Because It's True

by Willa Okati

Believing in love and in luck is something Gavin swore he’d never do again -- until he meets Ford. After being left at the altar by his former fiancé, he's a firm disbeliever in good fortune and love. Though there’s an immediate attraction between himself and Ford, they're just too different to make a relationship work. The sex is explosive and despite himself Gavin even grows to like Ford’s quirky sense of humor and skewed view of life. Isn’t that good enough?Not for Ford. A happy-go-lucky diviner of fortunes and omens, he’s sure from what he’s seen that Gavin is the love of his life and the man he’ll marry. He makes it his mission to overcome Gavin’s doubts and fears and teach him how to love again. Never giving up in his enthusiastic pursuit of the once-burned twice-shy secretary, he brings Gavin back to life and helps restore him to the man he used to be.Ford makes Gavin want to believe in love again. But when Ford begins to lose his faith, it’s up to Gavin to save the magic they have between them and blaze the trail toward their happily ever after.Publisher's This book contains explicit sexual content, graphic language, and situations that some readers may find Male/male sexual practices.

Genres: M M Romance, Romance, Contemporary, Gay, Ebooks, Drama, M M Contemporary

164 pages, Kindle Edition

First published April 1, 2010

About the author

Will Okati is made of many things: imagination, coffee, stray cat hairs, daydreams, more coffee, kitchen experimentation, a passion for winter weather, a little more coffee, a whole lot of flowering plants and a lifelong love of storytelling.

Reviews

[Shell · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was completely captivated by the characters in this book. Ford, a unconventional, superstitious, giant of a man, finds his love in Gavin, a small, slender, nerd who believes in signs and omens about as much as most people believe in the Tooth Fairy. Ford, who not only believes, but can read signs, pursues Gavin. Betrayed by love before, Gavin is not so easily won and it takes time and patience for Ford to break down his barriers. Once down though,Gavin melts under Ford's gentle love for him. Ford, on the other hand, starts getting signs that maybe he and Gavin aren't meant for each other after all and starts to doubt that he was reading them right in the first place. The contradictory signs and Ford's continuous confusion leads to a tailspin of rather unfortunate events, that includes one of Gavin's ex lovers and a F1 hybrid feline of sorts. Willa pulls it all together in the end though, with an outstanding HEA.

[Jess · Rating 4 out of 5]

This story is pretty freaking cute. I absolutely adored both main characters. I enjoyed watching the romance unfold and I was laughing out loud a few times throughout the book.

I have one issue with the book which stopped it getting 5 stars from me, but it is a spoiler so read at own risk I rarely say this but I think the story could be shorter. The ending confused me, one minute our gentle giant was all gung ho to marry and then he saw some signs and he backs off. I cant even really describe how confused I was about this plot change. It made me spend the next 15 pgs going WTF. However the story does end with a really really happy note so I enjoyed the ending I just thought there was a few things that happened that were unnecessary.

I recommend this for anyone that enjoys extremely cute romantic acts.

[Sucajo · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the first half of this book and watching Ford try to persuade Gavin that they were destined to be together was both sweet and funny. I was slightly confused by some of the events towards the end of the book and felt that some important stuff was rushed or not explained properly. I did find Ford and Gavin a pretty loveable couple, though :)

[Not that · Rating 3 out of 5]

3/5

Ford and his signs were cute, but it was too silly for me. The execution of the climax was stupid though. I meant, Gavin was left on the alter once before. I don't think he would be so keen on chasing after Ford after he too ditch the dude due to some superstition.

[Coffcat · Rating 2 out of 5]

Dang it! I'm really torn, I want to give this book a higher rating! The story is so new and refreshing but what starts out so promising quickly unravels into kind of a mess. Ford, I love crazy big Ford, who tries so hard and has to be so hyper aware of his size and strength and timid Gavin who tried to be brave once and was burned so badly. Geez, they were meant to be together! I was so sure this book was going to be fantastic. For some reason though the author takes Ford from being boisterous and eccentric to uncertain and paranoid. It was such a huge change in personality that it didn't even seem like the same person anymore. I'm sorry to say it, but he was a little unrealistic too....I'm all for spontaneity but his actions went a little to the extreme. When you're thinking maybe Gavin should get a restraining order things are not going well. Normally I'd jut rate it ok and go on with my life but this is so disappointing! You can tell that the story had the possibilities of awesomeness but somewhere along the way it got lost.

[Barb ~rede-2-read~ · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a nice story about Ford, a gentle giant of a man, who believed in omens and signs and pretty much lived his life by them. That's why, when standing in front of an elevator one day, he knew that the next man off was going to be the love of his life. The problem was that Gavin, the next man off, had been burned badly by his former boyfriend and wanted no part of a relationship, never mind a long term commitment.

I have mixed feelings about how the story unfolded. The pace was slow but I believe the author intended it that way. Yet some things just didn't ring true. I felt that Ford's personality, while sweet, was just a bit off. Maybe it was because he was so huge (6'9") that I kept feeling like he was a mythical or magical creature, not quite human. His belief in the signs, coupled with his size, kept making me think I was reading a fantasy rather than a contemporary story. Gavin was a bit more true to human form and mentality.

But overall, it was a nice romance, perfect for a rainy day or a day on the beach.

[Bookbee · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 Stars

I liked the story - it was fun but had a deeper aspect, too. I liked the 2 MCs - the were such opposites but balanced each other (even during the switch-up). I even liked the switch-up between Gavin & Ford's outlook - it made sense to me that a man living his life by signs and omens would be thrown into a tailspin when the signs appeared to shift. But did they? Did the ominous signs bring on Ford's doubt or did his doubt cause him to only see the ominous signs?

