5/5 Review: Faith and Fidelity by Tere Michaels

Reeling from the recent death of his wife, police officer Evan Cerelli looks at his four children and can only see how he fails them. His loving wife was the caretaker and nurturer, and now the single father feels himself being crushed by the pain of loss and the heavy responsibility of raising his kids.

At the urging of his partner, Evan celebrates a coworker’s retirement and meets disgraced former cop turned security consultant Matt Haight. A friendship born out of loneliness and the solace of the bottle turns out to be exactly what they both need.

The past year has been a slow death for Matt Haight. Ostracized from his beloved police force, facing middle age and perpetual loneliness, Matt sees only a black hole where his future should be. When he discovers another lost soul in Evan, some of the pieces he thought he lost start to fall back in place. Their friendship turns into something deeper, but love is the last thing either man expected, and both of them struggle to reconcile their new and overwhelming feelings for one another. 

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Tere Michaels’ Faith & Fidelity is the first in a series of books.  This book is full of emotion and made me want to cry from the first page.  Detective Evan Cerelli lost his wife to a car accident and did not know how to continue living, even though he knew he had to take care of his children.  Evan shut down his emotions thinking that it was the only way to survive day to day without his wife.  He became a shadow of himself and everyone who knew him was very worried.  He went to a retirement party for a fellow detective and that is where he met Matt Haight.  Evan recognized the same loneliness that he was feeling and felt a need to reach out and connect with someone.  Matt was at a point in his life where everything felt like junk.  He felt that he was punished for doing the right thing, when he turned in dirty cops.  He was demoted to beat cop and so he left the force instead.  He is at lowest point, where missing a drink gave him shaking hands and sweating.  The friendship that forms between Evan and Matt becomes their lifeline in life.  They come to depend on each other for support as things happen in their lives.  Evan and Matt’s relationship progresses from one of friendship to one of love without either of them even noticing that it happened.  Matt finally felt that he was part of something that is good, he loved being around Evan’s kids and he got to experience the love a real family.  Which is why when Evan tells him that he can’t continue to be with him, it tears him up and almost sends him back to rock bottom.  Matt and Evan need to deal with their emotions and to get their lives together before they can actually come together as a unit.  Evan and Matt work out their issues and the way the book leaves it is as a happy for now, but very well done.   I am so glad that I began to read this series and look forward to the rest of the books in the Faith, Love, and Devotion series.