A Careful Heart

A finely crafted, wonderful story; it touched my heart in all the right places.

A Careful Heart is the first book I’ve read by Ralph Josiah Bardsley and what a wonderful introduction to his writing! I’m not sure if this will make any sense but I’d compare this to any of the best women’s fiction stories I’ve ever read by authors such as Kristan Hannah or Robyn Carr just to name a couple. The thing is this isn’t women’s fiction, it’s an LGBTQIA story that spans several decades.

Travis Gaines and Stephen Davis grew up together in a small northern New Hampshire town and they’ve been best friends forever. After a sporting event Stephen sees Travis kissing another boy. He’s not horrified and Travis knows he won’t tell what he’s seen.

As time goes by the two best friends go to different colleges and Travis gets a chance to stretch his wings as a young gay man. Stephen falls in love with a girl at his school and things are still great between the two best friends even though they are both changing and growing into their adult selves.

Stephen is heart broken when his girlfriend breaks up with him and Travis tries to console him. After graduation Stephen and Travis move in together and begin their adult lives in Boston.

To say much more would give away too much of the story. I felt this story down to my very soul and I cried many tears as I read certain portions. I normally read only romance stories with my current preference being for M/M books. I picked this one up based on the description and I’m so glad that I did.

It’s a wonderful coming of age; new adult; family relationship; finding one's self story all rolled up together. It’s also a heartbreaking story about how two different young men with similar backgrounds make such different choices and how the consequences of those choices affect both of them.

I absolutely couldn’t put this book down once I started reading it and found myself totally engrossed and captivated by the story to the point that I read way into the early hours of morning so that I could finish it.

There is no way my review can do this book justice but I hope you will give it a try anyway. There is little to no sexual content in this story but that’s because it’s not about the sex; it’s about a wonderful, enduring friendship and the different paths taken by two best friends.

I would definitely read more books from this author.

A review copy was provided by the publisher via NetGalley but this did not influence my opinion or rating of the book.