Title: Hard Truths
Author: Alex Whitehall
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Length: 248 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: Hard Truths had a solid plot that could have really been taken to the next level, emotionally, had the author chosen to knock sense into their main character long before the final chapters.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: Isaac didn’t expect to find love at his family’s Christmas dinner, but that was before he met his sister’s new fake boyfriend. Tall, muscular, and tattooed, Logan is what Isaac would love in a partner—and also everything his parents would hate in one. Not that they know Isaac’s gay.
That doesn’t stop him from dating Logan—unbeknownst to his parents, and with his sister’s approval after she fake dumps him. The pair dive into a whirlwind romance of motorcycle rides, cheesy puns, and hot sex. They meet each other’s friends and fill their time with happiness and laughter. It’s all perfect.
Until Isaac suggests they move in together, and Logan asks Isaac to come out to his parents. Isaac wants to, but he’s scared; he doesn’t want to lose his family. Unfortunately, he can’t see that his real family has been right beside him all along.
Review: Isaac knows two things—his parents are racist homophobes, and his sister’s new boyfriend is hot as hell. Thanksgiving, or any holiday, for that matter, is always an anxiety-ridden affair when Isaac and his sister Sue must spend it with their parents. Every time they are together, both siblings get the grilling of their lives over why they aren’t yet married and producing grandchildren. This Thanksgiving, Sue has managed to gobsmack the folks by bringing a tattooed, slightly crass, supposed ex-con to family dinner. Isaac is mystified about how the two of them even met and quickly realizes something is not quite right about Logan. It could be because his life story is just so out there, but it most likely has to do with the gorgeous man groping Isaac’s ass when they were passing one another in the hallway.
Before dinner is out, Sue has confessed via text that she essentially hired Logan, pro bono, to act as her boyfriend. In a smooth move, Logan slipped Isaac his business card and before either man knew it, they were meeting for coffee and were very much interested in getting to know each other better. As Isaac and Logan spent time together, they realized just how much they have in common. Before they can blink, the two are official dating and calling each other boyfriend, meeting mutual friends and falling in love. The only problem is Isaac isn’t out to his parents, and never intended to be unless he found himself in a serious relationship. When Logan asks him to move in, the handwriting is on the wall…but Logan is terrified to lose the only family he has and hopes that Logan will be patient with him as he builds the courage to come out to his folks.
Hard Truths could have been an amazing coming out story that reflects just how we think about family. There are blood relatives and then there are the group of people (not always your relatives) that support you for who you are and stand by you through thick and thin. Apparently Isaac’s view of family doesn’t gel with Logan’s or any of his friends. Isaac is caught up in the idea that if he comes out and his parent’s disown him, he will be left alone—despite the beautifully patient man that loves him and the friends who have always been there for him.
I have to admit I wanted to slap Isaac more than once while reading this novel. He was understandably frightened, but he also had no ties to his horrid parents except the few times a year he was guilted into visiting. His mom and dad were just repulsive; honestly, the author chose not to give them even one redeeming quality, which I felt was a bit unrealistic. Seriously, Isaac was successful, living happily on his own, owed his parents nothing, and apparently didn’t even use them for any kind of emotional support, so why be so invested in their opinions or even in their strange, caustic love?
Then there was Logan, who should have been canonized by the end of this story. Patient does not begin to describe this man. Having lost his own parents to a tragic event, it was all too believable that he would not try and push Isaac to come out—even though it meant Logan was kind of a dirty little secret. Time and again the author showed us how much restraint and love it took for Logan to push down the pain he felt when Isaac refused to acknowledge Logan’s existence to his parents. Over and over, we saw Logan save the relationship by taking a back seat to Isaac’s unreasonable fears, and even grow to love the guy more. Honestly, I would have walked had I been Logan.
To add to the overall strange interactions between Isaac and his parents was the confrontation that occurred with his close-knit group of friends. I’m not going to go into the reasons, but Isaac essentially informs them how he views family, and they are not it. Frankly, I really felt this scene and the subsequent fallout just muddied the already dirty waters that were Isaac’s way of coping and thinking. I get that he was afraid. I understand that telling your ugly-minded parents you are gay is like signing the death warrant on your relationship with them. Here’s the thing, though; as this story was written, Isaac had no relationship with his mom and dad. He endured them. That is not love, and it certainly isn’t family; that is relatives you are stuck with and can’t escape being social with a few times a year.
Hard Truths had a solid plot that could have really been taken to the next level, emotionally, had the author chosen to knock sense into their main character long before the final chapters. Instead, we got a strange story that felt disconnected and mean-spirited. Alex Whitehall has written some lovely stories; unfortunately, Hard Truths does not come off as one of the best examples of this author’s talent.
You can buy Hard Truths here:
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