Wednesday, December 21, 2016

Safe in His Heart by Renae Kaye Audiobook Review


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 façade 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 realizes 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.

Length: 9 hrs, 38 mins
Narrator: Randy Fuller

Add to Goodreads


Book 2
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press



Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Angela☆☆☆☆☆
I purposely allowed some time to pass between when I listened to the first book in the series, Safe in His Arms, and its sequel, Safe in His Heart. Lon and Casey made quite an impression and their relationship was such a hard-fought battle that I didn’t want to risk book one overshadowing book two. Having just finished listening to Safe in His Heart, I’m glad that I did because the obstacles that Andrew and Paul face are nothing like those that Lon and Casey dealt with, making book two not as gritty as book one was – which is not a bad thing at all.

While Paul played a significant role in Lon and Casey’s story, I really didn’t retain much of the info regarding his affair with Andrew. Let’s face it, that’s what it appeared to be from the outside and it’s what it began as. However, it’s not nearly as cut and dry or black and white as simply saying that Andrew was cheating on his wife with Paul. While it’s true that Andrew was married when he began sexing up Paul, his marriage was one of convenience and the boundaries established by Andrew’s wife when SHE proposed the marriage were that he would need to slake his lust outside of their marriage bed, but discreetly. Appearances are everything, after all. As such, I didn’t consider Andrew to be a cheater; I know others will disagree, but I find no cheaters in an open marriage. Despite the logical analysis of Andrew’s marriage, I understood where Paul was coming from when he discovered that Andrew had children – he was no longer sleeping with a married man, but rather a family man, and that was a line Paul wasn’t comfortable crossing. However, by the time he made that discovery, Paul was already addicted to Andrew and their separation was short-lived. For the most part, Paul was an extremely patient man when it came to Andrew, Andrew’s behavior after his marriage imploded, and Andrew’s internalized feelings on homosexuality that were due to his Catholic upbringing. When he wasn’t patient, Paul set out to work around Andrew or show him an alternate way of thinking because Paul was all in, for both Andrew and his children. As for Andrew’s children, I adored them and liked how Kaye put them front and center when they needed to be the focus of the scene and then moved them to the sidelines when appropriate; this kept the children as important players in the story, without letting them steal the spotlight.

One of the things I appreciated about Safe in His Heart was the author’s treatment of Andrew’s wife. It would have been very easy to hate and blame Kristy for the way she left. It would have been easy to demonize her for going back on the agreement SHE proposed regarding their marriage. And for a while, I disliked her a lot. Her decision to leave Andrew, especially in the middle of the night without warning, was selfish, and her assumptions regarding custody irritated me to no end. Her tantrum when she came to check up on Andrew had me seeing red, but when push came to shove, she stepped up and did the right thing by Andrew, by her children, and by her new relationship. The fact that Andrew didn’t harbor any ill will toward her helped me not hate her, but it was her decision to put her children’s welfare before her romantic interests that saved her as a character for me. Again, I found Randy Fuller’s narrative performance to be extremely entertaining, making the audiobook that much more enjoyable. I can only hope, based on the epilogue, that another book in the series will be forthcoming and feature Casey’s friends, Ash and Devon.


Also Available in the Safe Series

Book 1
Buy Links

Amazon US  ~  Amazon UK  ~  Amazon Au  ~  Amazon Ca
Amazon Audiobook  ~  Audible  ~  Dreamspinner Press

For reviews & more info, check out our Safe in His Arms post.



RENAE KAYE is a lover and hoarder of books who thinks libraries are devilish places because they make you give the books back. She consumed her first adult romance book at the tender age of thirteen and hasn’t stopped since. After years—and thousands of stories!—of not having book characters do what she wants, she decided she would write her own novel and found the characters still didn’t do what she wanted. It hasn’t stopped her, though. She believes that maybe one day the world will create a perfect couple—and it will be the most boring story ever. So until then, she is stuck with quirky, snarky, and imperfect characters who just want their story told.

Renae lives in Perth, Western Australia, and writes in five-minute snatches between the demands of two kids, a forbearing husband, too many pets, too much housework, and her beloved veggie garden. She is a survivor of being the youngest in a large family and believes that laughter (and a good book) can cure anything.

Her first novel, Loving Jay, was voted the Best Book Debut 2014 by the member’s choice awards in the Goodreads M/M Romance Group.

Connect with Renae

Facebook  ~  Twitter  ~  Google+  ~  Website  ~  Goodreads


https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/


Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of Safe in His Heart (Safe #2) by Renae Kaye, narrated by Randy Fuller to listen to and review.

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