Seguito di Rapporto mattutino Serie Rapporto Mattutino, Libro 2
Per Tommy Bradley, un bracciante al ranch Lost Cow nel Texas rurale, ammettere la sua sessualità è impossibile, anche se i suoi capi, Luke e Simon, sono gay: ha passato tutta la vita nascondendo la verità ai suoi genitori omofobi. Poi Tommy incontra il pastore Noah Taylor nella stanza d’ospedale del padre di Luke e il suo segreto diventa ancora più difficile da mantenere.
Noah è diverso da ogni altro uomo di Dio, o uomo in generale, che Tommy abbia mai incontrato. Innanzitutto, la sua congregazione è composta principalmente da appartenenti alla comunità GLBT e dalle loro famiglie. Poi, non ha paura dell’attrazione che prova per Tommy e rende le sue intenzioni molto chiare. Ma Noah non vuole celare la sua sessualità o quella del suo compagno, e non comincerà una relazione con Tommy se lui intende invece nasconderla. Dovendo scegliere se perdere Noah o uscire allo scoperto con i suoi genitori, Tommy fa il primo passo per ammettere chi è.
Ma Tommy non è il solo a dover affrontare delle sfide. Grazie a un eccesso di odio da parte del Pastore Jackson e di un gruppo di proprietari terrieri, Noah dovrà affrontare la possibilità di perdere la sua chiesa e il suo sostentamento.
Hot guys, big hearts, Sue's world. Sue Brown is a Londoner with a dream to live on a small island. Coffee fuels her addiction to writing romance with hot guys loving each other, and her Adorkadog snores in harmony as she creates.
Really enjoyed this book. Look forward to the next one in the series. I have purchased it but haven't read it yet. Love the characters and the situations that this book covers. Like books that present a different but real background.
Though a lot of things here were better than morning report, I have to give this rating. Much more cohesive than Morning Report, less sex (thank goodness) and just cleaner all around. Well written, and could have been a four or five star for me, but
I liked this but didn't love it. The author gets major bonus points for featuring two characters who are underrepresented in m/m romance: a black man and a ginger. Noah is a pastor of a fairly progressive congregation, and Tommy is a young ranch hand trying to work up the nerve to come out to his parents. The tension in their relationship was mainly in the first half of the book, and then as things meandered on after that, the plot seemed to lose focus. I liked both characters, though, and it was nice to spend some time with Luke and Simon again.
Almost as an aside, I have to mention that this author does something that is a pet peeve for me in this genre: introduces a sexual idea, teasingly, and then never follows through with it. (It happened in Morning Report too.)
Ms Brown usually delivers the most wonderfully woven of love stories - and Complete Faith didn't let me down. Beautifully written with Tommy having to decide what he really wants and the way the relationship between him and Noah progresses is heart-warming and excellently done. Not to mention we get to see Simon and Luke again! I know I'd read the phone book if Ms Brown wrote it - but Complete Faith is a must-read and one I know I'll be visiting time and time again.
4.5 out of 5 - Best One in the Series - Diverse, Mature & True.
I've had a run of Texas novels, which have been good, Sue Brown's series included. Being born and raised in Texas, I enjoyed how this was true to Texas, with its good, bad and ugly. And I got into each couple as their relationship evolved. But I think each can also be read as a standalone.
In this one? - Wow, talk about breaking stereotypes in small town Texas. I appreciated that, and how well developed the two characters were. I was sold on the pastor (even in the gay world they are human and sexual, too), and cared and rooted for the young cowboy. Same supportive ranch hands and family. But same homophobic town and new hateful issues, along with extra challenges of being a gay person of color, in TEXAS, which were cogently brought to the forefront.
I have to say, contrary to some reviewers, I thought Noah was patient with Tommy, and did not force or emotionally blackmail him into coming out. That was Tommy's choice, and Noah left it that way. But he also set his boundary of not having a relationship with a closeted gay. Believe me, that is very common and realistic in the gay world, and it was handled in a mature way. Many of us have done that, and it is not blackmail.
