Xavier’s Way by Diana DeRicci

[reviews_and_ramblings]

This is the first romance I read by Diana DeRicci, even if I knew that under her other pen-name of Diana Castilleja she has a following in the het romances field. There is one thing that I liked of this story and another one that I’m not sure: what I liked is the starting point of everything, a fiscal fraud. That is not so common in fiction and instead a way too common, and even simple crime to commit.

Xavier De Los Santos is a construction business owner with a money problem: his ex-fiancé, who was also his accountant, left him without liquidity and with a bad reputation with vendors. Xavier is pretty much sure that the woman is behind his money issues and he hires Jordan Belten to investigate his papers. Jordan is gay and immediately attract to Xavier, but other than being a professional, he doesn’t want to give the wrong impression to a straight guy, and so he takes his attraction for himself.

That is probably the point I’m not sure I liked so much: basically Xavier was bi-curious when he was in high-school, and he experimented with a good friend (who was instead openly gay); after their light experimentations, nothing really involving, Xavier decided he was not gay and that he preferred women. Ten years later his ex-fiancé dumped him, not only without a dime in his pocket, but also with the bitter advice that he has probably to reconsider his being straight. Now if Xavier had never had a doubt, he could have laughed it off like the cruel words of a vindictive woman, but since we, and he, knew different, I would have at least considered it twice.

Xavier instead is stubbornly claiming he is not gay, sometime with a vehemence that, if I was his best friend Nicky (gay and the once who experimented with him), I would have kicked him off my house instead of welcoming him. And even if not Nicky, at least Jordan, who has to listen to the “straight” theory even after their first time together.

To sum up? Xavier is probably a realistic character, but not really a strong or clever man; he is actually a common example of a man who was able to do something good in his life, building a business from scratch, but that is not yet fully developed on an emotional level. At more or less 27-28 years old (he experimented 10 years before when he was a teenager…) he is still at that level other men usually reach at the end of their teenager years.

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Amazon Kindle: Xavier's Way
Publisher: Etopia Press (December 14, 2010)

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