Reviewed for NetGalley
Publisher: Entangled Publishing, LLC
Image courtesy of Entangled Publishing, LLC
Genre: GLBT, Contemporary, M/M Romance
Page count: 175
Stars: [rating=4]
Blurb
NFL football player Isaiah Blackwell lost his husband three years ago and is raising their teen son alone. He lives his life as quietly as his job allows, playing ball to support his family but trying not to draw unwanted attention. His quiet life is shaken up when a mutual friend introduces him to Victor, a visiting principal ballet dancer who is everything Isaiah is not.
Brash and loud, Victor Aleksandrov has applied for political asylum to avoid returning to Russia, where gay men are targeted and persecuted. He’s been outspoken about gay rights in his home country, and if he doesn’t get asylum, going back to Russia is a death sentence.
Their one-night stand turns into a tentative friendship, a relationship they both agree is temporary…until Victor’s denied asylum. Isaiah can’t offer Victor a happily ever after, but he can propose something that’ll keep Victor in the US and safe…marriage. He just doesn’t expect his new husband to dance away with his heart.
Book Review
His Convenient Husband by Robin Covington is a gay romance novel about starting over and learning to love again. The main characters are professional football player, Isaiah Blackwell and ballet dancer, Victor Aleksandrov. From their first meeting the chemistry, sexual and otherwise, sizzles. These two men occupy center stage; their mere presence in a room draws attention.
Isaiah is rather straight-laced and reserved. He doesn’t deny who he is, but he’s not wearing a placard either. Victor is the complete opposite. Victor wears his sexuality out loud and in your face. His sexuality is there for anyone to see. Covington brings these two men to life with all their pain and burning passion. She knows how to tell a story!
Victor’s gay rights/human rights activism is what brings the two men together. His speeches against the persecutions at home and the denial of his asylum status in America, compels Isaiah to marry him in a rushed ceremony in Las Vegas. Once that’s done the two men must cobble a life together and there hangs the story.
Covington includes some delightful secondary characters in His Convenient Husband. Isaiah’s artistic teenage son, Evan, who has his own secrets to reveal; Isaiah’s mother, Esther, who wants to nurture everyone, including Victor, and Ian the best friend and agent to both men. Covington fully-develops each character. Evan is a pivotal character in the story. His relationship with these two powerful men and their feelings for him almost destroys them when Evan confronts Isaiah about an incident at school.
The passion between Isaiah and Victor is fiery, smoky-hot, but fear stands between them. There were times when I wanted to smack Isaiah on the head; tell him to wake up and look around. Isaiah’s lost one love, his first husband; a loss that nearly destroyed him. He can’t seem to take the next step to move forward. Victor on the other hand recognizes what he and Isaiah could have together, but he’s just thankful he can stay in America and live freely.
Finding out if these two men can come together and make a life for themselves and Evan made for an entertaining read. The sex is steamy and the emotional battles are taut and painful. His Convenient Husband is well worth 4 stars. It’s going to be one of those I read again.