Please realize, that coming out is a critical, life-changing moment for many of us. If one has already made that choice, and is not comfortable with being in a close relationship with someone not out, it is okay to decide and say that you do not want that. Because it would require one to go back in the closet to keep the gay relationship a secret. You give the guy a chance; and if it doesn't work out, you move on.
Too many m/m romances are set around the drama and tension of one of the pair being in the closet. And because you have to have a HEA, then magically the guy comes to terms with who he is and comes out. Doesn't always happen that way in RL
In this case, Noah's mature handling with a younger gay won me over. It made the young guy think things out, consider options, look inward and outward, and decide what HE wanted to do. And just for that, I was "forced" to take this to 5 stars just to make the point.
I was initially concerned by the number of 3 star reviews that I saw for this book, but I needn't have worried. I LOVED this book. To be honest, there is nothing new here. The book follows the standard ranch series formula. You have the doting hodge podge characters that form their own family, the loving parents of one of the owners, the homphobic townsfolk that supplies the drama and the couple of the day. Classic fare, no surprises EXCEPT I really loved that one of the MCs was African American and that (yes, God!) he was not named Tyrone, DaShaun, Devonte or anything of the kind. No, folks he was named Noah and no, he was not 'the first of his family to go to college'. He was a pastor from a well to do family.
Now! I guess having a pastor as a sexual character was a bit of a twist, especially one in an interracial relationship and with such a potty mouth! I will say that I was a bit uncomfortable with a pastor dropping f-bombs...what can I say? Maybe I'm old fashioned. Anyhoo, back to the MCs - a black man and a ginger..I loved them already, just as I loved every single character of this book. They are an awesome cast. Witty, loving, sassy, SEXY. I loved the dialogue. This is just a feel good book that focuses on 'family' coming together to support each other in times of need, and on realizing that sometimes you need to stand up and be strong for the ones you love, no matter the consequences.
One small beef though. Author, how DARE you imply, insinuate, give a girl hope that Noah and Tommy would bump uglies anywhere near the vicinity of Luke and Simon and then not have it happen?? What the?? Do you even understand how HOT Luke and Simon are?? Add in Noah, the kinky 'sex is supposed to be hard and dirty' pastor and 'shy but budding exhibitionist' Tommy?? There better be a book 3 coming. That's all I'm saying!
At any rate, I really hope there are more books coming in this series. I would love to read about some of other other couples. Well done, author!
Ho adorato Luke e Simon e ho atteso con ansia e trepidazione questo secondo libro, gli spunti letti su Noah erano davvero interessanti.
Considerata la trama, sono stata per tutta la durata del libro con il fiato sospeso, nell’attesa di vedere ricomparire il pastore Jackson, ma per fortuna, in questo nuovo capitolo della serie lo incontriamo solo nelle ultime trenta pagine, anche se sempre con la stessa cattiveria e, a mio parere, anche con avidità, viste le sue mire sulla chiesa di Noah.
Quindi il libro, pur sempre molto toccante, in perfetto stile Brown, è molto meno sofferto del primo, anche se la cittadina è sempre la stessa e l’omofobia dei suoi abitanti non è di certo sparita.
La storia di Noah e Tommy è veramente bella ed è bello e toccante vedere come evolve via via che prosegue la lettura. Tommy, da ragazzo timido e vergine, sia in senso letterale che per quello che riguarda il suo essere gay dato che non ha mai vissuto apertamente la sua omosessualità, fa quasi tenerezza quando comincia a chiedersi cosa prova per Noah. La sua inesperienza lo rende davvero dolce nella sua ingenuità.
“Prima di te c’è stato soltanto quello che provavo per Luke. Credevo di essere innamorato di lui, ma non sento per te le stesse cose che sentivo per lui.” “Cosa provi adesso per Luke?” “È sexy, ma non mi ha mai neppure guardato. Tu… tu mi guardi. Mi fai provare cose che non ho mai provato prima. Mi manchi quando non ci sei e non posso toglierti le mani di dosso quando stiamo insieme.
