This book introduces even more characters that become part of the family, Jeff and Collin met years ago. When Collin found out he was HIV positive, Jeff was there to offer his support. Collin never forgot that moment, he's had a crush on Jeff for years, so when he finally gets the chance to meet him and talk to him he takes it. The timing isnt the best, Jeff's ex had died, leaving his younger brother who is very curious about Jeff and the secret life his brother led. This was a really good story, Deacon and Crick go through their own health scare, but their whole family pull together for them. Collin is so stubborn, he's not going to give up on Jeff, which makes Jeff crazy LOL. Really good read, I have to say though I dont understand the authors need to use uncommon words for common things. She called a hair braid a queue, which I've never heard it called before, I dont like having to look up words to understand the story. But other than that I love this series. I debated whether to give Living Promises 1, 2, or 3 stars. But ultimately, I like the idea of the book much more than the actual book. So at best, 1 and a half stars. The concept of this book is great: Jeff is a HIV+ physical therapist who reads like a grown-up Blaine from Glee. Jeff is blindsided by his ex-lover's family, a hot young new love interest, Collin, and a friend's illness all of the same time. I liked both Jeff and Collin and there was plenty of drama to fill out the book. The problem is the way race is handled in the book. Jeff's ex-lover and first love, Keith, is black and Jeff's interactions with him and Keith's baby brother Martin, were sometimes painful to read. Jeff's nickname for Keith is GI-Black-Man. Yes, really. At one point Jeff and Collin--both white--joke about using Martin for slave labor. Martin, a surly teenager from Georgia does not object. That would certainly be unlikely in real life. Amy Lane also has characters make all sorts of assumptions about blacks in Georgia that she presents as obvious truths: their overwhelmingly straightness, for one. She has her main Southern characters, Andrew, Lucas, Martin, seem to inhabit a South from at least two decades ago. Andrew, in particular, has the speech mannerisms of someone from 1962. Georgia actually has nearly the same percentage of same-sex couples as California, most of whom are black. Keith's conservative family may have still thoroughly disapproved of gay people, but they would be unlikely to be as totally unfamiliar with their existence as is presented in this book. Still, I like Amy Lane and I appreciate her including so many characters of color in this series, even if her representations of them can be clumsy and unrealistic. This might be a 2 star book if not for the weird weight bias stuff. One of the secondary characters, Jeff's patient and friend Margie, is fat. Despite the fact that her injuries are caused by a traumatic accident and not her size, Jeff thinks that lap-band surgery and losing weight will improve her neck injury. This makes little medical sense and is obnoxious. The rest of the book periodically revisits Margie's surgery and weight loss, blanketing her witty and acerbic personality with a boring weight loss treatise that I would suggest just skipping over. Margie's story was an opportunity to show an interesting, fully-realized fat character with a life, friends etc. Instead, Lane reduces her to nothing but her weight, and turns her into a teary, uncertain woman dependent on Jeff for approval. 1 star.
