Review
An e-arc of the book has been provided by the author, Damien Benoit-Ledoux, in exchange for an honest review.
The Love We Hide is the third book in the Love Grows in Honest Places series.
The story follows Zavien, a boy who’s lost in the discovery of his own sexuality in fear of rejection from what he considers to be his entire life.
I would first like to talk about the characters within this novel. I find them quite interesting but flat in comparison to the first novel as I find nothing out of the ordinary—considering this is the third part of a series. I am saying this, in part, because the character felt closely resemblant to the ones in the first book that it wasn’t surprising. But Jolan is definitely different from all the characters in the entire series as he is more of the rebel type with reservations. He knows who he is but finds himself having inner conflicts that reduces his actions.
As per the writing, I find the book to be easy to follow and it flows well within the confines of the story; however, I find that there are some details that could have been executed better with a different strategy to give the book more depth and to provide an interesting involvement for the characters. This, in hindsight, ruined the pacing for me as it was rotating towards a singular subject—religion. It could’ve worked better for me, had it been given a retrospective aspect to it.
Another interesting idea that could’ve given this book a more unique perspective is to give us an insight of how and what goes within the mind of Zavien’s mother. The series in its entirety is secluded in a constrained idea that it could’ve worked better if the three books were written as an anthology instead of individual stories. They were resembling one another too much that you could’ve easily gotten away knowing the whole series with reading just one book.
In its entirety I, believe the novel to be a wonderful read as it provides us with a message that we all cannot deny to be true in real life. It is timely and intriguing; however, the way the story (the whole series) was told was too contained that it felt more of a story written in ire than a story of sadness and inspiration of acceptance. I love aspects of the book, but its entirety didn’t work well for me.
About the Author
Damien Benoit-Ledoux is an author and freelance editor. His mind is a magical and nerdy place where fantastic heroes defend amazing worlds from dangerous villains who run amuck in an epic struggle to take over the universe. Recently, the brightest and best from this colorful cast of characters have made their way into notes, plots, stories, and novels for you to read and enjoy.
Damien strongly believes the real world we live in should be a place where LGBTQ equality and respect are second nature and never questioned. When he’s not working or spending time with his husband, their son, and their dog, Damien weaves this philosophy into the exciting lives of his characters and the fantastic space battles and romances they endure so they’ll stop taking over his dreams at night.
And finally, he wants you to remember a very important thing: No matter how bad your day is at work, it’s always important to be grateful that you don’t work for a Sith Lord.