Confesso che all’inizio Tommy mi ha fatta arrabbiare. Capisco la paura di confessare la sua omosessualità ai genitori ma, cavoli, hai ventitré anni, non sei un bambino! È ora che cominci a vivere la tua vita, non quella che gli altri vorrebbero per te.
“Guarda, puoi negare quello che sei per tutta la vita, oppure puoi comportarti da uomo e prenderti quello che vuoi. In entrambi i casi ci saranno delle grane, ma Noah ne vale pena, no?” Quando Tommy annuì, Simon si strinse nelle spalle. “A me sembra che tu abbia una decisione da prendere, ma in ogni caso devi accettarla e comportarti da adulto.
Ma poi, mentre leggevo, ho cominciato a capirlo. Ho visto la reazione dei suoi genitori, di suo padre, che lo esclude dalla sua vita e dalla sua famiglia, e di sua madre, che da brava moglie devota non può contraddire il marito. Quest’ultima, però, alla fine prenderà delle decisioni da sola, che non riporteranno certo il rapporto con Tommy a ciò che era prima, ma che certamente sono un bel passo avanti.
“Io vi voglio bene, mamma. Essere gay non ha nulla a che vedere con questo. Credevo che tu potessi essere felice per me, per essere stato completamente sincero con voi.” “Come puoi pensare che possiamo essere felici che tu sia una di quelle disgustose creature?”
Durante il libro, il personaggio di Tommy cambia, si evolve, e da persona bisognosa del sostegno di Noah si trasforma lui stesso nel sostegno di cui il pastore ha bisogno. È stato bello leggere del modo in cui il loro rapporto si sviluppa e si rafforza, di come Tommy stesso prenda forza e coraggio dalla loro relazione, anche se, come dice lui: “non sono la moglie del pastore”.
La maggior parte delle persone avrebbe detto subito ‘ti amo’. Tu hai dovuto pensarci. È per questo che ti amo, Tommy. Tu non dai la risposta più facile.” “Mi ami perché sono difficile?” “Ti amo perché sei un cowboy sexy che non lo dà a tutti,” lo corresse Noah.
Noah è una persona forte che sa dare conforto agli altri. Ha sempre dovuto lottare da solo contro tutti, vista la sua condizione di pastore di colore e per di più gay, ed è proprio stando dietro agli altri che si è scordato che anche lui è un essere umano e che ha bisogno del sostegno altrui, sostegno che Tommy e tutti i suoi parrocchiani, gli amici del ranch Lost Cow in testa, non gli fanno mancare.
Ovviamente non mancano neanche qui i momenti drammatici o di tensione, come quello della scomparsa di Luke dopo l’esondazione del fiume. Confesso che a quel punto ho veramente temuto il peggio. O quando, verso la fine, Noah rischia di perdere la sua chiesa.
Infine, ma non per importanza, perlomeno per me visto che le adoro, le scene hot. Amo troppo il modo di descriverle della Brown. Per esempio, la scena in cui Tommy, senza volere, spia Luke e Simon mentre sono in intimità… roba da autocombustione. Le scene Hot sono sempre molto presenti nei libri di questa autrice e sono decisamente bollenti. In questa scena di cui vi parlo, il particolare tipo di rapporto intimo descritto l’avevamo trovato anche nel primo libro, ma qui è vista attraverso gli occhi di Tommy e probabilmente è proprio il lato voyeuristico il motivo per cui mi è rimasta impressa.
Con la bocca secca, Tommy sapeva che avrebbe dovuto andarsene, che avrebbe dovuto smettere di guardare, ma lo stesso non poteva muoversi. Da Luke uscivano forti gemiti bisognosi che gli andavano diritti all’inguine. Al sicuro sotto la coperta, Tommy premette i palmi contro la dura lunghezza nei suoi jeans. Era quasi venuto quando aveva visto Simon aggiungere un quarto dito.
