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Sins of the Heart (Bittersweet Dreams)

by Allison Cassatta (Goodreads Author)

4.57 of 5 stars 4.57 · rating details · 60 ratings · 29 reviews

When the spark in his relationship fizzles, Dominic thinks he's doing the right thing by breaking it off with his lover, Brody, but he never expected his good boy to go so horribly bad. Consumed with guilt, Dom confronts Brody about his self-destructive behavior, only to find himself second-guessing his decision to leave him, and now Dom will have to sort out his feelings...more

ebook, 28 pages

Published January 5th 2011 by Dreamspinner Press

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When Love Is Not Enough (Unconditional Love, #1) by Wade Kelly

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Jan 17, 2011 Feliz rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m, contemporary

Brody and Dom have been together for two years. In the beginning Dom was enticed by Brody’s shyness and pliability. Dom courted Brody faithfully, enjoyed playing cavalier, even gave him an Eye of Horus pendant as a promise to always keep Brody safe and protected. Yet, over the years, Dom grows to find himself annoyed by the very traits and personality which made Brody such a desirable mate for him in the first place, to a point where he can’t even stand being in a room with Brody anymore, loathi...more Brody and Dom have been together for two years. In the beginning Dom was enticed by Brody’s shyness and pliability. Dom courted Brody faithfully, enjoyed playing cavalier, even gave him an Eye of Horus pendant as a promise to always keep Brody safe and protected. Yet, over the years, Dom grows to find himself annoyed by the very traits and personality which made Brody such a desirable mate for him in the first place, to a point where he can’t even stand being in a room with Brody anymore, loathing even the sound of his voice. Thus Dom walks out on Brody, telling himself it’s for the best of them both, and flees their mutual circle of friends for two weeks.
Returning, Dom finds himself shocked by what has become of Brody. The formerly shy and introverted man has taken to excessive drinking and slutty behavior, taking a different man home every night, even dealing out random blowjobs in bathrooms. Even though Dom has cut Brody loose, he feels worried for his former lover’s self – destructive behaviour and confronts him one evening when they run into each other in the club’s bathroom. Instead of driving him away, Brody’s hurtful accusations intrigue Dom to a point where he can’t help taking Brody home. They have sex, during which Dom feels as if there could be something still between them, a hope for a new beginning. But when he wakes up in the morning, Brody is gone, the changed man Dom’s departure has made of him not caring what Dom wants or needs anymore. Now it’s Dom who’s left wounded, mourning the love he has so casually cast aside.

In romances it’s usually the abandoned one who tells about the end of a relationship. Here, the narrator is the quitter, Dominic, and his voice is fierce, and distinct, and mercilessly open.
I hated this story, and I hated both protags with a vengeance. Dom is such a selfish, uncaring, unmindful asshole, and Brody an overly dramatic, demonstrative, self-pitying martyr type. And yet I couldn’t stop thinking about their ill-fated love, couldn’t get Dom and Brody out of my head. These two men should never have been together in the first place.
I’m pretty sure we’ve all known men like Dom, men who can’t stomach real nearness, men who get cold feet when things become too close; and I think we’ve all been where Brody is after Dom left him, lost and forlorn without the love which was the center of our universe, thinking our lives pointless now. A romance author who knows what he/ she is doing won’t break a sweat taking readers to this place, right into the depths of desperation. But traditionally we, the readers are then delivered from our apprehension some way or other by a miracle which makes the lovers see sense and gets them back together, thus preventing the fictional caracters of having to deal with the consequences of their decisions. Here, no chance. The characters must go until the bitter end, suffer through the fallout of their breakdown, and to no avail at that; although Dom indeed goes through some kind of character growth, I can’t help disbelieving if he’s really learned his lesson despite everything he tells Brody in the end.

There was nothing sweet about this story, it was bitter, as bitter as life itself. Love, the best and most precious thing man can have turned into despair by neglect, self – hate, disgust, and at last, the worst gift out of Pandora’s box, deceived hope. Although Dom was the one who started it, both men had their part in destroying themselves and each other, spiralling down and down towards the catastrophe. Which was all the worse for the fact it could have been avoided, had only one of them paused for a second to look at things from the other one’s point of view.

