Scan barcode
A review by the_novel_approach
Believe by Garrett Leigh
5.0
Ok, I loved it, just going to throw that out there right from the get go. This is book three in the Skins series and while each is absolutely a standalone, if you are familiar with Leigh’s writing at all, you know she likes to keep all her stories “in the family”, so to speak. So, while you can read this one all by itself, you actually won’t get the full picture unless you read the first two books also. Believe features Harry and Joe from Whisper (as Harry is Rhys brother), and it has Angelo and Dylan from Dream; it also has Marc from Soul to Keep and Efe from the Urban Souls works.
Rhys is at a crossroads. His life has become monotonous and his drug of choice—anonymous sex—just isn’t working to take him out of his head for a while anymore. When we met Rhys in the other books in the series, he seemed like a likable guy, a sex positive guy, but there were hints that all wasn’t right with him. Boy, were those hints right. Growing up in an abusive home has left some deep psychological scars on him. His easygoing nature masks an emotionally introverted man whose shadows often overpower him. The sexual extrovert we see in previous books all of a sudden has new meaning, and all the playing he does is now a cause for worry. Rhys has trouble with the word happy. He’s just not. But he’s trying so hard to move forward and find a place where if he’s not happy, at least he is content. He’s quit the sex club and is trying to be a better brother. He’s joined the air ambulance and is working to make a difference with those he rescues. And then he finds Jevon, a man comfortable in his own skin with a penchant for saving small children all alone in the world, and Rhys finally discovers what he has been searching for—if he will let himself believe.
“…he had no idea what to do with the ever-growing, bone-deep affection he felt every time Jevon crossed his mind. Every time they touched.
Kissed.
More.
I can’t do this.
But I need him.”
I will interject here a comment about Rhys’ past: it was pretty horrific, and you won’t find that explanation in this book. To understand Rhys past and know why he has such deep shadows, you have to get the full story from Harry’s book, Whisper. I wish that the story had been laid out in this book like it was for Harry. We get a vague few sentences, a paragraph at most, about Rhys and Harry’s father and their home life. I feel like Jevon needed to know this about Rhys, because it goes a long way toward explaining who Rhys was before he met Jevon, and the reason he is trying so hard to reinvent himself into a better man when he and Jevon meet. I do understand that this book is about who Rhys is today, though, not who he has been. I just wish it had been explained in greater detail in this book.
Jevon has found a calling, and it is a calling. It’s his life’s work. Being a play therapist and making children smile isn’t just a passion; it is why he gets up every day in internment camps around the globe, puts on a silly hat and let’s children who have been affected by war and genocide just be children for a few stolen days, hours, or minutes. Being bisexual isn’t something he has had the time to explore, but he has always felt that a part of himself was missing and would continue to be unless he owned up to it and learned to embrace it. A chance meeting with a really great guy in a bar leads to his first male sexual encounter, and while Jevon would like to get the guy’s number, he knows that he will be out of the country for an extended time and just doesn’t see how it could work. So, he walks away. Fast forward three months, and Jevon is called in on a tragedy once again. Only he doesn’t expect to see Rhys, who has bonded with a small girl whose story will break your heart. The spark is lit between the two, however, and now it’s about making the time and making the connection. Jevon see’s the shadows in Rhys and his inner therapist can’t help but want to heal him, to make Rhys smile so that it hits his eyes.
This book is a bit of a departure for Leigh in that there are extraneous influences all around our main characters, which keep them occupied and away from each other for good portions of the story. What that means is that when they do get together, it holds a great deal more meaning for the MCs and, by extension, the reader. The sex has a purpose in this book; it pushes the storyline forward with Jevon exploring his newfound bisexuality and Rhys discovering the difference between gratuitous sex and true intimacy with someone he cares for. And absences aside, the chemistry between these two men is there right from the get-go. You feel the connections, the threads that form and that bring them together. Reading about these men and the lives they lead, the weight of the good they are trying to accomplish, invests you in their love story as much as in their lives in general.
It’s hard to confront the realities that these men share. From Syrian refugees to a terror attack in London, Leigh gives us glimpses of these tragedies from the eyes of two men who fictionally live them. Jevon sees firsthand the overwhelming migrant situation in Lesbos, Greece, and Rhys is caught in the Tower of London stabbings. Both men come out of the story stronger and more able to handle the devastation around them because they have the foundation of their relationship to draw strength from.
