Title: Breaking Cover (Life Lessons #2)
Author: Kaje Harper
Cover artist: Winterheart Designs
Publisher: MLR Press
Buy link:Amazon.com Breaking Cover (Life Lessons #2)
Length: Novel/320 PDF pages/103,000 words
Genre: Contemporary/Police Procedural/Romance
Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
A guest review by LadyM
Review summary: Excellent sequel to Life Lessons
Blurb: For homicide detective Mac, it’s been a good year. Having Tony to go home to makes him a better cop and a better person. For Tony, it’s been hard being in love with a man he can’t touch in public. Evasions and outright lying to friends and family take a little of the shine off his relationship with Mac, but Tony is determined to make it work.
As the Minneapolis Police Department moves into a hot, humid summer, Mac is faced with a different challenge. A killer has murdered two blond women, and the police have no real clues. Mac hates to think that another murder may be the only way they’ll make progress with the case. But when that murder happens, it hits close to home for Tony. And suddenly Mac faces an ultimatum: come out into the sunlight and stand beside Tony as his lover, or walk away and live without a piece of his heart.
Review: Breaking Cover is a sequel to Harper’s novel Life Lessons (reviewed here). In the case that you’ve missed it, the author also wrote a short follow-up story And to All a Good Night (available for free here) which takes place a few months after the events from the first novel. It isn’t necessary for you to read it, but it is a nice bridge between the two novels and adds another layer to character development, especially Mac’s.
Breaking Cover begins approximately a year after the events in the first book. At first glance, the relationship between Tony and Mac is stable: they spend most of their free time together or with children, they have learned each others needs and moods, the passion is still alive and well. But, Mac’s inability to verbalize his feelings for Tony and unwillingness to even peek out of his closet are putting strain on their relationship and, when Mac’s serial killer case and their private lives collide, both men have to make difficult choices.
Throughout the novel, it becomes clear how many sacrifices Tony had made to be with Mac, going as far as to distance himself from his friends so he wouldn’t have to lie to them or accidentally out Mac. There is an undercurrent of hurt in everything Tony does, hurt which occasionally bubbles to the surface as anger, especially in the face of Mac’s fear of being outed in some very innocent situations. Tony is dedicated to making their relationship work, but he can’t help wanting more and the author did a very good job describing his conflicting feelings. We saw Tony’s strength in the first novel, but I was still impressed with the maturity he demonstrated when faced with very difficult decision. Additionally, Tony might not know everything about Mac and his life, but he understands every important thing about him and loves him in spite of his flaws. The way he sums up Mac’s misgiving about being gay is telling, not to mention accurate.
But, even if we were given the POVs of both protagonists, Breaking Cover is more Mac’s story, in the way the previous novel was Tony’s. If the last time we’ve learned more about Tony, this time the spotlight is on Mac, which was understandable considering how many things he had to work through. Prior to meeting Tony, Mac as a man was defined by very few things: his job, his fatherhood and his fear. A year in the relationship made Mac feel better about both his job and his life, but denial and fear still rule him. He is in denial when he believes that everything between him and Tony is fine and settled, just because Tony accepted the conditions of their relationship. He is in denial when he believes that being isolated from a part of his daughter’s life is the best for her. He is in denial when he thinks it is possible to lead a normal life without being truthful to anyone. Many readers, me among them, have wondered about some of Mac’s choices and in this novel we get a partial reason for them. Mac has witnessed a violent event after arriving to Minneapolis as a young man which influenced him a great deal. Homophobia in the police department only increased his fear. Mac’s fear is a huge, living thing that permeates every part of his life and leads to paranoia: he refuses to be seen with Tony without children, refuses to acknowledge their friendship, refuses to assist him in the teen center for LGBT youth (although his colleague eventually forces him to participate). We still don’t have the entire picture though: the reason why Mac never talks about his family and why he left Chicago in the first place. Mac’s struggle was painful, realistic, with some difficult and some light moments, and it’s not neatly resolved, because you can’t erase years of your life with a single decision. But, the result of that struggle, I believe, will be that much more satisfying to the readers.
