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A review by richard76
Le Cœur en balance by Marie Sexton
5.0
A masterful work. Simply wonderful. I ultimately rate books on how re-readable they are, and this is one that I not only know I’m going to re-read, but I’m excited at the thought of it.
• The characters. Sexton has done an above average job of sculpting her characters. First, she avoids the frequent mistake of writing them in isolation. Everyone is part of a social system that includes friends, coworkers and family. In fact, these relationships are critical in shaping and defining us. By fleshing out her characters’ social circles, she makes them fully three-dimensional. Levi gets this treatment more than Jaime, but under the circumstances of the story, it makes sense why. Sexton also does a fantastic job of exploring a complex sequence of causes-and-effects that result from these relationships. She gives Levi and Jaime texture by delving into how their relationships have both benefitted and damaged them. This is also true to life, and helps breathe vitality into these wonderful guys. Finally, I simply like both of them. They’re great characters.
• The narrative. There’s some very serious drama in this book, and yet Sexton avoids something that frequently annoys me in m/m romances: melodramatic angstiness. Her narrative style helps tremendously: she just lets the story unfold with editorializing. This is a subtle point, but I find many m/m romance authors write a sort of “meta-narrative” through subtle cues which include adjectives, adverbs and brief appended comments that emphasize the angst, the “woe is me,” etc. By contrast, Sexton just tells the story. Her narrative is refreshingly straightforward.
• The plot. Both Levi and Jaime come with serious baggage, and their two plot threads interweave beautifully, organically and naturally. And with a gentle touch, Sexton plays the drama like a fine instrument. I teared up a couple of times, which is extremely unusual for me, not because the story turned sad, but because I was simply so moved by the scene.
• The romance. Oh, Sexton really nailed this. Levi and Jaime don’t actually get together until fairly deep in the story, and I stayed up way too late just because I didn’t want to stop until they got together! She does such an exceptional job of creating sexual and romantic tension between them, and then stringing it out. Then, when something finally happens, she manages to keep the tension going because of each of the character’s plot threads. I will also say, I typically skim sex scenes in m/m romances because I’m that odd duck who reads for the romance and finds much of the sex gratuitous. Not so here; by the time it happened, I was so invested, I so wanted them to get together, that I had to read these scenes. Plus, the way their sex life develops is an integral part of the plot.
Of course, having said all this, I can always find a few things to nitpick. I thought Levi’s transition from player to monogamist was a bit too smooth. Jaime realistically would take two steps forward, one step back. But Levi just took two steps forward. In fact, Levi was a bit too perfect. I think he would have messed up with Jaime a bit more (he does mess up, I just would have expected a bit more). This is a minor comment, though.
Also, I found the appeal of Levi’s family to Jaime a little forced. Especially the first time Jaime requests a return visit, I actually thought it was very insensitive of Jaime. It was obvious Levi was very upset by the way his family treated him, and Jaime seemed to have no concern for that. This made me slightly less sympathetic to Jaime. Also, while I could understand the appeal of a “real family” to Jaime, I just didn’t get how he could find that with a family who’s so anti-gay. As a result, that element of the book – although critical to the narrative – felt out of sync to me. But given the strength of everything else, I’m perfectly willing to suspend whatever disbelief.
I’ve only read one other book by Sexton (“Promises”). I enjoyed that one, but it only hints at Sexton’s work here. “Between Sinners and Saints” has earned Sexton a permanent fan in me.
It’s odd, but I found myself thinking of other m/m romances that I consider masterworks: “Special Forces: Soldiers” by Aleksandr Voinov. These are very, very … very … different works. Voinov’s is intense and violent in a way Sexton’s doesn’t even approach. And “Truth in the Dark” by Amy Lane has a very different feel to it, much more like a fable than a novel. Yet in all three cases, each author has so excellently mastered each element … character, plot, narrative, structure, setting … that each book enjoys a gestalt effect, where the story becomes more than the sum of its parts.
Other books mentioned:
[b:Promises|7493186|Promises (Coda Books, #1)|Marie Sexton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1262658310s/7493186.jpg|9639749]
[b:Special Forces|6708511|Special Forces|Aleksandr Voinov|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268577845s/6708511.jpg|6904341]
[b:Truth in the Dark|8262461|Truth in the Dark|Amy Lane|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1274410674s/8262461.jpg|13110378]
• The characters. Sexton has done an above average job of sculpting her characters. First, she avoids the frequent mistake of writing them in isolation. Everyone is part of a social system that includes friends, coworkers and family. In fact, these relationships are critical in shaping and defining us. By fleshing out her characters’ social circles, she makes them fully three-dimensional. Levi gets this treatment more than Jaime, but under the circumstances of the story, it makes sense why. Sexton also does a fantastic job of exploring a complex sequence of causes-and-effects that result from these relationships. She gives Levi and Jaime texture by delving into how their relationships have both benefitted and damaged them. This is also true to life, and helps breathe vitality into these wonderful guys. Finally, I simply like both of them. They’re great characters.
• The narrative. There’s some very serious drama in this book, and yet Sexton avoids something that frequently annoys me in m/m romances: melodramatic angstiness. Her narrative style helps tremendously: she just lets the story unfold with editorializing. This is a subtle point, but I find many m/m romance authors write a sort of “meta-narrative” through subtle cues which include adjectives, adverbs and brief appended comments that emphasize the angst, the “woe is me,” etc. By contrast, Sexton just tells the story. Her narrative is refreshingly straightforward.
• The plot. Both Levi and Jaime come with serious baggage, and their two plot threads interweave beautifully, organically and naturally. And with a gentle touch, Sexton plays the drama like a fine instrument. I teared up a couple of times, which is extremely unusual for me, not because the story turned sad, but because I was simply so moved by the scene.
• The romance. Oh, Sexton really nailed this. Levi and Jaime don’t actually get together until fairly deep in the story, and I stayed up way too late just because I didn’t want to stop until they got together! She does such an exceptional job of creating sexual and romantic tension between them, and then stringing it out. Then, when something finally happens, she manages to keep the tension going because of each of the character’s plot threads. I will also say, I typically skim sex scenes in m/m romances because I’m that odd duck who reads for the romance and finds much of the sex gratuitous. Not so here; by the time it happened, I was so invested, I so wanted them to get together, that I had to read these scenes. Plus, the way their sex life develops is an integral part of the plot.
Of course, having said all this, I can always find a few things to nitpick. I thought Levi’s transition from player to monogamist was a bit too smooth. Jaime realistically would take two steps forward, one step back. But Levi just took two steps forward. In fact, Levi was a bit too perfect. I think he would have messed up with Jaime a bit more (he does mess up, I just would have expected a bit more). This is a minor comment, though.
Also, I found the appeal of Levi’s family to Jaime a little forced. Especially the first time Jaime requests a return visit, I actually thought it was very insensitive of Jaime. It was obvious Levi was very upset by the way his family treated him, and Jaime seemed to have no concern for that. This made me slightly less sympathetic to Jaime. Also, while I could understand the appeal of a “real family” to Jaime, I just didn’t get how he could find that with a family who’s so anti-gay. As a result, that element of the book – although critical to the narrative – felt out of sync to me. But given the strength of everything else, I’m perfectly willing to suspend whatever disbelief.
I’ve only read one other book by Sexton (“Promises”). I enjoyed that one, but it only hints at Sexton’s work here. “Between Sinners and Saints” has earned Sexton a permanent fan in me.
It’s odd, but I found myself thinking of other m/m romances that I consider masterworks: “Special Forces: Soldiers” by Aleksandr Voinov. These are very, very … very … different works. Voinov’s is intense and violent in a way Sexton’s doesn’t even approach. And “Truth in the Dark” by Amy Lane has a very different feel to it, much more like a fable than a novel. Yet in all three cases, each author has so excellently mastered each element … character, plot, narrative, structure, setting … that each book enjoys a gestalt effect, where the story becomes more than the sum of its parts.
Other books mentioned:
[b:Promises|7493186|Promises (Coda Books, #1)|Marie Sexton|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1262658310s/7493186.jpg|9639749]
[b:Special Forces|6708511|Special Forces|Aleksandr Voinov|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1268577845s/6708511.jpg|6904341]
[b:Truth in the Dark|8262461|Truth in the Dark|Amy Lane|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1274410674s/8262461.jpg|13110378]