Family Man

Family Man marks the first time I’ve read a book by either of these authors, as well as the first time I’ve listened to this narrator. Gay-for-you/ out-for-you stories are always tricky for me but between the sample and positive reviews, I decided to give it a chance. Overall, Family Man was a good story with a very good narrator. While there were a few plot details that gave me pause, it was the execution and writing style that I struggled with most.

A May-December gay-for-you romance, Family Man had plenty of sweet moments between the characters and with secondary characters, while also offering some angsty issues Vinnie and Trey had to work through. I really liked the approach of the younger man being out and the older hero having the sexual identity awakening. I also liked that this was a slow burn, virgin romance because it gave both men time to develop before wading into physical intimacy, which inevitably made it more believable. The narrator did a good job injecting personality into his performance and it was easy to differentiate between characters, and all in all Family Man was an enjoyable listen.

Despite the unique characters, interesting storylines, and good narrator, the writing style felt stilted with awkward transitions. This wasn’t helped by each character’s point-of-view written in a different perspective. I don’t have a first person vs third person preference when it comes to reading, but Family Man is the first book I remember both used, with Vinnie’s side written in third person and Trey in first person. I’m not sure whether this was a co-writing thing, but it did seem clear when one author picked up and stopped again, and generally left the book feeling disjointed. That said, the story was a good one and the narrator definitely kept me engaged. I think Family Man is worth trying for fans of gay-for-you stories because it is pretty unique in regards to that trope.

*Reviewed for Alpha Book Club*

Thrice divorced, Vinnie is trying to figure out who he is when Trey dances his way under his skin. What starts out as exploration develops into something more like soul searching. And when push comes to shove, Vinnie is determined to go the distance. Now if he could only get Trey to agree with the plan.

This story was the perfect balance of intrigue, angst, romance and just enough humor to balance out the underlying seriousness within the story. It flowed really well from one chapter to the next and kept me completely engaged from start to finish. Narration stayed in line with the story and Darcy conveyed the characters exactly how I pictured them in my head.

Great book! The characters were amazing. It really got my emotions going. I really liked the Italian family. I have no experience with an Italian family. It was nice. I also have never experienced addiction like Trey. It was definitely an emotional ride.

In 'Family Man', Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton treat readers to a real old-fashioned love story. As Vince fantasizes, “Trey wanted courting. Vince found, the more he thought about it, that he did too.” Sigh!

Vinnie Fierro is an Italian-American plumber with three failed marriages, who can’t stop thinking about the gay couple whose sink he fixed, while they consoled one another about their financial problems. When he confesses his confusion to his sister, she suggests he visit a gay bar to see how it feels.

There Vinnie encounters Trey Giles, the younger neighborhood man he’s always noticed. And, after they dance together, Vinnie must admit he’s infatuated. But Italian-American studs from close-knit families aren’t gay, are they? And if Vinnie is, will this disappoint his family? Will they reject him?

Working two jobs, Trey is supporting his Grandmother and alcoholic mom, who excuses her drinking by saying, “‘it’s a disease.’” Her behavior has wiped out gram’s retirement, his college fund and put a second mortgage on their home. But he’s “fine” (f’ed up, insecure, neurotic and emotional) as long as he remembers not to hope, because (he thinks to himself), “It will smash you to pieces. So you kill it fast, before it kills you.”

Trey may be a virgin, but he’s out and proud. Why bother with a closeted relationship, no matter how big a crush he’s had on Vinnie.

A particularly charming element of this book is that Vinnie and Trey’s stories, which alternate chapter to chapter, are written in third and first person respectively. Somehow, third person matches Vinnie’s gallant style, while the immediacy of first person suits Trey’s more emotional stance.

Cullinan and Sexton write angst with acute sensitivity.

Their portrayal of Vinnie’s coming-out process, first to himself and then with others, was specific to Vinnie’s personality, different from other’s journeys, and completely natural.

I was grateful that Cullinan and Sexton allow Vinnie and Trey to date rather than chase their physical intimacy. It gave the men time to adjust to new visions of themselves. These are responsible, considerate men who admit their vulnerabilities, rather than expect the other to compensate.

