Sarina Bowen

Goodbye Paradise

Most people called it a cult. But for twenty years, Josh and Caleb called it home. In Paradise, there is no television. No fast food. Just long hours of farm work and prayer on a dusty Wyoming ranch, and nights in a crowded bunkhouse. The boys of the Compound are kept far from the sinners' world. But Joshua doesn't need temptation to sin. His whole life, he's wanted his best friend, Caleb. By day they work side by side. Only when Josh closes his eyes at night can they be together the way he craves. It can never be. And his survival depends on keeping his terrible desires secret. Caleb has always protected Josh against the worst of the bullying at the Compound. But he has secrets of his own, and a plan to get away - until it all backfires. Josh finds himself homeless in a world that doesn't want him. Can Caleb find him in time? And will they find a place of safety, where he can admit to Josh how he really feels?

Megan Lowe

I LOVED this book! I love M/M books and i have a fascination with cults so this was like, the best combination ever!
Josh and Caleb are amazing.
Getting to see the world through their eyes was a job well done by Sarina. There were light moments, there were dark moments, there were sad moments, but the love these two have for each other is beautiful. 
I loved seeing how these two developed as well as the touches of Sarina’s humour that’s sprinkled throughout the book.
This book is incredible and one of my favourites, I HIGHLY recommend it!

Find this review and more at 
  kimberlyfaye reads.


I am so glad Sarina decided to release this book again under a new title and her own name! I don’t always pay a lot of attention to author names I’m not familiar with — unless my friends are raving about their books — because I like to make the most out of the reading time I have. This is especially true, I believe, when it comes to M/M books. I’ve enjoyed many. I’ve also tried to read others that just weren’t for me for one reason or another. But, I won’t get into all that here. :) Bottom line is I’m just not likely to pick up M/M books from authors I’m unfamiliar with… and that totally bit me when it came to the original release of this one. (Though, honestly, I don’t really remember seeing it around either.) But I digress. Sarina is one of my favorite authors and I’m always over the moon when my favorites release new titles. And this one? I enjoyed it so, so much!

If you’ve read Sarina’s True North series, Paradise will probably sound familiar. It is, in fact, the place where Zach grew up. As much as I shunned the idea of the cult, just because of what it had done to a character I loved so much, I’ve also been fascinated by the concept. I learned just enough in this book to know that it’s ok to continue to be thoroughly disgusted with the way they treat children and young adults in the Compound. The important part is that Josh and Caleb were able to get out. It was only once they left that they were really able to find themselves and THAT is the part I loved most about this book. Well, that and the romance, naturally.

Josh and Caleb were both wonderful characters. I found them easy to root for, both separately as they leanred about themselves and the outside world and began to grow, and together as the couple they were obviously meant to be. There were a fair few feels along the way as they navigated this thing between them and the new world around them. They weren’t always good feels — darn you, Caleb! — but it all worked out in the end. These two knew each other like no one else and, maybe more importantly, they knew where each other came from and how it shaped them. It made for a solid start to a relationship that I loved watching grow — even when it hurt sometimes.

The secondary characters in this book won my heart just as much as Josh and Caleb did. They were so important to the story and the growth of my favorites, there’s no way I couldn’t love them, too. From the trucker, Washington, who was integral in helping them get to Massachusetts, to Maggie — a fellow former Paradise resident — and her husband, Daniel, it was a big feel-fest all around from me. I doubt we see more of Washington, but I hope Maggie and Daniel (and their adorable family) play a part in the second book in this series.

Goodbye Paradise was a wonderful coming of age book. I fell more in love with the characters with every page I turned. I definitely finished it with a huge smile on my face — and a couple tears in my eyes. I can’t wait to see what Hello Forever, the second book in this series, brings.

I received a copy of this book for free in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

Favorite quotes
I’d come to accept a lot of things about myself, actually. It’s just that I could never speak any of them aloud.

“Every time we touch each other, I feel more certain, not less.”
“Certain of what?”
“Of this. Of living my own life, the way I want to. It isn’t just that it feels good. Although it sure the hell does. It also feels right.”

Lacey

Originally posted at Booklovers For Life

I love anything Sarina Bowen writes, but I have to say I think this is the most adorable M/M romance I’ve ever read. I had all the heart eye emojis while reading Josh and Caleb’s lovely, emotional, heartwarming story. I seriously ADORED this book! If you’re looking for a sweet, unique M/M romance, you’ll definitely need to read Goodbye Paradise!

Josh and Caleb grew up in Paradise, and for the past two decades, they’ve been living in this cult, working as laborers and getting few benefits from it. One perk of the job though, is the fact that Josh can be around his best friend Caleb… and he can long for him from afar. No one can know that Josh has got a crush on his best friend, who’s a guy, because they’ll be sure to kick him out of Paradise and leave him homeless. But that day comes sooner than later when the cult finds little use in Josh anymore. But when Caleb escapes so he can stand by Josh’s side, can they possibly start a new life together from practically nothing?

As they make their way to Massachusetts to find a woman named Maggie who left Paradise years ago and made a home for herself, Josh and Caleb are once again side by side, but now out in the open. It’s here that Caleb finally makes his move and shows Josh that it’s okay to love a man, because he loves Josh back. Despite how much Josh tried to keep his feelings hidden, loving Caleb was as easy as breathing and there was nothing that could stop him from being with the man he’s loved for so long.

I reached up, circling him in my arms, pulling him down beside me. “I love you.” I could say that without guilt. Because loving someone wasn’t a sin. Other things… sure. But love could never be a crime.

I absolutely adored everything about Josh and Caleb’s story. The raw and beautiful love they have for each other was so simple and easy… it was everything surrounding them that made their lives difficult. But these two are nothing if not hardworking and persistent, and even before the end of the novel, I knew Caleb and Josh would survive and thrive in their new lives.

Goodbye Paradise brought out ALL the feels and emotions out of me. My heart honestly couldn’t stop overflowing with happiness over Caleb and Josh’s love for each other. They are absolutely perfect for each other – I can’t imagine a sweeter couple than them! I almost wish this book was longer, because I didn’t want to let go of their story. I loved this book – and I can’t wait for more M/M from Sarina Bowen!

“I’m so hard for you right now. That’s never going to change. Whether I’m stupid or smart, and whether you still love me anymore, or not. I never could help loving you. It’s just the way that I’m wired.”

Thanks to the author for generously providing me an ARC to review.

Quotes are taken from the ARC and are subject to change in the final version.

Amazon Ebook: http://amzn.to/2mOFNgG

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