Like in the previous novel, the police-related aspect of the story is believable and adequately researched. This is more police procedural than mystery, but that worked very well with the rest of the story. I think the mystery would have taken the focus away from the couple’s story. If you have read my previous review, you know that indistinctive secondary characters bothered me, which was remedied here by subtle touches and added more depth to the characters and the novel as well. For example, we learn that Oliver is a gossip among detectives; Ben makes mistakes only a child can make – innocent but potentially disastrous; Anna makes astute observations with all the innocence of a five-year-old. Lulu/Walter Sinclair, a transvestite actor and Mac’s witness, has only a few scenes in the novel, but makes an impression. Detective Ramsey and Tony’s friend Sabrina were also nice additions. Finally, the writing is smooth, fluent, never takes you out of the story and rings true, especially when it comes to dialogue and emotions.
I had one more significant niggle. The character of Brenda, who was a huge looming presence in the background of Mac’s life in both novels, got only a few scenes and never became more than a poster lady for Bible thumping. I felt the author took an easy way out with her. People are rarely that simple even if we perceive them as such, mainly when we strongly disagree with them. The fact that she was the only mother figure Anna had and that she helped raising a happy, healthy child remains in stark contrast with her unbending beliefs and outright hatred. And they made Mac’s decision to remove Anna from her home easier. The question is: could it really be that easy for Anna? Perhaps, we’ll get an answer to that in the next novel.
With the accent on characters’ struggles with themselves and the world, Breaking Cover is a quieter, more emotional book than Life Lessons. The characters, the relationship and the world got richer, more complex, more real, without loosing the qualities from the first book. The novel has a very satisfying conclusion and also sets the scene for the next novel: What happened between Mac and his family? Was Ben abused? How will Mac and Tony deal with their new life? What about Mac’s job? For me personally Breaking Cover was a better book than Life Lessons. I like that trend and I hope the next book will be even better. Until then, this one is highly, highly recommended.
Great review! I could not help but being irritated with Tony a little bit though (maybe more than a little bit actually). I totally understand Tony wanting a relationship he does not want to hide and support his right to have such a relatioship. However, I also feel that any man (or woman) for that matter who is scared of dealing with homophobia and prejudice that our society still has a plenty IMO should not be judged for that and should not be pressured to deal with it NOW or ever. I felt that overall Tony put way too much pressure on Mac in this book and situation with gay teen center was a great illustration. JMO of course.
Hi, Sirius, and thank you! About Tony… If Tony and Mac were the only ones in the picture I would have agreed with you. After all, Tony did agree to be with Mac in spite of him being in the closet. He had the choice to wait for Mac to come out of the closet on his own terms or, if he was unhappy, leave him. But, with Ben in the picture, Tony had to make a decision which was the best for the child and that was ‘now or never’ situation. He did everything not to out Mac and still did what was the best for Ben, even if it was a heartbreaking decision. I admired that a lot. Tony did realize that some of Mac’s fears were more than well founded (I didn’t mention it because the review would be too long). But, this is too only my opinion. I think it’s great that we can have completely different views of characters and still both enjoy the book. 🙂
I do not disagree with you at all if Tony only did it when the situation with Ben occurred. This is a heartbreaking choice for sure but the choice Tony needed to make imo. However I felt that Tony was putting pressure on Mac way way before the situation with Ben occurred. Yes he agreed to be with him, but IMO he was showing his unhappiness about Mac not wanting to be out. In other words I *fully* support Tony’s right to walk away from the relationship at any time for any reason and not wanting to be anybody’s dirty little secret to me is as good reason as any. But IMO since Tony wanted Mac he needed to show the willingness to compromise and I was really annoyed how he pressured Mac to come to gay teen center. And actually I was even angrier with him after situation with Ben was resolved. Here we have Mac making a gesture which to me was notghing short of brave and heroic and Tony is still not satisfied? I was annoyed a lot that he was not letting Mac set his own tempo and was pressuring him to tell Anna as soon as possible. Do not get me wrong, I love flawed characters and there are only very few things which will make me not able to tolerate the character. But Tony to me was not behaving as supportive person would in this book. I forgave him mostly because of how much pressure he was under because of situation with Ben and I know how much he loves Mac, but to me he behaved selfishly before the situation wtih Ben occurred and after. JMO of course.
JMO of course
No, it’s not just your opinion, I wholeheartedly agree. Tony mentions Mac’s reasonable fears with about one sentence, all the rest is just Me Me Me.