Meanwhile, as an addiction psychologist I wanted to scream at Trey’s mom. “An alcoholic who says she can’t stop drinking ‘because it’s a disease’ is like a diabetic saying he can’t stop eating sugar ‘because it’s a disease.’ Your disease is the exact reason you MUST stop drinking, you manipulative bitch!” I guess the story got me involved, didn’t it?

As Trey and Vinnie court, the romance of a simple kiss, a touch, a well-timed look is brought to readers like a sensory five-course dinner, with love as the desert.

If this is a fairy tale, then the authors tell us, “It isn’t the fairy tale that matters. It’s the people who believe in it. The people they believe in it for.”

I thoroughly believed in Cullinan and Sexton’s romantic men who aren’t what others expect of them, and instead, are exactly who they are. 'Family Man' is splendid!

The first time I read ‘Family Man’ I was blown away by the writing duo of Heidi Cullinan and Marie Sexton. When I discovered it was being rereleased, I jumped at the opportunity to officially review it, so I could sing its praises to the sky. For you see, I've never forgotten Vinnie, no matter how many times he pissed me off, and I've never stopped adoring Trey, for always being true to himself. So, here's to a heartwarming, definitely not easy, love story, with a brash Italian with more braggadocio than is healthy, and a young man with a lot of family secrets, and some serious trust issues.

“It was stupid. Vince knew he wasn’t gay…… It had been too long since he’d given the old boy a ride, so long that answering a call for a gay married couple made him think for one idiot second this was his problem, why he had broken his mama’s heart with divorce number three. Maybe he was looking in the wrong pasture.”

I grew up in a large, noisy family, but that was only my immediate family. I can't begin to imagine Vinnie’s life where the entire extended family has always lived in the same area, a lot of them work for the family business, and nothing is ever private. Nothing. Luckily, he has one sister, Rachel, who he can talk to and she won't go running to the rest of the family. So he tells her his fears, that maybe he's gay, maybe that's why his three marriages didn't last, and Rachel listens, and then tells him he's never going to know unless he goes to a gay bar to see what's what.

He's about ready to leave the gay bar as, so far, he hasn't found anyone attractive, he feels old there, and the music is shit, when he's discovered by Trey. Twenty-five-year-old Trey, who lives at his grandma’s along with his mother, and he works two full-time jobs so he can take care of them and afford a class or two per semester. Trey isn't a virgin because he can't get laid, he's a virgin because he believes in his gram’s teaching that it should be about love. Trey grew up in the neighborhood and to some in Vinnie’s family, Trey and his gram are like family, and the Fierros take care of them. Now what does Vinnie do when a couple of hours dancing (to jazz) in a club in Boystown has him more turned on than he has ever been? Trey doesn't know what to make of his feelings either, but he isn't going to let Vince get away before they can explore them.

“Don’t you get it? What I wanted was so off the table I wouldn’t let myself even consider it. For thirty years.”

I love the friendship and the romance that builds between Trey and Vinnie. It takes a while but after hearing his cousin’s wife make a homophobic slur, Vinnie can finally admit to himself, and to Trey, that he has always been gay, but hid it so far down because he was scared of losing his family. He still is. But, hands down, when he comes out to his mother and she says, “Is that what you think of me?” she went on. “That I would turn you away, turn your lover away? You think the family would turn you away?” , I knew everything was going to be okay. I knew that Vinnie and Trey had lucked out in the huge, Italian Catholic family! In case anyone is wondering, I didn't touch on the family drama that Trey and his gram dealt with... had been dealing with. I think it's enough to say his mother is an alcoholic and the heartbreak of watching Trey deal with his pain and overwhelming (and, completely justifiable) anger at all the years of taking care of her, was very hard to watch.

I loved ‘Family Man’ more this second time around. I don't know whether it's because my knowledge of the gay romance genre has quadrupled since 2013, or because this is the kind of book that really is just that marvelous, and it needs to be reread in order to capture all the things about it that make it so wonderful. I love Vinnie, Trey, and all the fabulous secondary characters. Thank you, Heidi and Marie. I'll try not to wait so long before I reread it again.

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews