You Know You Can Believe In "The Gospel According to Cher"

“Love is the most common miracle.” ― John Green

Blurb: Hindy Nardella, gallery owner and tidy leather diva, isn’t sure about love anymore. His most-recent ex-lover said “sayonara” and headed for Japan despite a week of Hindy begging him to stay. The man before that bid Hindy “namaste” before heading for Nepal seeking salvation. Hindy will accept advice from anywhere, even a tacky Cupid music box which only plays Cher’s “Believe,” and vivid dreams that compel him to leave NYC and head for the Adirondacks.

Cupid leads Hindy straight to a leather bar in the mountains and an exotic drag queen named Patrice O’Malley. For Patrice, who’s near-perfect beauty belies his lack of confidence, it’s lust at first sight, but Hindy has doubts born of his recent run of bad luck in romance. But when Patrice saves Hindy from death by a falling chunk of airplane blue ice, Cupid slams into Hindy’s heart, and Hindy begins to believe in miracles again. Dangers and challenges arise, involving, among other things, crazy ex-lovers, rampaging mosquitoes, and a phantom moose. But life together awaits back in NYC, if they can survive, trust in each other, and believe in life after love.

Review: Words fail me on how best to describe The Gospel According to Cher. There are 3 parts to this book, so I’m going to try something different. I’m going to rate each part separately.

Starting off with Part I of the story: 3.5 Stars

This is where I first met Hindy, as he’s taking his daily walk. It turns out he has a lot on his mind, like Gaston, an ex-lover who helped cause financial trouble with the Gallery. Then there’s Tim, his current lover, who Hindy thinks is cheating on him. As it turns out, Tim is secretly going to job interviews, and yes, Tim eventually leaves Hindy for his dream job in Japan. This is also where we catch a glimpse of Cupid, a tacky music box figurine that belts out Cher’s song “Believe”.

At this point, I’m not sure about how I felt about Hindy except that there were moments when he kind of annoyed me. Then, as I got to know a little more about his character, I started to warm up to him, flamboyant diva queen and all. I felt bad for him when he was attacked with a skateboard, landing him in the hospital with a broken nose and concussion. Tim is a douche, and I was glad to see the last of him.

Part II: 5 Stars!

Hindy decides to take some time off and makes a trip to the Adirondacks. Oh hallelujah…this is where the story becomes very cute and funny! The title should have been changed to Queens of a Different Breed or The Diva and the Drag Queen, with Patrice O’Malley being the drag queen. I want a pair of “Hello Kitty” hiking boots!

I don’t want to reveal too much about this part of the storyline, but I went from smiling, to a few laughing out loud moments, especially when it came to the bloodsucking mosquitoes and spiked heel attacks by crazed Divas.

Part III: 3 Stars

I felt this part was dragged out too long, and a majority of it should have been left out for the possible third book it was leading up to. All in all, it adds up to a 4 Star read. I’m stealing lines from part II for those conversations that are deemed necessary to use them.

Thank you, Hindy!

You can buy The Gospel According to Cher here: