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A review by oceaneanagonye
The Healer by Courtney W. Dixon
5.0
Authentic and Emotional
"The Healer" by Courtney W. Dixon has been on my TBR for a hot minute. I finally sat down this weekend and decided that it was time, and oh my goodness was I not disappointed. "The Healer" follows gentle giant Jonas and feisty little firecracker José who both work at a mob-funded free clinic in a rough part of town. We get a few chapters of backstory on each MC before we catch up to the present day. This helped to set the scene and added depth to their characters.
Jonas and José start off bumpy as poor Jonas is nervous as all hell and struggling with the concept of risking his heart for a man again. Eventually, he finds his voice and a beautiful relationship blooms. Until... Demons from both their pasts rear their ugly heads to try to separate them for good.
I don't even know where to start with my praise of this book. The first thing that caught my attention was how authentic Jonas' experience was as a Black man. As a Black femme who has faced a lot of things discussed in this book, it all rang very true and I felt seen. I can't adequately express what that meant to me, especially when the genre is comprised of 90% non-ethnic main characters. José was Latinx, which was another plus. We stan authentic BIPOC representation!!
Now onto the love story itself. Oh my God. I felt butterflies, annoyance, and hope and was even left gutted for a while as they moved through their relationship. This story made me feel big feelings and I struggled to put it down for any amount of time. Of course, we get an HEA (my heart would simply break if we didn't) and boy is it a hard-earned one. I love how hard Jonas tried to overcome his fear and the hatred from his family and how patient and ultimately forgiving José was.
I loved this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an angsty MM romance with lots of heart and spice, with a little action sprinkled throughout.
"The Healer" by Courtney W. Dixon has been on my TBR for a hot minute. I finally sat down this weekend and decided that it was time, and oh my goodness was I not disappointed. "The Healer" follows gentle giant Jonas and feisty little firecracker José who both work at a mob-funded free clinic in a rough part of town. We get a few chapters of backstory on each MC before we catch up to the present day. This helped to set the scene and added depth to their characters.
Jonas and José start off bumpy as poor Jonas is nervous as all hell and struggling with the concept of risking his heart for a man again. Eventually, he finds his voice and a beautiful relationship blooms. Until... Demons from both their pasts rear their ugly heads to try to separate them for good.
I don't even know where to start with my praise of this book. The first thing that caught my attention was how authentic Jonas' experience was as a Black man. As a Black femme who has faced a lot of things discussed in this book, it all rang very true and I felt seen. I can't adequately express what that meant to me, especially when the genre is comprised of 90% non-ethnic main characters. José was Latinx, which was another plus. We stan authentic BIPOC representation!!
Now onto the love story itself. Oh my God. I felt butterflies, annoyance, and hope and was even left gutted for a while as they moved through their relationship. This story made me feel big feelings and I struggled to put it down for any amount of time. Of course, we get an HEA (my heart would simply break if we didn't) and boy is it a hard-earned one. I love how hard Jonas tried to overcome his fear and the hatred from his family and how patient and ultimately forgiving José was.
I loved this book. I would recommend it to anyone who wants an angsty MM romance with lots of heart and spice, with a little action sprinkled throughout.