No Fear in Love

Title: No fear in Love
Author: Jamie Craig
Publisher: http://www.samhainpublishing.com
Genre: Contemporary GLBT (M/M)
Length: novella
Rating: 4 stars out of 5

THE BLURB

One night, no defenses…

A Calling of Souls story

Weston Scott is happy with his simple, quiet life in a small English village. Yet he is haunted by deeply closeted yearnings, a secret he has shared with only one person. His best friend, Mark. As a constant reminder to guard his own heart, Weston wears an emerald ring on his hand.

Mark Goudy has a secret of his own, one that drove him to live far away in London rather than betray his best friend’s trust: He’s always been in love with Weston. Now he’s back, but not for a friendly visit. Mark’s through denying his emotions. And if he can manage to slip that ring off Weston’s finger for one night, he’s sure things will change. For both of them.

THE REVIEW

I really liked this story for a number of reasons, the principal one being that it was original for the genre. Weston is an Anglican Priest who entered the priesthood because he did not feel that there was any life for him outside the Church. His best friend Mark had left their little village to move to London and with Mark gone there really was nothing left for him but to answer another calling. Mark comes back several years later, intent on one thing and one thing only; he wants to claim the love of his life, Weston, and he is betting the farm on making his dream come true. Weston had always harboured strong feelings for Mark since they were teenagers but the sex was never consummated and he felt that Mark had other goals in life which did not include him.

No Fear in Love is controversial because of the subject matter and if you’re deeply religious it is not the book for you because it would clash with all of your beliefs. Even though the authors did not dwell too much on the Church this is obviously a major element in terms of the ethical dilemma and the decisions that Weston would have to make. Does he stay in the Church and continue to practice his faith or does he decide to throw it all away for Mark? I wondered how the authors would resolve this situation and extricate the two characters from what would be a difficult and moral conflict for both of them and I think they did a really good job with the ultimate solution.

There is no doubt that this book, in all likelihood, will generate heated debate among readers and I have to give both Jamie Craig full marks for having the guts to tackle such a controversial subject matter and Samhain for publishing the book; it was very well done IMO. However, I did think that for such a momentous and life changing decision for Weston, who has to determine whether to stay with his religious calling or follow his heart, that perhaps the story might be more credible if he had more than a weekend to decide his future.

I would recommend No Fear in Love to readers of the genre who would not be offended by the sensitive topic.