That’s not to say that I didn’t love the book, because I did. While wanting to clout Tony several times. :strike:
LOL, ladies, don’t hurt Tony!
This is one of those things we’ll just have to agree to disagree. 😉 :skoal:
You know, I can’t forget Tony mentioning how scared he was that back up may not come because he is gay. I wonder would Tony feel a little bit of remorse and regret if god forbid Mac will get hurt because of that? I certainly did not hear him feeling regret in this book – as you said it was mostly about him. as I said I totally get Ben’s situation, but not what happened before and after. I also wonder why Tony did not think more than one sentence about the fact that homophobic officers in Mac’s department are not the fruit of his imagination. I may be wrong since I read those books sometime ago, but I am thinking now about James Buchanan’s trilogy about Nikki and Brendon, where Brendon was also a closeted officer. If I remember correctly Nikki also did not like that Brendon was closeted, but also if my recollection is correct I believe he acted much more supportive than Tony ever did. I think it is because he had a much better idea of what does it mean not to trust somebody who has to have your back if your life is on the line, or maybe he was somebody who was willing to compromise and wait and hope his boyfriend will manage to do on its own terms. Which also did not quite work out lol, but for a different reason. I am not saying that Tony should behave as a character from different book, I an just saying that I did not particularly liked how Tony behaved.
Your review sums up my toughts perfectly. I loved this book, as much as I loved the previous one and the short story in between. Also, I was amazed about the author’s development when in came to secondary characters; many of them came really alive here.
However, I disagree with you on Brenda; I found her believable even with the hatred. Anna DID occasionally express confusion about what Aunt Brenda taught her and about haveing to be “extra good”. But I think Brenda genuinely loved Anna and did her possible best with the child. I can well imagine that this is possible, but I’m glad Mac took his daughter away before she could suffer real conflict. Then again, only my opinion, of course… 😉
I loved the kids, btw. They’re both great.
I loved the kids too Feliz, I thought they were awesome, believable characters and who acted their age, considering the circumstances they grew up in of course.
Hi, Feliz! I don’t really disagree about Brenda – she is believable in her hatred. I don’t even disagree about Mac’s decision to take Anna away (which he should have done much earlier, IMO). I just think it was too easy and that there will be (or should be) consequences: Anna loves her daddy and is fascinated with current, new living arrangements, but I think things will be different when she realizes that Brenda is completely out of her life. I think it wouldn’t be believable if the things were simply left the way they are at the end of this novel. We’ll see, I guess. 🙂
And, yes, the kids were great! I had to think about the length and couldn’t mention everything I liked about the novel, but secondary characters, kids included, were much, much better developed than in Life Lessons.
Need to catch up with this series 😀
Thank you for your review and for adding the link to the short 😎
Hi, Helena! I hope you’ll enjoy it as much as I did. Let me know what you think. 🙂
Great review. I think your analysis of Tony is really good- sorry Sirius- agreeing to differ here! As for Brenda I didn’t feel any need for her to be any more than portrayed. I suppose I always tend to fixate on the main characters and I love Tony and Mac.
Oh having said that really liked way Lulu/Walter was written.
This has been one of my favourite books so far this year….that court scene was a wonderful surprise to me and Tony and Mac!
Hi, Raine! It’s very easy to see that Tony is my favorite character, although Mac has grown on me in this novel. 😀
Perhaps I’m splitting hairs with Brenda, but I guess the character’s simplicity stood out from the rest of the novel. What didn’t bother me with the character of Loes, did bother me with Brenda, considering how much she influenced Mac’s and Anna’s and, consequentially, Tony’s life.
Oh, yes, Lulu was lovely. I wouldn’t mind seeing her/him again although I don’t think that will happen. The court scene was one of the best in the book. I think the guys have earned the place on my Favorite Couples List. 🙂
Great review LadyM.
I enjoyed this book better then the first one.
Is there a third one coming?
Hi, Jaime! Thanks! I too enjoyed Breaking Cover more. And, yes, I’ve read that the author finished the first draft for the next book. Hopefully, it won’t be too long before it’s published. 🙂
Thanks for the great review and everyone’s comments. So interesting to see all the interpretations. I wouldn’t have butted in but I wanted to say I’m actually still working on the third one; Mac is having trouble with his case; Tony is having difficulties with the kids. But it will soon come together I’m sure. (A couple of other books are further along in the pipeline right now.)
