CBR18 Bingo: Right – When family secrets are revealed, no one gets to claim that there is one right way to be: what love should look like, what makes a family unit the “right” kind, etc..
Sky is home for his father’s funeral. Throughout Sky’s life, his father treated him with contempt and disgust. Sky grieves the loss of his parent and that they can never reconcile. When he came out to his parents in his teens, his mother barely reacted, which was on brand with her frigid personality. Sky’s father was disgusted. As soon as school ended, Sky moved to New York and only came home for the holidays.
At his father’s funeral, Sky is drunk and distraught. When his sister Sarina’s best friend, Mason, helps get him home, they drunkenly make out. Sky always had a crush on Mason but never thought Mason was gay or even bi. He wakes up mortified and returns to New York immediately despite his mother and sister’s insistence he stay.
Mason doesn’t know what came over him. He always had a crush on Sky. But Sky was his best friend’s brother. Mason is closeted as he still lives in his hometown, but Sarina knows his secret. The day after the funeral, Mason is reckoning with his encounter with Sky when Sarina confesses to him that she is pregnant and no one can ever know the identity of the child’s father as it would cause a major scandal and ruin many people’s lives. To help his best friend and reclaim his grip on his sanity, Mason proposes to Sarina. Nine months later, baby Sam is born and no one is the wiser.
When Sky learns that his sister is engaged to Mason, he is beyond confused. To start with, he never knew that his sister or Mason had any romantic feelings toward one another. Additionally, Mason proposed to Sarina the day after he kissed Sky. Sky is angry because he doesn’t know what Mason is doing. He returns to New York and swears off his family, including his sister.
Sky is able to move past some of his fears when baby Sam is born and he sees that Mason is a a dedicated and loving father. Sarina begs Sky to visit more often, but Sky keeps a safe distance, only visiting on holidays and sending birthday gifts to Sam each year.
When his father’s best friend, Lance, passes away, Sky is persuaded to return home for the funeral. Despite only having minimal interaction with Mason for years, Sky is just as infatuated with Mason as he was when they were teenagers. Mason eventually confesses why he married Sarina, and Sarina finally explains to Sky who the father of her child is. She and Mason live together and are raising Sam together, both for the stability as Mason is the newly elected town mayor, and because both Sarina and Mason are queer.
This book was a wild ride. With all of the subterfuge and family secrets and secret hookups between Sky and Mason, I expected something much spicier. Instead, it reads like a typical daytime soap opera. I ended up skimming the second half of the book when I realized the bulk of the plot was going to take me down a bizarro path of secret lovers, secret children, open marriages, and beard situations. It wasn’t bad. It just wasn’t what I was interested in.
But look at that GORGEOUS cover!
CW for cheating and emotionally abusive parenting of adult children.
