Title: Safe in His Heart
Series: Safe 02
Author: Renae Kaye
Narrator: Randy Fuller
Genre: Contemporary
Length: 9 hrs, 38 mins
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press LLC (15th September 2016)
Heat Level: Moderate
Heart Rating: 💖💖💖💖 3.5 Hearts
Reviewer: Prime
Blurb: Andrew and Paul learned about God and Jesus in different churches and realize their views of spirituality are worlds apart.
Andrew was raised Catholic and was told his homosexuality was a sin. For his entire life, he hid the truth. He married and had children to present a facade to the world that of a straight man. It’s not until he has an affair with Paul, who shows him a different side of Jesus, that Andrew realiz-es he can be gay and still believe in God. Paul’s Jesus is one of acceptance and love, and in Paul’s church, being gay is not a problem.
For Paul and Andrew, falling in love is the easy part of their journey. They must make it through the fires of cheating, being discovered, Andrew’s wife leaving, the necessities of childcare and family life, the demands of their jobs, and working on their commitment to each other. Only then can they be safe in each other’s heart.
Purchase Link: Audible US | Audible UK | Amazon US | Amazon UK
Review: Safe in His Heart is the second book in Renae Kaye’s Safe series.
While I have been enjoying Renae Kaye’s writing as of late, I hadn’t known what to expect. Admittedly, I’ve not read or listened to the first book in the series and I don’t feel that it took anything away from it for me. The writing itself is great, as well as the character development.
I just hadn’t been sure about a couple points that are central to this book and how these would affect my enjoyment. While the story was good, the chemistry between the characters was strong, I do feel that my enjoyment was indeed affected by the following:
1) There is cheating. Ok, so there is a deal that the marriage was in name only kind of thing and that they could have sex outside of the marriage providing they were discrete, I wasn’t really sold on it.
2) Also the religion thing. I was born and raised Catholic and yes, I will admit that there is probably a place for religion in the world. However, I’m not the type of person who reads romances that feature religion so obviously.
3) But all of that is ok. It’s really just that this is an angsty book, which I didn’t realise, and I’m the type of person who can only handle so much angst in my books.
A definite highlight of the story was Randy Fuller’s narration. Despite my reservations and my feelings which did mean that I gave this book a lower rating, I did feel myself get immersed by the performance. This is one of those books where I know that I wouldn’t have been able to read it, instead I needed the audio and feeding off of the tone and emotion provided by Fuller. He does an excellent job giving their characters their individual voices and conveys their feelings well. There is a certain amount of angst in this book and he does that justice.
The story is about Paul and Andrew. What makes them interesting is in the blurb. Andrew was raised Catholic and grew up knowing that his attraction to other men was a sin. While Paul is the complete opposite, he attends a more liberal church where being gay isn’t a sin and is welcoming to all sorts of people from different walks of life.
Andrew is by far the more complicated character of the story. Because he is so firmly in the closet, he has gotten married and had a couple kids, although he has quite an unconventional arrangement with his wife. Meeting Paul is a turning point in his life, however, while the men are happy enough with their relationship they need to now navigate murky waters when Andrew’s wife changes the course of the family’s life. She isn’t the wicked wife that is an absolute bitch, but she is rather self-involved and does have her moments. However, Paul is there to support Andrew every step of the way. Paul has a massive heart and he quickly became my favourite character.
The characters are good. I really liked how the developed, I found myself being more inclined to understand and sympathise with them more. I found that there were very real men and exceedingly complex, complete with their obvious imperfections. I think I will just leave it at that, if you prefer a rosy romance, then this might not be the book for you.