Thank you, Kaje, thank you for the comment and sorry for misinformation. I’m sure everyone’s looking forward to reading anything you publish, even if Tony and Mac are our favorites right now. 🙂
I’ve had the first book on my must-buy list for a while now but the way everyone here seems to just love this series, I’m going to have prioritize it apparently! They sounds great!
Thank you for your review!
Hello, Daanquai! The series is very, very good, especially if you like the mix of mystery and romance and great characters. I hope you’ll enjoy it. Let me know what you think when you read it. 🙂
Really enjoyed the first novel and looking forward to taking this one on my vacation tomorrow. Is this novel available from another publisher?
Hi, MaDonna. See below for minne edwards’ reply. You can also get it on Amazon. And, happy reading! 🙂
hurray – I am reading this at the weekend – can’t wait – good review – thank you. MaDonna – yes I got my copy from Fictionwise.
Hi, minne. Have a great weekend and enjoy this great book. Let me know what you think when you’re done. 🙂
LadyM
I haven’t read this series as yet so I have no opinion about Tony. Let’s all try to remember that these are characters written by Kaje and any perceived flaws should be laid at her door. 🙂 I guess in a sense it’s a compliment to her writing ability that readers are viewing the MCs as real people. 😆
I sure hope that the next book will clarify all the issues about Tony and Mac and Ben. Maybe I’ll wait until book 3 before diving in. 🙂
So happy that you are reviewing this series and not me. 😀
I don’t know Wave. I mean you are absolutely right, if I start thinking of the character as real person, to me it is definitely a compliment to a writer, a sign that she did a good job. But I do not think that there is anything to lay at her door. When characterization worked for me, more often than not it does not matter whether I *liked* character or not. I believed in Tony’s characterization, I just wanted to slap him more than once. I hope writer was planning to create flawed “people” and let us reach our own conclusions about their actions. Now if her intent was (and I really prefer not to know) to make us like Tony’s behavior towards Mac in regard to his coming out, then she did not convince this reader, that’s all 🙂
She obviously did a good job because her characters are viewed as real and flawed, which I think is probably a huge compliment. Everyone seems to have a different opinion about Tony. This reminds me of Jake in the Adrien English series who I loved because he was *real* as a closeted cop, but very few readers liked him because he hurt Adrien the other MC through 5 books before he came out.
Shhhhh, I loved Jake too. I wanted to slap him, but I adored him as a character and thought that his journey was much more interesting and complicated than Adrien’s, whom I loved too of course. But I am one of those female readers who is absolutely not bothered by well written infidelity in romance. Interesting, I am very curious Wave what you will think of Tony. I hope he will learn in the next book that sometimes what he wants should come second for the sake of somebody you love. I really thought that Mac did that in spades for him in this book – risked everything, etc. But at the same time they love each other as they are, so I hope they will stay together and be happy.
Hi, Wave! I know your TBR list is probably a mile (or two) long, but I still recommend you to start the series. These two books (and a short story) sort of go together and they are very, very good.
I think it’s great that we all read the same book and see different things. Some people see Tony as selfish, I see him as completely opposite (in fact he may be one of my favorite characters this year in a ‘good guy’ category). I think the author did a great thing in portraying complex, three-dimensional characters, but the interpretation is completely ours. 🙂
I loved “Life Lessons” with Tony and Mac and am happy to hear there will be more of them after BC. Kaje also wrote another great story on her website “Lies and Consequences”, (it’s a free story)
Kaje is another writer I will be adding to my “automatic buy” list.
😀
Hi, rdafan7!
If you enjoyed Life Lessons, I’m sure you’ll love Breaking Cover. And since Kaje is now on your auto-buy list, look out for her next book for MLR Press. It’s about werewolves! 🙂
Kaje Harper has become one of my favorite m/m writers and Breaking Cover is easily my favorite among her books. It’s so rare that the second part in a series is even better than the first one.
If you want to read more from Kaje Harper, there’s also Like the Taste of Summer which is part of the Don’t Read in the Closet series of the M/M group over at Goodreads. In my opinion it’s the best of all the stories in that series I’ve read and judging by the ratings, a lot of readers agree with me.
Hi, Enny! I’m glad you enjoyed the book as much as I did. And, I agree Like the Taste of Summer is a lovely story. 🙂
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