Always Faithful by William Neale

So it's Sunday and Sid has gone back to Texas, I am doing laundry and getting ready for the week ahead. So as life gets back to normal it was nice to visit old friends. William Neale is back with the follow up to A New Normal and as excited as I was to read more about Mark and Cade when I read the blurb I was a little scared too. Always Faithful tells the story of what happens after the fairy-tale ends and real life begins.

When Cade and Mark said their vows it was for always and forever. But that was before Mark entered the Marine Corps and before Cade enrolled in college. Four years later, with Mark's impending discharge and Cade's graduation, they're seemingly ready to finally have a long-awaited life together. Their hot and passionate attraction to each other remains as strong as ever. But their long separation has changed both men. And even the strongest of marriages can be threatened by temptation, suspicion, and broken promises. Can their love survive? Or, will they discover that "always" does not always mean faithful?

I am a fan of Mr. Neale's writing for two reasons; his characters read so real and come to life in my mind and I come away from his books believing in love.

This story picks up four years after A New Normal with Cade about to graduate from college and Mark about to end his stint in the Marines. Mark has a secret that he needs to tell Cade, but he wants to wait until after Cade's graduation. Instead of coming home to begin a new life as a civilian, Mark has re-upped for another four years. Cade sees this as a betrayal of what Mark promised and doesn't understand why Mark would do something of this magnitude without discussing it with him first. Cade is not sure he can get past the hurt and feels this may be the end of their marraige.

Things aren't much better for Jake and Grant. Mark's father, Jake has been spending too much time at work and taking his relationship with Grant for granted. After Jake misses an important moment in Grant's life, Grant decides that maybe their second chance just wasn't meant to be.

Ok let me just say that I wanted to crawl inside this book and smack Mark upside the head. I could not believe that he would make that kind of decision without discussing it with Cade first. My heart hurt for Cade and the betrayal that he felt. Some one needs to pull both those Vincenzo men to the side and shake some sense into them. Which brings us to what I felt was the crux of this book. Falling in love is easy....staying in love takes a lot of work! This book brings home that fact and could be anyone in today's world. Mr. Neale once again creates a great story and a beautiful romance with character's that are flawed but love with all their hearts. I for one cannot wait for the next story in this series and love that fact that we have cross-over character's from the Home series.

If you are looking for a book that has the best things about romance books but feels so real it could be happening to your best friend, then pick up Always Faithful and make some new friends.

RATING: 5 Chocolate-Dipped Strawberries.