Title: Kissed by God
Author: T.A. Chase
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Publisher: Amber Allure
Amazon:
Genre: Contemporary M/M
Length: 98 pages
Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
A guest review by Lasha
Summary Review: Interesting characters but the plot ultimately felt rushed with an easy resolution.
THE BLURB
Gus Holten used to love heroin more than anything else in his life. After his second stint at rehab, Gus realizes he needs to take control of his life. He won’t live much longer if he continues the journey he’s on. So he chooses to be clean. Six months of being sober gives him a better outlook on life, but he’s still alone.
One night he meets Morris Pierce and his world starts to change. Morris is rich, successful, and gorgeous, leaving Gus to wonder why the man is interested in a skinny, scarred mechanic/waiter like him. Yet interested Morris is, and Gus finds himself on the verge of a whole new life.
Can Gus forgive himself enough to reach out for what Morris offers? And can he find someone he loves more than heroin?
THE REVIEW
TA Chase has been on my auto-buy list ever since I read the Love of Sports series. In Kissed by God she tackles a different type of plot, one quite original and compelling: the life of a recovering addict. Gus is a waiter and former heroin user, his life crashed and burned due to his drug use, but now sober he struggles to stay clean. One night at work he meets Morris, a wealthy businessman and Gus is attracted. Come to find out Morris is Gus’ ex-boyfriend’s boss, but that doesn’t stop Morris from asking Gus out — right in front of the ex — and Gus takes a chance and goes out with the older man.
This book deals with a serious topic, drug addiction and recovery. It is not a light, fun read. Told from Gus’ first person POV, the story opens as Gus is high on drugs and hallucinating about demons having sex with him. Fast-forward to six months later, Gus is clean, working as a waiter and mechanic to pay the bills and taking it day-by-day to stay sober. He never expects to meet Morris, his polar opposite in every way, nor does he expect Morris to be attracted to him and want to date him. The rest of the book deals with Gus’ insecurities and his self-worth issues. Will he ever believe he deserves to be happy?
I picked this novella because my mother is a former drug and alcohol counselor, I have family members who have had serious drug problems and are now like Gus, struggling to stay clean and sober, and I worked in a treatment facility for teenagers with addiction issues, so I thought I could relate to the plot. However, the plot wasn’t the problem with the book — Gus was. While I really connected with Morris — the man trying to restart his life after a bitter divorce and figuring out he was gay — Gus is a harder nut to crack and I couldn’t relate to him other than a surface level feeling, despite my personal understanding about heroin and how it affects the user.
While Morris seemed very straight forward. He was attracted to Gus, so he asks him out. However, I still couldn’t help wondering why a rich, successful man like him would want to take a chance on an addict six months out of rehab. If Gus has been 2 years sober, I might have understood, as he would have been on more stable footing, but with heroin users there is a 68% relapse rate within 5 years of treatment, so Morris was taking a huge risk on Gus so soon after his stint in rehab. Plus Narcotics Anonymous (NA) really recommends that addicts stay out of inter-personal relationships at least a year after treatment, so while Gus was working his steps, he was also breaking an unspoken rule of the program about having a boyfriend only six months after rehab.
The character I liked the most was not the two protagonists, but Morris’ cop friend, Blake. I have a soft spot for cynical police officers and if T.A. Chase wanted to write Blake his own love story; I would be first in line to buy that. But other than Blake, the secondary characters (like Gus’ mother, his co-workers at the diner) seemed one-dimensional.
It is not that I disliked Kissed by God; actually I think it was a huge leap for T.A. Chase to tackle this very dark subject, but without a connection to the main character, especially when told from his POV, which should have made me more sympathetic to his plight, the novella fell short for me. By the end, I knew Gus and Morris would have their HEA. In actuality, instead of a jumping ahead epilogue where Morris and Gus have resolved all there issues off-page, I would have preferred a few more chapters on HOW Morris and Gus achieved their happy ending, with the author writing about their struggles and how they coped together to overcome it. What can I say but I like the angst. It seemed a lot of the important drama was hand-waved to off-screen, and while I understand this was only a novella and not a full-length novel, I thought that plot point deserved more exploration.
While I am recommending Kissed by God to readers, there were still a couple of niggles I had with the plot and characters, but it is not enough to say do not buy it. If you are a T.A. Chase fan, then you will undoubtedly enjoy this story. Also fans of tortured, struggling protagonists who love the angst factor in their books will also like this novella. I applaud Ms. Chase for writing about a different kind of hero, one whose past inner flaws are keeping him from his true potential. While Gus’ character is not for everyone, I think this story was an important one to tell, as the m/m genre needs more than good-looking perfect cookie cutter heroes and Gus is a welcome addition to the fold.
Thanks for revive Lasha – I agree wholeheartedly 🙂 Strengths of the book are definitely creative heroes – I like that the author decided to choose the characters of people far from ideal. Prologue was compelling – a scene straight from one of paranormal romances interrupted by the words: “You’re going to rehab. I can not take this anymore.” For me brilliant 🙂
Chapters after prologue struck me as too rushed. I couldn’t believe that six months after rehab Gus is strong enough to engage in a new relationship without much hesitation. Perhaps I would have a different opinion if there were couple more chapters of how Gus and Morris made the work of living together rather than quickly jump to the prologue, when everyone lived happily ever after.
Everything you said too. The prologue had me thinking this was going to be a paranormal story too. I wanted Morris and Gus to have their HEA, but I wanted to see them work for it. (Maybe I am a big meanie for that? 😀 )
Great review. I could not agree more. The ending was rushed and that prologue did not really connect with the rest of the story. My main niggle is TA Chase’s overkill on safe sex – not for the first time either if you have read Why I Like Geeks, for example. Morris and Gus are in a committed relationship at the end, but they still use condoms. I get the point already!
I really wonder what the prologue was about in relation to the rest of the book. As for safe sex, I understand at the beginning of Gus and Morris’ relationship since Gus was a heroin user, but over a year later and after extensive testing for HIV and HEP? Agree with you there…don’t see the need.
I’m a fan of TA’s and I have read most of her books but lately I seem to run into the same problem – the endings don’t work for me because they are rushed or they are not quite believable. While I’m definitely not a fan of angst I like the books to be realistic, and glossing over the recovery process for a drug addict is just wrong.
TA has written about all kinds of damaged heroes recently and I don’t know if this is a deliberate strategy of hers, but while I love diverse stories I think the author should do her homework. As you said, it isn’t all sweetness and light for an addict and if you can’t relate to the protagonists and believe in the plot it’s hard to like the book.
The plot did seem to have some research on drug addicts and the emotional and psychological results of long-term use, but that doesn’t necessarily make for a good story. For this novella, I didn’t want sweetness and light, but to skip over the recovery process and go straight to the HEA didn’t flow.
As for wounded heroes – I like them – but in spurts. Hopefully my next book will be sweetness and light. 🙂