Oltre a questa ne abbiamo molte altre. D’altronde Tommy deve affrontare tutte le sue prime volte e la Brown non ne tralascia nessuna.
Il suo sesso era bellissimo, nero e lungo, e gli venne l’acquolina in bocca all’idea di succhiarlo. Non era esattamente sicuro, però, di come farlo; la sua esperienza era praticamente inesistente dopotutto, sia nel dare che nel ricevere. Ma sapeva che l’altro gli avrebbe mostrato cosa fare. Infatti, non appena Tommy scese verso il basso per prepararsi a fare il suo primo pompino, le mani di Noah gli presero il volto. “Leccami e succhia soltanto la testa. Non provare a prenderlo fino in fondo.” “Vai a casa adesso, prima che chiudiamo a chiave la porta e ti guardiamo mentre ti scopa,” ordinò Luke con voce roca. Noah lo fece alzare in piedi. “Non sei pronto per questo, piccolo. Non ancora.”
Personalmente ho apprezzato anche le due new entry, Lance e Marco, altra coppia gay. Mi piacerebbe un libro su di loro, ma sono andata a sbirciare la trama del prossimo e non sono loro i protagonisti, bensì Ray, l’assistente di Noah. Non ci resta che aspettare e vedere chi sarà a conquistare il suo cuore.
This is the story of Tommy, a young man with no sexual experience, who is terribly fearful of his parent's reaction if he came out. He develops strong feelings for Noah, the pastor who is also gay.
There is a strong theme of acceptance - both acceptance by family and acceptance by the community. Tommy needs to decide whether having a relationship with Noah is worth risking coming out and the fact that Noah won't progress their relationship until he does, spurs things on.
Noah shares his coming out experience - it isn't easy, no matter who you are. "But you're a pastor, a good man," Tommy protested. "I wasn't then, I was just a kid needing support."
As in the first book of the series (which I enjoyed more), the story also focuses on the townsfolk and their homophobia. The men need to deal with threat and violence. "Tommy, I'm a black, gay pastor running a gay church in the middle of the Bible Belt. We get threats all the time. Kinda goes with the territory."
The story was quite enjoyable. I was worried that it may delve too deeply into religion, given one of the main characters was a pastor but the story never took on a 'preachy' quality which was good.
It had been quite a while since I read book 1 but I did not have any problems picking up the story. This story focuses on Tommy and Noah. Tommy is still in the closet and 23 and a virgin. Noah is the pastor of the local church. It was nice to be back with the men on the ranch after the troubles in book 1. I did think it was funny the way Tommy went from virgin to virtually wanting sex every minute. A nice story though.
Note: This audiobook was provided to me by the publisher through Hearts on Fire Reviews in exchange for an impartial review.
Complete Faith is the sequel to Morning Report and gives us the relationship between Noah and Tommy that many readers had been hoping for at the end of that book. But it doesn’t give us a lot of angst and pain, or crisis, or mystery, or much of the drama that makes a good book great. So, this one is a good story that is actually a bit above average in the audiobook format due to narrator Aaron Pickering who, as usual, does an excellent job. His vocalizations of the various characters hit a range of tones and accents, and when he uses his hot, sexy voice to narrate the hot, sex-filled scenes between couples, it sounds so realistic that I feel like I’m being a voyeur.
The story involves Tommy, 23-year-old hand on the Lost Cow Ranch, gay and in the closet and a virgin because his parents are super-religious and he’s so fearful they’ll find out about him that he’s kept a tight rein on his behavior. And it involves Noah, the pastor of the gay-friendly church which Luke’s family has turned to after their previous pastor proved himself to be a gay-bashing bigot. Noah is 35 years old and is totally smitten by Tommy so when Tommy is finally ready for his first kiss, it’s Noah who’s there for him. And it’s Noah who gives Tommy more firsts, including the courage to come out to his parents. That, of course, doesn’t go well, but Tommy wasn’t expecting it to, and he’s now living on the ranch so the impact isn’t great, other than on his heart.