Read the full review on www.reviewsbyjessewave.com (less)

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Oct 28, 2011 Elisa Ramblings added it

Ok, I’m definitely shocked and I think next time I will have to read better the “warnings”… this short story by Allison Cassatta is part of a series Dreamspinner Press tagged as Bittersweet Dreams, and I should have notice this sentence: “Bittersweet Dreams, stories of M/M romance with nontraditional endings. It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance d...more Ok, I’m definitely shocked and I think next time I will have to read better the “warnings”… this short story by Allison Cassatta is part of a series Dreamspinner Press tagged as Bittersweet Dreams, and I should have notice this sentence: “Bittersweet Dreams, stories of M/M romance with nontraditional endings. It's an unfortunate truth: love doesn't always conquer all. Regardless of its strength, sometimes fate intervenes, tragedy strikes, or forces conspire against it. These stories of romance do not offer a traditional happy ending, but the strong and enduring love will still touch your heart and maybe move you to tears.” And that is everything true, this story has not an happy ending and moved me to tears.

It’s told in first point of view by Dominic, and well, usually it’s the good boy talking, but I immediately felt like Dominic was everything other than a good boy; he is trying to dump Brody, his boyfriend, saying he is clingy, but the reasons are all wrong: “the calls at five in the morning just to “hear my voice.”, “the grossly gratuitous displays of public affection”… those are not reasons to leave your lover! To me it was Dominic that was the “little baby”, someone who wanted to toy but then discarded it the day after. And when Brody instead of complaining and playing the martyr tries to move on with his life? Dominic is there judging him… but to me it seemed like, “what? Are you not completely shattered by my leaving? That is not possible!”. And again, when Dominic has a second chance to try to patch things between them, his stubborn behaviour, and his fear to appear “weak”, prevent him to do the right thing until the moment when, well, it’s a little too late.

No sorry, I cannot think Dominic in the end redeemed himself, what he does is not enough and barely in time; I know that I can sound harsh, but I’m wishing him some years of blind pain, years that will maybe shaping him in a better man than who he is in this moment, since well, while I liked Brody, and I think he proved to have a strong character, and a big heart, I think, as I said, that Dominic was a little baby who still needs to grow a little to be allowed to play with someone else feelings.

Now with all the warnings, you can read this story, but well, prepare the Kleenex.

http://elisa-rolle.livejournal.com/14...(less)

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Jun 23, 2011 PettyProse rated it 3 of 5 stars

Review: I knew to expect a romance, but not necessarily a happy ever after. I found it a powerfully written story, with an initially unsympathetic narrator, and a good grasp of extreme emotion.
Review for Brief Encounters Reviews: http://briefencountersreviews.com/201...

The reader enters at a pivotal stage of their relationship, when things are finally too much for Dom to bear. This had the striking effect of plunging the reader into the middle of the conflict, as it were. However, the disadvanta...more Review: I knew to expect a romance, but not necessarily a happy ever after. I found it a powerfully written story, with an initially unsympathetic narrator, and a good grasp of extreme emotion.
Review for Brief Encounters Reviews: http://briefencountersreviews.com/201...

The reader enters at a pivotal stage of their relationship, when things are finally too much for Dom to bear. This had the striking effect of plunging the reader into the middle of the conflict, as it were. However, the disadvantage was that I couldn’t really empathise with how it had got that far, though I never doubted the truth of it.

The author skilfully convinced me of painful but plausible behaviour in such a troubled relationship, although Dom’s conflict was often frustrating. He’d say he cared for Brody, that they’d been good together, that he didn’t want to hurt him. But then he’d say that the relationship had been stifling him for a long time, that Brody didn’t turn him on, that he didn’t care for him anymore. I found some of these passages confusing and more tell than show, but as it was all from Dom’s self-absorbed POV, the story undoubtedly had more impact this way.

Dom dominated the story for me: his initial cowardice in trying to make Brody be the one to break them up, coupled with his cruel opinion that Brody had nothing appealing left except for his looks. Harsh, but well described, and must have resonance for anyone who’s suffered the total breakdown of an intimate love affair.

There were a couple of leaps in time or scene that weren’t clear enough for me, and a moment when the men got together in the restroom that I cried (mentally) “what about safe sex?” Overall, the prose was rich and lyrical, only occasionally drifting into melodramatic. Our pulses raced, pounding out the same tempo in our salacious symphony. The language matched the emotional claustrophobia of the story: so much of it from within Dom’s head, coloured by his very strong guilt and anguish.

Brody was solidly cast as victim from the start and it was difficult to imagine his more attractive side. Many of us may have known or suffered a relationship where the lovers are unable to resolve a problem, but instead start to tug against each other and make everything a hundred times worse. As Dom pulled away, so Brody clung. I found renewed sympathy for Dom as the story progressed, notably his acceptance of his bad and unfair behaviour. The final scenes were heart-wrenching, with a strong sense of inevitability.

