Promises by Marie Sexton - what I thought

Another MM book I've read, not on holiday, but afterwards - on the tube in fact, but we'll come to that. Maybe I need to revisit my 'I don't read much MM fiction' position...

I met Marie Sexton at the UK Meet 2013 where she did a great talk about not having to apologise for your choices in life, be they paper or plastic bags with your shopping, or what sort of books you read. She wore a fabulous dress, and had a lovely *twang* to her American accent.

SLIGHT SPOILER ALERT

• It is about Matt & Jared and set in Colorado
• A slow burn friendship between them because Matt is straight
• The homophobia was realistic and similar to things I've experienced and do still notice
• The sex was hot and much more than I'm used to and reading on the Tube, and at one point I felt a bit self conscious imagining people were reading over my shoulder - they weren't
• The homophobia in the police and small town attitude were well handled - realistic without becoming too issue driven
• The parts where Matt asks about aspects of being gay (mainly sex) are pretty realistic and exactly the sort of questions I faced at first from my straight friends who knew me before coming out
• The attitude about the bum thing is, it making you less of a man, is realistic and I think still what most people have a problem with
• Great scenes with Matt's homophobic dad - especially at the dinner table
  
• The scenery and surroundings of Colorado were well described and I found interesting as completely alien to my experience - reminded me of going to Astoria a small city in the pacific north west, where people knew each other's business. Astoria had a quilting shop and we were approached by a friendly gay couple in their forties as they spotted the BF and I in a restaurant together. I could imagine things like that happening in the small town where this story is set 
• A great ending where both main characters had grown and changed for the better

Have you read this book? What did you like about it? Do you have any other similar books you think I'd enjoy similar to this one? I'd love to hear from you.

Until next time

Liam Livings xx