The story progresses with other friends and ranch hands having their own struggles, Tommy having some minor trouble with one of the bullies he went to school with, then the usual ranch issues. One dramatic crisis involves flash flooding on the ranch and Luke and Simon as the characters most affected, but considering that the story is about Noah and Tommy, there really wasn’t a major crisis involving them. The potential was there in a few different ways. One, with Tommy’s parents being so cold to him, and another time when Tommy had a severe case of the flu I thought it might turn out to be something worse, and even a third time when he was driving to Noah’s in a bad storm, I kept expecting something major to happen to him, but none of those things was ever more than mundane. Even the age gap wasn’t made a focal point in any way. The main drama occurred toward the end of the story and involved Noah’s position as pastor of his church being threatened, but again, it was not a huge issue and was resolved quite simply.
So overall, I’m going to give this one 3.5 stars— 3 for the story and an extra .5 for the narration. But I am looking forward to listening to the next audiobook in the series because these are nice stories with a sweet romance and sometimes I like it when things to go smoothly for the guys.
When I first read the description for Complete Faith by Sue Brown, I didn’t realize that it was the second book of a series. I really think that in order to truly enjoy this book you should read the first book, Morning Report. In Morning Report learn about the Lost Cow ranch and the fact that the working boss and the foreman are in a committed 10 year relationship. We also meet one of the ranch hands, Tommy, who is one of the main characters in Complete Faith.
Tommy has lived in the closet because it was just easier than dealing with the fallout from coming out to his super-religious parents in small-town Texas. However, Tommy’s “cover” is blown when he meets Pastor Noah who is an out, black pastor. Tommy is instantly attracted to Noah and vice versa. Noah’s not afraid to be himself, but he won’t go beyond a few kisses until Tommy comes out. Eventually Tommy finds the courage, but old foes reemerge and cause some drama for good Pastor Noah and Tommy as they struggle to build a relationship.
In many ways this book is spot on and I really enjoyed reading about Tommy and Noah. However, as a liberal pastor living in small-town, rural Oklahoma there are some things that don’t quite gel and I think the main reason I kept getting drawn out of the story was because Ms. Brown is from England and while we all speak English it is a whole different culture. All in all that did not detract from my enjoyment of the characters or wanting to hear more about all the major and minor people involved in life on the Lost Cow.
When I first read Morning Report, I was amazed at a story that had me on teeter hooks until the very end. Sue Brown delivers a wild, wicked ride in her follow up in Complete Faith. Batten down the hatches because the residents of Lost Cow Ranch are about to find that life is about to get more interesting.
I fell in love with the first book, Morning Report and found myself wishing for a long tall drink of water myself to sweep me off my feet, well wearing just chaps of course. But seriously, Complete Faith continues the events that happened in the first book and this time, two secondary characters there take center stage. Noah Taylor, pastor of a new gay friendly church and Tommy Bradley, an in the closet gay young man. All I can say is when these two first came onto the scene in a scene in Morning Report, I was wishing they would have a story of their own. The sparks flew between them and when I heard they were the main couple in the follow up, I cheered. As I read Complete Faith, the magic I saw in Morning Report was evident with snappy dialogue, simmering sexual tension between Tommy and Noah and conflicts that had me holding my breath in anticipation of the outcome.
First off, Sue Brown is not a mediocre writer and I like her books normally but unfortunately that's exactly how I felt this book was after finally finishing it. To be honest I can't say I've taken to the whole series up to now. I gave Morning report a 4* review but even that was a little disappointing. With this one I struggled to gel with Tommy and Noah's relationship - possibly because Noah is a pastor ( I'm not a fan of religious themed stories ) and I did get a bit sick of the homophobic parishioners/ parents/ rival pastor etc etc...... Even though this is the major theme of the book, so I don't think I'll be going any further with the series as I said I would in my other review. Lots of other readers have absolutely loved these books so I'll admit this is probably just my own point of view and this does have nice enough characters, enough sexy moments to satisfy most m/m romance readers and it is very well written so I'm not dissing them for anyone else. My take on reviewing - as I've said before - is " each to their own ", we can't all like the same things and this just didn't thrill me this time. Shame!