It wasn’t an easy read for its content, but refreshingly brave in depicting a story of misunderstanding and failure. I appreciated that the author exposed everything between the men, even at its worst. The sex scenes weren’t the main event, and the redemptive ending well realised after such appalling misjudgement on both sides. I enjoyed the author’s style and the story’s emotional depth, though overall I found it difficult to sympathise with the characters. I rate it a B.

by pettyprose…my opinion alone.

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Feb 20, 2011 Lisa rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m-romance, short-story, contemporary-romance

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

3 likes · like · see review

Sep 05, 2011 Ashley Nemer rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have never read a story where the main characters were gay. I was nervous when Alli suggested this to me because it was going to breach a safety zone I had for myself. I have read other type novels where they touch on homosexuality (J.R. Ward) but never where they dove in and it was exclusively about those characters. I found myself pleasantly surprised when I was crying with the characters, pulling for the characters and cheering them on. This book taught me how to appreciate a new style of f...more

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Jan 26, 2011 Lily rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: ebook, m-m, what-i-read-in-2011, shelf-a-thon-2010-to-11

What happens when you simply can't go on in a relationship? Dominic decides to end things but then finds it hard to stay away when his ex-lover heads down a destructive path because of their breakup. This was a wonderfully written but oh so very sad story. I had never planned to read a Bittersweet Dreams story because I really, really love happy endings. But the blurb really intrigued me and when the author offered to donate the price of the book to the flood relief efforts in Australia I broke...more

6 likes · like · see review

Feb 20, 2011 Michele Montgomery rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Apr 30, 2011 Jessica Pullum rated it 5 of 5 stars

I am not very good at writing reviews. I do not do it often, but I have to say "Sins of the Heart" was gut wrenching from beginning to end. My eyes whelmed up with tears a few times to the point I had stop reading to blink clear my vision again. This is the first of this type of 'nontraditional' book of this genre I have read. It is a little more realistic. In the end you realize even though this is only a story, these kinds of things can, and do happen. You just don't realize until... Okay hone...more

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Sep 18, 2011 Anke rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: nola-grl

3,5stars
I knew this was a Bittersweet short, but as it was more bitter than sweet, I cannot say I enjoyed the story, (view spoiler) but the writing style and the whole composition of the story was very compelling and will stay with me for quite some time. I will definitely read other books by Mrs. Cassatta.

3 likes · like · see review

Jun 30, 2011 Ami rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm-short-stories

I think most of the reviewers have captured what is going on to the story, I don't think I can add anything worth to say. To give my two cents worth, this is a heartbreaking piece, that shows sometimes your action DOES affect others. I wish for second chance between Dom and Brody, but I already know what I will get myself into, reading the "Bittersweet" warning. Definitely a story that makes my eyes get all teary.

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Mar 04, 2012 Jenny needham rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this short story, it had a good story-line and believable characters, although i would have loved it to be longer but that's just me. The story was well structured and believable, showing true emotion and heart ache. I find that these shorts by Allison are becoming a favorite read for me between book, and i would recommend them to anyone that love m/m erotica

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Sep 24, 2011 Rowena Sudbury rated it 4 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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May 12, 2011 Havan Fellows rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: short, tear-jerker

Oh wow! This one had me tearing up . . . what a roller coaster of emotions Allison took me on . . . I went from hating Dom and wanting to coddle Brody to wanting to throttle Brody and hugging Dom . . . and the ending . . . day-um!!!!

And it was wonderfully written - I was right there with Dom the whole way! Just WOWZA!

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Oct 10, 2012 Zaa rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm-contemporary

My goodness! This novel caused me to tear up. I sat reading with tears running down my cheeks. It's So emotional and beautifully written. This story should come with a tissue warning, and not a good idea to read this novel if you are at the office as I did.

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Aug 20, 2012 Eugenia Lynn rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a very cute story about losing the love of your life (or so you thought) and losing you job ... all in one day ... and then trying to cope with the "now what?”

I really liked the way the story moved along. With everything he’d been through, Season Of Change could easily have been about the main character (Presley) wallowing in self loathing for half the book. That is not what happens. Instead, with a little help from his sister, he goes to unwind in Florida and get his thoughts together.

H...more

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Jun 24, 2011 Gothic Angel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: most-favourite

This book was my introduction to M/M romance. And what an introduction it was.

Having read Allison's book "Immortal", I decided to broaden my horizons by reading Sins Of The Heart, and I am sincerely glad I did.

