13 Followers
13 Following
elizabetta

elizabetta

Currently reading

All Wrapped Up
Morgan Harcourt;Laylah Hunter;Thea Hayworth;Gryvon
Sacred Hearts - Dev Bentham
4.5 stars

“There’s a line in the AA literature that talks about being spiritually bankrupt. I’ve had two serious relationships in my life… the first was Antonio. His death left me spiritually bankrupt… more recently, the other, Rick, left me financially bankrupt, and while it sucks big-time, it’s a much better way to go.” — David

David, a recovering alcoholic, has had his share of bad luck and bad choices. Years ago, living in Mexico, he lost his first love in a tragic accident and then lost himself in a bottle. At the start of this story he has just been betrayed by the weakness of another lover and lost his livelihood, his restaurant. David, a gourmet chef, seizes an opportunity to start over, returning to Mexico to take a job as part of a catering crew for a movie production. There, he meets John, the man of his dreams (literally); a ‘merman’ summoned from the ether. It seems that David has been beset by dreams of a gorgeous, unknown man emerging from sea waves.

The meaning of these dreams puzzled me. Certainly, neither David nor John seem given to belief in the supernatural. They are spiritual men, however, and woven into the story is a theme of the Jewish holiday, Hanukkah, and the solace its rituals bring to David. That John is Catholic and an ex-priest, gives this sub-theme more weight. This is not a paranormal story, so I ultimately saw the dreams as a plot device (a sort of deus ex machina) to get around the insta-love trap of a short story and give a sense of kismet. As a device, they didn’t really work for me and I could have done without them. Luckily, they didn’t greatly detract from the story.

I believe in that immediate attraction between John and David, that because of their life experiences, they could be very ready for each other by the time they meet on that beach in Mexico. Fact is, this author just does it for me— has such a gift for crafting a sense of place and then filling it with real, sympathetic people. This is warm, buttery writing, as delicious as the food described and prepared by David, and as beautiful as the paradise he is dropped into. Some books just pull you right in. It’s not only about the story but about the author and how they can shape and present the work. Like a delicious meal made with love.

Sacred Hearts is book three in Bentham’s Tarnished Souls series but it (as with all the books) can be read as a stand alone. One last thing, and it’s really what keeps me from a 5 star rating… I wonder how David and John would fare away from the protection of their paradise, back in the real world. It’s not just that I want more of these two but rather that I’m not completely convinced by the end of the book that their story is over.

For this review and much more: image