Author: A.M. Arthur
Publisher: Samhain Publishing
Pages/Word Count: 253 Pages
At a Glance: A.M. Arthur delivers another punch to the heart with this one, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series.
Reviewed By: Carrie
Blurb: Love can slip through the smallest crack in the door.
While most of his friends have moved on to “real” careers, Jon Buchanan is content skating through life as a part-time waiter and gay porn star. Firmly single thanks to a previous relationship disaster, he focuses his spare time on Henry, a dear friend dying of cancer.
And with Henry’s happiness paramount, Jon is on a mission to help Henry meet his recently discovered grandson.
Isaac Gregory hasn’t set foot outside for the past year. He has everything he needs delivered, and his remaining family knows better than to visit. When a complete stranger shows up claiming to be his grandfather—with a distractingly handsome younger man in tow—his carefully structured routines are shaken.
Despite his instant attraction, Jon senses Isaac is too fragile for a relationship. Yet tentative friendship grows into genuine companionship. And when Henry’s health begins to fail, they realize Fate brought them together for a reason.
Product Warnings: Product contains a neurotic porn star with body image issues, a virgin hero with severe agoraphobia, and a fluffy ball of gray cuteness you’ll want to take home and cuddle. Also contains references to past abuse some readers might find disturbing.
Review: The Heart As He Hears It is book three in the Perspectives series and a great addition to the set. This is truly a fantastic series of books, each touching on love, tragedy and disability. The books are all story driven, with intense plots and well developed deep characters that have real connections with the secondary characters around them.
Jon Buchanan works as a waiter and a gay porn star. Left reeling from an abusive relationship, he struggles with anorexia and poor self-esteem. Stability keeps him on track, focused and healthy. Henry is Jon’s constant, the father figure that took the place of Jon’s real father when his family asked him to leave—and Henry is dying of cancer. Henry has also just found out that he has a grandson, family from a son he never knew he had, and Henry needs to make a connection with said grandson before he dies. Jon would do anything for Henry, including tracking down an elusive, almost reclusive, man who doesn’t seem to want to be found. Jon is an incredibly down-to-earth character; he is mature, knows his own faults, and would do anything for those he loves.
Isaac is twenty-two and a total shut in. Surviving a severely abusive childhood has left him suffering from extreme agoraphobia—he cannot even open the front door without passing out from the stress. He owns no phone, orders groceries online, and has no contact with anyone, not even the family he has left. Everything about his day is ordered and predictable. It is how he copes with being alive…until his aunt brings a man named Henry who claims to be his grandfather into his life (the father of the man who abused him) and Henry’s friend, Jon.
Jon had no use for terms like “love at first sight” or “insta-love.” Feeling a connection to a near-stranger that nothing rational could explain and was more than simple physical attraction. Instant connection and an urgent desire to touch and know everything there was to know about someone? Myth. Until now. Until Isaac.
This isn’t an insta-love book. It can’t be. That would be totally out of character for these men. Instead, A.M. Arthur gives us a slow buildup, with just the right light touch to make the progression of the relationship between these two men totally believable. Both men have serious issues, and they are treated with respect and woven into their relationship in ways that make the connection stronger between the two. Oh, and there’s this cat, goes by the name of bear and is the cuddliest thing you will read about, probably ever.
The books in the Perspectives series are sensual reads; they are plot driven and chock full of pure romance. These books unfold, and as Henry dies and Jon and Isaac become closer, we are treated to another emotional journey in this series. And the ending, on the beach… too many feels… too many feels! A.M. Arthur delivers another punch to the heart with this one, and I cannot wait for the next book in the series. If I had it I would read it today. Each book in the Perspectives series stands on its own, but I recommend all the books, as the characters do overlap and know each other and interact in each other’s lives.
I highly recommend this book!
You can buy The Heart As He Hears It here:
[zilla_button url=”https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5775/the-heart-as-he-hears-it” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Samhain Publishing [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://amzn.to/1SoCAiK” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon US [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”http://authl.it/B017XDICZG?d” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon Int’l [/zilla_button][zilla_button url=”https://www.allromanceebooks.com/product-theheartashehearsit-1970374-149.html” style=”blue” size=”medium” type=”round” target=”_blank”] All Romance eBooks [/zilla_button]
The Novel Approach Reviews 
Leave a Reply