I did find myself having a little difficulty with Willa Okati's writing style. The sentence structure tested my patience occasionally and I found certain elements in the story remained opaque and murky.

[JenMcJ]

I just can't seem to embrace these characters enough. I have fallen asleep two nights in a row trying to read this book...and I so rarely fall asleep reading even my kids asked me what was going on.

[Elisa Rolle]

As usual Willa Okati’s stories are a mix of romance and magick, and Because It’s True is not different. Ford is a man who believes in magick, in good omens and signs. A mix of finnish, irish and chinese heritage, he is a man with the body of a bear and the soul of a fairy (no pun intended). While speaking with a new friend, he is challenged to read his own fortune and all the signs are saying that he will meet the man he will marry; when the elevator opens and Gavin is the man in front of him, Ford is lost: Gavin is small, fragile and beautiful. He is also scared, not by Ford on a physical way, but from the strength of Ford’s feelings. Already once in the past Gavin has been stormed away by a crazy man and the end was not an happily ever after.

With all his passion, and with an old fashioned courtship, Ford manages to convince Gavin to give him a chance. It’s a crazy idea, it’s completely against Gavin’s tentatives to shelter his heart from further damage, but Ford is a force of nature. The nice thing is that Ford doesn’t use his strength to convince Gavin, and not even the physical desire, it’s more a play of doing little things and be always there for Gavin. Ford’s strength is in the little things, in the details he read as good or bad omens, in the things people usually underestimate since are too small to get notice. I think there is a parallelism on being Ford so big and his conviction that the true is in the small things: Ford is really self-conscious of his clumsy body (almost 7 feet tall he has indead a scaring exterior) and in the aim to protect who is smaller, he is more aware than other of how much fragile people and things can be.

I was already good with the story like that, a nice guy meets guy, guy gets guy story, but Willa Okati decided to give us even more; what if the all-together good guy Ford suddenly is making a mistake? What if, after spending days and days convincing Gavin that he is the right one, that he has to trust him, that he loves him, and when Gavin asks why, the simple answer is, Because It’s True, what if suddenly Ford changes his mind? Will Gavin read it as the final betrayal, will he close himself in his shell without letting anyone reach for him? There is another nice parallel at this point between Gavin and his “pet”, a F1 cross, a mix between a domestic and a wild feline: Ford is trying to conquer both of them, and I think that if he conquers one the second will soon follow; but as Oscar, the F1 cross, also Gavin is skettish, and they tend to react hiding himself when in danger.

The sex is good, not so much kinky as it could have been due to Gavin and Ford’s body differences, but in a way it was better, since this novel targets more the romance than the sex.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003S9VMPC/?...

[AliciaJ · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've read several books by Willa Okati and I've mostly enjoyed them very much. Unfortunately, this one just wasn't my cup of tea. I'm not a big believer in "signs" and "omens", so I had a bit of trouble getting out of my own head and into the groove of the story. I kept having to remind myself that's it's fiction and to just go along with it, regardless of my inner skeptic. So, once I was able to do that, I started to enjoy the romance between Gavin and Ford a bit more. Ford is a sweet, gentle giant of a guy who falls in love at first sight with Gavin, who he sees right after reading the "signs" that something wonderful is going to happen to him that day. Gavin, naturally, thinks the dude is a bit nuts, but eventually he agrees to go on a date, and it goes from there. There is a nice romantic feel to the story, but the whole "signs" thing was really distracting and not a good fit for a bona fide skeptic like myself.

[M.R. · Rating 1 out of 5]

The premise of the story is interesting, but a little more than halfway the story headed into no-man's-land and then I got lost. The prose is very broken and stilted, which I hate, because it doesn't bring me into the story. I skipped passages of the story because it was so broken that I got annoyed and I just wanted to know the rest of the plot. Also, I really hate drama for drama's sake. At first, the signs all point to them being perfect, and then the signs tell them no, and then the signs tell them yes. Can't you make your own decision without the signs influencing everything in your life? Can you tell that I really hate Ford? Yes, I really hate Ford.

[Chris · Rating 2 out of 5]

So-so m/m romance about a guy who's given up on dating since his last boyfriend ditched him while they were traveling to Canada to get married. This never came together for me - the guys never seemed like actual guys and the book could easily have half as long as it was. Also, I wanted to slap characters. Frequently.

[Nikki · Rating 4 out of 5]

what a sweet love story....you would never think a guy that big could really be just a big teddy bear.

great story if you beleive in love at first sight or magic, or fate,or signs, or just 2 hot guys looking to find true love...

I recommend if you love m/m books and it has some nice hot sex scenes too.. can't go wrong :)

[Michi Rosa · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to give this books 5 stars but i can't.

It's a great story but too long, it could be at least 30 pages shorter and (then) it would be perfect!
Ford really annoyed me in the end... got me really confused.

A good reading though.

[Tam · Rating 2 out of 5]

I was so frustrated with Ford at the end that it sucked the joy out of what I'd enjoyed at the beginning.

[Tj · Rating 3 out of 5]

I really enjoyed this read. Ford was fun and light. Gavin was shy and timid. They made a great couple. The ending was a bit confusing for me but still an enjoyable read.

[qx · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5

[Sandi Weller · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great original characters. Fun read!

[Wende · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very sweet story. It a story of a large teddy bear falling for a shy geek. It worked for me.