Review: Coming Clean by Silvia Violet

Author: Silvia Violet

Publisher: Self-Published

Pages/Word Count: 230 Pages

At a Glance: Silvia Violet has done a wonderful job, as usual, with this story.

Reviewed By: Jackie

Blurb: An unexpected inheritance lands Jeremy a large house and plenty of money to take a sabbatical from his job teaching poetry at a small college. He intends to sell the house and take off on a new path to discover what he wants out of life. Then he meets Connor. The attraction he feels to a man so different from himself is no less shocking than his change in financial circumstances, but Connor is in the closet and Jeremy wants a life lived out in the sun.

Connor is a former Force Recon Marine who runs a housecleaning business. When he’s hired to get Jeremy’s house market-ready, he’s startled by how attracted he is to his client despite their many differences. But his past, especially his final mission, weighs heavily on him. He’s not certain he can be the man Jeremy needs, but no man has ever made him want to take a risk like Jeremy does.

Review: If there is one thing I can’t resist it is a plot with a military man. Make him a man struggling with his past and his present, and that just makes me melt. Throw in a slightly nerdy bookworm who makes it an opposites attract story, and I am SOLD.

Jeremy is a lit professor who just inherited a large home and enough money to give him the opportunity to take a sabbatical to write a novel. Unsure whether he wants to keep the home or not, Jeremy decides to hire a cleaning company to get the house ready in case he does decide to sell.

Enter Connor. When Connor returned to the civilian sector, he found that he could put his cleaning skills to use. With the help of his best friend’s sister, he opens a cleaning service and through word of mouth, his company is hired by Jeremy.

When these two meet there is instant chemistry, but, unfortunately, Connor has lived his whole life in the closet, and Jeremy is most assuredly out and proud. This leaves Jeremy wondering if Connor is even gay, and Connor trying to decide if he can risk leaving his closet for the man who flips all his switches.

There are a few things holding Connor back, the biggest of those things being his best friend and fellow ex-Marine, Mario. Luckily Mario’s sister Sabrina gives him some great advice, and maybe sets up a situation or two to push Jeremy and Connor together. And while Jeremy’s best friend David isn’t too sure about Connor in the beginning, he does eventually come around and when he joins forces with Sabrina, sparks begin to fly.

These two guys couldn’t be more different, but they seem to mesh very well. They have just enough in common to complement each other. Their differences are enough to keep things interesting for sure. When things seem to be going well for them, some miscommunications lead to the two of them almost losing everything they ever wanted. To fix things, Connor has to decide if his closet is as comfortable as Jeremy’s bed, and Jeremy has to decide if he can be patient enough with Connor’s gradual coming out.

Coming Clean was a fun story to read. I loved Jeremy’s character. There is just something about a nerdy professor type falling in love with a former Marine. The only thing better than that is that same former Marine falling right back.

The supporting characters in this story were very entertaining, and the fact that they wouldn’t let the two men screw up a good thing when they saw it was perfect.

Silvia Violet has done a wonderful job, as usual, with this story. Reading about a hardened Marine falling in love over Shakespeare was very sweet. I would love to be able to revisit these two in the future. They truly brought a smile to my face, and this is definitely a book I would re-read when I needed a pick me up.