Duty & Devotion

Duty and Devotion by Tere Michaels is the sequel to Faith and Fidelity and begins several months after the events of that story. Faith and Fidelity details how Evan and Matt first became a couple after the sudden death of Evan’s wife Sherri in a car accident. The two men were both cops who had never before considered experimenting with a gay relationship. Evan raised four children with his childhood sweetheart Sherri, and Matt was a ladies’ man who never settled down.

In Faith and Fidelity, they formed a friendship to help each other through Evan’s terrible loss and Matt’s midlife crisis, and their friendship developed into something more. Now, Evan and Matt are living together and raising Evan’s kids who accept the arrangement show more with differing levels of tolerance. Matt, who has retired from the police force, is now chafing as an unappreciated house-husband while Evan works non-stop. However, their real problem centers on Evan’s inability to release his guilt and negative feelings towards being in a gay relationship. A visit from Jim and Griffin, a happy couple from the author’s stand-alone novel Love and Loyalty, might help open Evan’s eyes before it’s too late.

Both Duty and Devotion and the not-to-be-missed Faith and Fidelity are strong, emotionally complex novels. There is a lot to praise here, especially the interaction between Evan, Matt, and Evan’s four kids who range in age from the oldest daughter, a college freshman, to the youngest, a nine-year old boy. These kids seem completely real and refreshingly open-minded about adapting to their father’s new boyfriend stepping into the caretaking role once filled by their mother who died less than two years ago. I didn’t think such a thing would be plausible until I read it for myself.

The aspect about Duty and Devotion that impresses me most is how likable the author makes the incredibly complicated character of Evan. Matt is funny and sexy, and everyone’s going to like him, but Evan struggles with guilt and self-hatred and could have looked really bad in comparison, but he doesn’t. His inability to accept his gay desires is very believable, and it’s to the author’s credit that she doesn’t rush us readers through this. Evan and Matt still haven’t quite consummated their relationship — and with each small step in that direction, Evan is overwhelmed with the emotional and physical intensity of his feelings, which makes the most subtle aspects to their sexual encounters incredibly hot.

For example, take this excerpt: “When he looked up, all Evan could see was Matt’s face in utter ecstasy. His eyes weren’t focused on Evan, he was staring down between them where their bodies were so intimately touching, and then it wasn’t the touch or pull of his palm that made Evan’s entire body jerk and spasm. It was the expression of hunger on Matt’s face that sent Evan over the edge.” Duty and Devotion is a strong installment in the continuing story of a romance that may linger in your memory for a long time.

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I enjoyed this book but it didn't spin me out. It was great to see where Evan, Matt, Jim and Griffin were in their relationships and with their families and it was nice to see the overall settling of Evan and Matt, but it didn't absorb me. I think I should have read this closer to the other two books; the impetus was a bit lost for me.

3.5 stars

This was a good read, but I liked Faith & Fidelity better. This is a continuation of Matt and Evan's story and how each of them are dealing with their relationship. Evan still had a lot of things to work out and sometimes his angst was a bit frustrating. Matt has his own issues to deal with as well, but it's not with his relationship with Evan. He definitely had no qualms there. It was nice getting back to these two and I liked how everything worked itself out in the end.

And with this one I completed the Faith, Love & Devotion trilogy. It’s a series that goes better book after book, but the most extraordinary thing is that already the first book was really good and so, escalating in quality meant that the third book is very high in that scale.

I probably liked better Duty & Devotion than Faith & Fidelity, since Matt and Evan were still having trouble, but their relationship was strong and steady. Never once I had the feeling that they were giving up, and even if things were not going smoothly, I felt like both of them were into that.

D&D starts exactly at the end of F&F, when Evan, reluctantly, agrees to start an “open” relationship with Matt; not only that, they are now living together and Matt show more is taking care of the kids, while Evan is at work… not exactly a macho man situation, and I have the idea that Evan is still hiding in the closet; true, he is living with a man, but look, that man is behaving like a woman, he is an househusband, and yes, alright, he has not the natural equipment of a woman, but that is irrelevant. And then, if you have the chance to peak on their bedroom at night, you will see that Evan and Matt didn’t take the last step, they are not walking on the dark side… for all it takes, Evan is not gay and so Matt.

At the beginning was nice to see a domestic version of Matt, it was cute to see him interacting with the kids, but then I also started to feel Matt’s uneasiness, his unwilling dismissal of his mainly side; maybe if during their sex life he had the chance to express it, he would be able to balance his daily persona, but not even that. Both in bed than out of the bed, Evan continues with his denial of everything “gay”, while at the same time declaring eternal love to Matt. And that is strange since I believed Evan, and was sure of that love; what it was nice of this novel is that the author managed to have both characters on the right side, the reader, me, was not able to taking sides for one of the other, but basically I patiently waited for the evolution and the clarifier moment. No worries that that moment was not happening, as I said, it was clear that the love between Matt and Evan was a too strong bond to be break.

I didn’t mind the introduction / reacquaintance with Griffin and Jim, they are probably the key supporting character, Griffin in particular. I didn’t get so much the trio Daisy, Bennet and Shane, I had the feeling the author is planning something, but I’m not sure of how that story will develop.

This is a story with an high dose of romance, but not too much drama; as I said, it’s not a bed of roses for Matt and Evan, but I think it’s basically the ordinary trouble you can have when you are at the beginning of a relationship, and you need to find the right balance: Evan has to let it go a bit, Matt has, maybe, to take things a bit too seriously; both of them are, indeed, adult people with a strong core, but also with the ability to admit when they were wrong, and that is probably a good basis to start.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/B003N3V5ZA/?tag=elimyrevandra-20 show less

Duty & Devotion by Tere Michaels
Faith, Love, and Devotion series #3. M-M contemporary romance.
Matt and Evan have been together for a year now. Their lives are becoming routine which makes them both a little uneasy. Juggling work, family and a relationship is a lot. Finding time to talk and truly discuss their feelings and being intimate requires schedules and a little help from friends.
Emotional entanglements and families make this book teary, spicy and endearing all at the same time. It’s the next chapter in their relationship as they expand their love and universe.

3.5 stars. Was a bit on the short side and not as good as book 1. However, still enjoyable. I just want more!!

3.5 stars. Was a bit on the short side and not as good as book 1. However, still enjoyable. I just want more!!