Finding Faith: A Novel

by Andrew Barriger

Taylor Connolly was a nice guy. So, when he came home to find his boyfriend of over two years in the arms of another man, it was only natural he had trouble finding room to forgive and forget if he was going to be nice, how could he expect less of the man he thought to spend his life with?Depressed, dejected, demoralized, and probably a few other de-words he couldnt think of right away, Taylor decided to move away from the big city to a small town. He was close enough to keep his job, but far enough away to try to forget him. For Taylor, it was time to start over and forget about relationships for a whileor so he thought. After all, he didnt look gay, and small towns didnt have gay people in them, right? Avoid temptation and thou shalt not be tempted

Genres: M M Romance

266 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2003

Reviews

[Shin · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book disappointed me. I was expecting much more from it, maybe too much.
The long and numerous descriptions of all things made the read tedious and slightly boring. The story itself was okay but a little too much drama even for me, it was pretty soap opera-y. The romance was very slow and annoying too. Then there's the characters.

First we have Taylor, unfortunate sucker in all things, who forgave his boyfriend Ryan the first time he cheated on him to come home early one day again and find him cheating, for the last time. Feeling that twice was enough (like once wasn't already.) he kicks Ryan out and moves away from the city in hopes of finding some peace and quiet. That's when he meets the baker Tom. Instant attraction and interest on both parts, there's only one thing, Tom isn't out. Taylor not feeling very sure about Tom's sexual orientation plays it cool and relax. They do a couple of "casual" dates where he can clearly see Tom is interested but he's still hesitant to bring up the subject right away for fear of dashing his chances. And then comes along Neil, hot stud extraordinaire. Out and Proud and not the least bit shy about showing his attraction to Taylor and prompty dazzling him with his obvious flirting. So what does Taylor do?

Well why satisfy himself with one insecure and unsure guy that he likes when he can have his cake and eat it too? Here's Taylor dating Tom every odd days and Neil on the side every even ones. It's sad because here's the guy you pitied at the beginning for what Ryan did to him and now he's doing the same thing. Even better is when Taylor, the not-so-bright lawyer, takes Mr. Hot Stud Neil on a date, right next to Tom's bakery. Did he really not think that Tom might, just MIGHT, see them? Feelings are hurt of course but Taylor shrugs it off as nothing since he and Tom never even hinted at their mutual feelings. Way to go champ. As if things weren't already dramatic enough, they needed a woman thrown in the mix too. Faith has her sight set on Taylor and nothing will stop her either, but it's not like Taylor isn't unconsciously encouraging her flirting either. So all in all, this seemingly nice guy from the beginning is in fact a teasing asshole who obviously craves everyone's attention. Just when he and Tom were getting closer to admiting their feelings, the truth blows out about his sexuality in the small town he settled in. Taylor panics at the thought that Tom might freak out. He does the most intelligent thing ever. He runs away to NYC for a few days. With Neil.

I won't ruin the ending but it's also nothing special and sort of anti-climatic in my opinion. The most anticipated sex scene, is non-existant, not there, forgotten, etc. I seriously don't think sex is all that it takes to make a good story but in this case here, after everything that happened, I personally felt like these characters suffered without having their grand finale. So overall, it's an okay book to read (if you don't fear gagging on too much drama) but I doubt I'd re-read it anytime soon. I wasn't impressed.