Can you tell I loved it? I did. This is an insta-love story, but I didn’t even realize that until I reflected on the book after I finished it. I am a big fan of this series, mainly because each of these books has been so different from the one before it. Even though the characters overlap, each of the books has been as individual as the men inside them. That takes talent and Garrett Leigh has that in spades.
Reviewed by Carrie for The Novel Approach
Rhys is at a crossroads. His life has become monotonous and his drug of choice—anonymous sex—just isn’t working to take him out of his head for a while anymore. When we met Rhys in the other books in the series, he seemed like a likable guy, a sex positive guy, but there were hints that all wasn’t right with him. Boy, were those hints right. Growing up in an abusive home has left some deep psychological scars on him. His easygoing nature masks an emotionally introverted man whose shadows often overpower him. The sexual extrovert we see in previous books all of a sudden has new meaning, and all the playing he does is now a cause for worry. Rhys has trouble with the word happy. He’s just not. But he’s trying so hard to move forward and find a place where if he’s not happy, at least he is content. He’s quit the sex club and is trying to be a better brother. He’s joined the air ambulance and is working to make a difference with those he rescues. And then he finds Jevon, a man comfortable in his own skin with a penchant for saving small children all alone in the world, and Rhys finally discovers what he has been searching for—if he will let himself believe.
“…he had no idea what to do with the ever-growing, bone-deep affection he felt every time Jevon crossed his mind. Every time they touched.
Kissed.
More.
I can’t do this.
But I need him.”
I will interject here a comment about Rhys’ past: it was pretty horrific, and you won’t find that explanation in this book. To understand Rhys past and know why he has such deep shadows, you have to get the full story from Harry’s book, Whisper. I wish that the story had been laid out in this book like it was for Harry. We get a vague few sentences, a paragraph at most, about Rhys and Harry’s father and their home life. I feel like Jevon needed to know this about Rhys, because it goes a long way toward explaining who Rhys was before he met Jevon, and the reason he is trying so hard to reinvent himself into a better man when he and Jevon meet. I do understand that this book is about who Rhys is today, though, not who he has been. I just wish it had been explained in greater detail in this book.
Jevon has found a calling, and it is a calling. It’s his life’s work. Being a play therapist and making children smile isn’t just a passion; it is why he gets up every day in internment camps around the globe, puts on a silly hat and let’s children who have been affected by war and genocide just be children for a few stolen days, hours, or minutes. Being bisexual isn’t something he has had the time to explore, but he has always felt that a part of himself was missing and would continue to be unless he owned up to it and learned to embrace it. A chance meeting with a really great guy in a bar leads to his first male sexual encounter, and while Jevon would like to get the guy’s number, he knows that he will be out of the country for an extended time and just doesn’t see how it could work. So, he walks away. Fast forward three months, and Jevon is called in on a tragedy once again. Only he doesn’t expect to see Rhys, who has bonded with a small girl whose story will break your heart. The spark is lit between the two, however, and now it’s about making the time and making the connection. Jevon see’s the shadows in Rhys and his inner therapist can’t help but want to heal him, to make Rhys smile so that it hits his eyes.
This book is a bit of a departure for Leigh in that there are extraneous influences all around our main characters, which keep them occupied and away from each other for good portions of the story. What that means is that when they do get together, it holds a great deal more meaning for the MCs and, by extension, the reader. The sex has a purpose in this book; it pushes the storyline forward with Jevon exploring his newfound bisexuality and Rhys discovering the difference between gratuitous sex and true intimacy with someone he cares for. And absences aside, the chemistry between these two men is there right from the get-go. You feel the connections, the threads that form and that bring them together. Reading about these men and the lives they lead, the weight of the good they are trying to accomplish, invests you in their love story as much as in their lives in general.
It’s hard to confront the realities that these men share. From Syrian refugees to a terror attack in London, Leigh gives us glimpses of these tragedies from the eyes of two men who fictionally live them. Jevon sees firsthand the overwhelming migrant situation in Lesbos, Greece, and Rhys is caught in the Tower of London stabbings. Both men come out of the story stronger and more able to handle the devastation around them because they have the foundation of their relationship to draw strength from.
Can you tell I loved it? I did. This is an insta-love story, but I didn’t even realize that until I reflected on the book after I finished it. I am a big fan of this series, mainly because each of these books has been so different from the one before it. Even though the characters overlap, each of the books has been as individual as the men inside them. That takes talent and Garrett Leigh has that in spades.
Reviewed by Carrie for The Novel Approach