READING: Duty & Devotion (Faith, Love & Devotion #3) by Tere Michaels

Publication date: March 23 2010
Published by: Loose Id
Genre: MM, Adult, Romance, Contemporary
Rating: 

After their happily ever after in Faith & Fidelity, Matt and Evan move forward to a new chapter of their lives -- inside the bedroom and out -- with some surprises in store for both. Evan struggles with labels and feelings even as he wants to give in to his baser desires. Matt, now the ideal househusband of Queens, New York, has his own set of struggles -- who is he now? What does he need and want?

A visit from his friend and one-night stand Jim Shea (of Love & Loyalty) throws everything into disarray as Evan's jealousy and unease push Matt's buttons -- and not always in a good way.

Wrote a huge review for Faith&Fidelity and it somehow disappeared as I was reading through it, ready to post (reeling).

Anyway.

In said review, I wrote about how intrigued I was of Matt and Evan's relationship, how it seemed different from other mm ones I have read (2xGFY element aside) and how I didn't find it happy, or sweet or optimistic. Actually, F&F was a downer of a book, mainly because of Evan. 

D&D wasn't any better. Maybe it gets a little bit happier at the very end, but until then we see a much reserved Evan, to the point of total denial, shame, and slight homophobia, and a very giving, loving, Matt. The more Matt gave, the less Evan wanted to take. I felt sorry for Matt at some point, it was painful to read. Matt was practically raising Evan's kids, sacrificing going back to school, for Evan to work late and not even acknowledge that they are a couple in public? Wtf? 
Evan needed a massive wake up call in D&D and he gets it. In the meantime, he gets away with a lot of stupid shit and it pissed me off. I still think he doesn't deserve Matt, but anyway, I am willing to compromise because Evan seems to finally get it in the end. He was at least trying.

D&D would have been a 3,5 if not for Jim and Griffin. I like them OK, but I hate it when writers shove their spin off characters in other series and have whole story lines for them. Ahem Ball & Chain If I wanted to read about Jim and Griffin, I would have read Love&Loyalty. If you want to write more about Jim and Griffin, write a book or a short story about them. I wouldn't mind a cameo, but they take up 1/3 of the book! Matt and Evan's books are Matt and Evan's book-end of story.