I loved this book; it’s a worthy sequel to Morning Report. I loved seeing Luke and Simon again. Tommy is a shy closeted ranch hand who works for Luke and Simon and Noah is a pastor of a local church. Noah not only welcomes gays and all minority’s he is gay himself. In order to have a relationship with Tommy Noah insists he comes out to his parents. This ultimately forces Tommy decide what he really wants, and I and really liked the way Tommy and Noah’s relationship progressed. I was really looking forward to reading this and it didn’t disappoint. As Sharon S, another reviewer said in words I couldn’t better ‘Complete Faith is full of angst, acceptance, understanding, loyalty, unity and LOVE’.
“For a man of God, you’ve got a filthy mouth,” Tommy said as he stripped off. “Only when it comes to sex. Sex is meant to be raw, crude, and downright filthy.” Noah emphasized the point by pushing down his pants and boxers. Noah dropped 'fuck' more than 50 times. At least.
I don't know. I just didn't love this one like I did the first. I really didn't love Noah, he just bugged me. Maybe because there wasn't any getting to know you, it just jumps to sex between them. I don't know. All the fuss about Tommy coming out, I expected some old fashioned courting.
But I did love seeing Si and Luke. Momma and the rest of the bands.
I enjoyed this...not as much as I liked the first book in the series, Morning Report, but still liked it. Plot and conflict were pretty typical of a story like this, and I really liked seeing more of Simon and Luke.
To my ratings: A 3,5* is clicked with a 4* but in review marked as 3,5*:
5* - very very good and rare (it would be a Blow-Away-book like ‘Jesse's Smile’ or ‘Joey’ from Angelique Jurd, ‘Save the the kids’ series from EM Leya, ‘Love’s Tethered Heart’ from C.L. Etta or ‘Liberty’ from Seth King), it's like an A+
4* - very good and will be often reread and is a WOW-book with interesting plot and surprises (like most of Andrew Grey books and Davidson Kings 'Haven Hart'-series) it's like an A
3,5* - a really good book, which will be reread a few times (most romances where you can enjoy for relaxing and during waiting times in hospitals). I can recommend them definitively! It's like an B+
3* - it could be more then a one-time-reader (2-3 times a year), it's like a B
2* - it was ok to read, but it's more a one-time-reader (I wouldn't recommend it heartily, but it was ok) It's like a C-, D
1* - sorry, but that isn't really a book for me (too many mistakes, not nice plot, illogical, so an absolute NO-GO). It's like failure in the whole line, dismissed, repeat the class
A wonderful continuation of the series. Tommy has found the courage to be with Noah and in so doing come out to his parents. His parents don't take it well but he knows that he now needs to live his own life with or without their support. Knowing that the other hands at the ranch had already surmised that he was gay and suppoted him was an unexpected surprise for him and helped give him the confidence he needed. Confrontations in town bring added tension on the ranch as new hands are needed for the calving season. When one of the new hands arrives beaten for standing up for Tommy on his previous ranch the confrontations from town come home. Luke and Simon have their work cut out for them as they continue to struggle against the homophobia of some of their neighbours. Finding a solution for Noah when his position is threatened by the conservative pastor that drove the troubles in the first of this series takes not only Luke and Simon, but his whole congregation. I look forward to reading the next in this series.
This is book 2 in the Morning Report series and can be listened to as a standalone. I loved the setting of the story which was based in a rural branch in Texas.
Tommy struggling with his sexuality was very relatable and poignant.
I liked how Noah was so open and liberal. He really helped Tommy embrace himself and accept himself.
I loved listening to this hurt/comfort, medium angst romance. The narrator did quite a splendid audio delivery as well