Jesse Jamison is in love with Dennis Christopoulos. Jesse is a rep for a textbook publisher and Denny is a flight attendant with a job that keeps him on the go and away from home a lot. Jesse is looking for a long-term commitment, while Denny’s not sure if he wants a commitment with Jesse, or his rich older lover, Carter. Then there’s Nicholas Warden, the new neighbor.
O’Reilly’s latest tale of gay love makes for a nice read with a little sex and some relationship troubles. You think you know what’s going to happen with the first page– four guys involved in two separate relationships! There’s bound to be trouble and someone’s going to end up with heartbreak. O’Reilly’s dialogue is believable, as is the story-line. Gay, lesbian, or straight couples could people the story. Second Thoughts is all about developing relationships based on honesty and what happens when lies and deceptions enter the picture.
Jesse, the main character of the novel thinks he’s in love with someone he wants to share the rest of his life with, but he’s fantasizing about his new neighbor in the first scenes of the story. Denny, who clearly has something to hide, doesn’t quite fit into Jesse’s life. For one thing, he’s gone all of the time, and has a lover on the side. He also is not very fond of Shelby, the family dog. As you read the story, you wonder how these two ever got together. They seem to have little in common but nice sex. Then there’s Nick, the new neighbor.
Nick seems to share the same interests as Jesse and has his own pet dog, Clyde. Nick’s a schoolteacher, a job Jesse once held. He’s at home most nights, he and Jesse get along great together, and their dogs, well, Shelby and Clyde are best friends!
You can see several of O’Reilly’s plot twists coming, and Angela, the young female character seems a little too all-knowing and relationship-wise for a girl of her age. The pace of Second Thoughts is nice, but unfortunately, the novel doesn’t generate a great deal of heat.
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Review originally appears on Rainbow Review
Publisher: Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure
Image courtesy Amber Quill Press/Amber Allure