Whilst some stories may make me cry a tear or two, Sins really touched me and moved me to tears - trust me, this takes some doing.

It may only be a short story but it packs one hell of a punch! How it was possible to pack so many emotions into so few words, I do not know. But Allison has a...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Dawn Gray rated it 5 of 5 stars

Allison is an amazing author, From The Immortal Saga to Sins of the Heart, she has a wealth of depth and feeling in her writing and I would recommend her to anyone who is looking for anything from romance to adventure.

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Dec 30, 2011 Raina rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: m-m

It's not your usual romance (and no that's not because it's M/M). I won't spoil it but wow, just wow. It was beautiful, the writing is wonderful. The characters are just so full of life. I adore Dom.

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Oct 09, 2011 itmfiddler rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: publisher-dreamspinner-press, angsty, contemporary, erotica, ebook, fiction, m-m, short-stories, bittersweet

Warning - there is definitely no HEA and no HFN. The prose was quite good, but the story was angsty and, for me, it just didn't ring true. Based on the writing, I suspect the author is probably very good and would read another book by her, but this one just wasn't for me.

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Jan 12, 2011 Buda rated it 5 of 5 stars

What a powerful little book. It is definitely not for everyone, considering it is a Bittersweet Dreams title, but when I finished it, I had no words.

3 likes · like · see review

Jan 13, 2011 Tara Scheland rated it 5 of 5 stars

it was an amazing story it caught me from beginning to end i cried i wanted more.Please give us more please

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Jan 19, 2012 Becky Mrs Condit Reads Books rated it 5 of 5 stars

If you require an HEA for every love affair, every story, every couple, that’s not real and this is not the book for you. However, if you love a book that tells an emotional story, that has characters you love and when they screw up you cry for them, this is the perfect book. While I used a few Kleenex, I loved this little book, and in fact, read it twice. Very, very sweet, and a beautifully written piece that deals with the underbelly of life and love.

See my complete review February 19, 2012: h ...more

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Jan 26, 2012 Sherrie Henry rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: alli-s-books

Have your tissues handy, because this one is a tear-jerker. It wasn't until after I read it I found out it was written for a specific plot-line - no happily ever after. The three-stars isn't for the quality of writing or even the plot, but is because of the ending, which I didn't see coming whatsoever. I was hoping for the classic Hollywood turn-of-events where everything turns out right, where each player in the story gets his/her happy ending.

Ms. Cassatta does a really good job at gut-wrenchi...more

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Apr 30, 2011 Patricia rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of the most powerful, intense 28 pages I have ever read!!!

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Oct 27, 2011 Tj rated it 4 of 5 stars

Normally I would never read a non-HEA or at least a HFN. (I hate crying!) Anyway, I can say I really hated Dom at the beginning. He loves and man and promises to take care of him and then ends up resenting him over the very things he loved! Brody wasn't a perfect guy but he did deserve better. I think the writing was well done. The characters for a very short story were very effective. I think the very fact that I could hate Dom at the start says that. I won't say an enjoyable read, because I ca...more

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Dec 24, 2011 Vio rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: bittersweet, heartbreaking, brilliant, tragic, tissue-alert

4.25 stars
Absolutely no sweet romance, be warned. I am at a loss, so tragic and bitter and tearfully heartbreaking. Sadly it could have ended up very differently, if only Dom and Brody had taken the time to really listen. Too many mistakes and hurt they let the important things slide til there was no coming back. An emotionally well written story, stack up on the tissues they are needed. *Sad* I wanted a happy outcome.

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Sep 24, 2011 Betryal rated it 5 of 5 stars

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here.

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Sep 05, 2011 Sadonna rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: mm, pdf

I rarely give stories this short 4 stars. But this made me cry in just a few pages. Very very sad emotional story.

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Feb 14, 2011 Kristi rated it 5 of 5 stars

This is a cant put down...don't clean the house....let the kids eat PB&J kinda book. I got lost in the book, characters and story lines. I love that I CAN love the characters and get pulled into their world completely, if only for awhile. I don't want to spoil it...but I can't wait to find out what happens next!!!!!

2 likes · like · see review

May 07, 2013 Ashlee added it

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About Allison Cassatta

I am a married, 33 year old, female, with no children. By trade I am a network engineer with far too many years under my belt. My first book was published in 2010 by Kerlak Publishing, followed by a short story in 2011 through Dreamspinner Press. I don't have any formal training, I simply write what I feel. I have a vivid imagination and love building dream worlds for my readers to escape to.

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