read stories in which I like the two guys together, but I'm not convinced that they're MEANT to be together. Not so in this story: these two struck me as soul mates.
CONS:
- Much of the story is told in flashbacks that provide background information that is necessary to understand Alejo and Bobby's complicated relationship. They're not badly written, but I think the flashbacks could have been woven into the story a bit more smoothly.
- I found the story to be a little too angsty for my taste. Most of the flashbacks--as well as some of the scenes that occur in the present--relate heartbreaking scenes in which the two men are like ships passing in the night: desperately in love with each other but kept apart by a variety of external circumstances.
- The transition from "Alejo's worried about coming out to everyone and admitting he's in love with Bobby" to "Alejo's asking Bobby to move in with him" struck me as rather sudden.
I also thought the ending was a little abrupt. It's not a bad ending by any means; it's just that I'm not sure I liked the specific scene the book ends on. I thought that particular part of the story could have been told a little earlier, and the final scene could have been something different.
Overall comments: This is the third story I've read by this author, and she's growing on me. I'm not sure whether she's improving measurably with each book or whether I'm simply growing fond of her writing style, but I thought this was a sweet story despite the angsty moments. Good characterization, men who have faults rather than being perfect, and sex scenes that are tender and passionate.
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