Buy Link: The Heart’s Greater Silence
Author: Anne Brooke
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Length: Short Story

Rating: 4.5

Mark is caught between two men in his life: his boyfriend Craig whom he loves, and his lover Richard with whom he has been having an sexual affair.  When the story opens, Craig has just found out about Richard.  He refuses to even speak to Mark after the betrayal.

Mark loves Craig, but the connection he has with Richard is totally different.  Mark craves Richard sexually, and the need is palpable when they are together. Though he has no emotional connection to Richard, nor anything he’d call a relationship, Mark is needy for him in ways he doesn’t even begin to understand.  Mark’s feelings for Richard are all consuming, but they are totally separate from the reality of his life and from Richard’s.  So we meet Mark at this crossroads where he must finally look inside himself to figure out what is really in his heart.

This was an intense and moving story that caught me up from the very start.  I wouldn’t really classify it as  a romance and certainly no clear HEA or even HFN.  But it does a wonderful job of poking at that line between love and lust as Mark gets caught up in his two different needs and sadly finds they can only be satisfied by two different people.  My only small quibble is that I wish we got a bit more of Craig.  The story really explores what is happening between Richard and Mark, but I’d have love just a tiny bit more insight into his relationship with Craig so we can see the other side of Mark’s struggle.

I really enjoyed The Heart’s Greater Silence.  In some ways the story made me sad, but I also like to think that Mark is finally at a place where he can start to look forward, he just needs to look into his heart and figure out where he wants to go.

Cover Review: Wow, is that gorgeous! Totally beautiful and conveys the tone of the story so well.  Great job!

Be sure to stop by tomorrow when Anne joins us for a stop on her blog tour.  She will be talking about her favorite Christmas and bringing some great giveaways!