Un Po' Santi E Un Po' Peccatori (2014) - Plot & Excerpts
Levi Binder is living the good life, or so he thinks. Tending bar in a Miami dive, satisfying his sexual needs in a stream of faceless men, seems like everything is working out just fine. But it takes a back injury to show him that he might just be wrong. Levi is a Mormon, in name only, but when he asks his sister for advice from her physician-husband, he recommends a therapist.Jaime is a therapist seems like a nice guy. He's pretty easy on the eyes. However, he carries with him a troubled past. When his new client, Levi, decides to make him his latest conquest, things don't go quite as planned. To begin with, Jaime has an aversion to just being touched. And that's just the beginning.Levi has nearly lost touch with his family because of his orientation, his job, and his promiscuous lifestyle. As he begins to get to know Jamie, he realizes that maybe there is something wrong with his own life.But before he can help his new friend, he must first learn to see his own mistakes, and part of doing that is to open his eyes to really see others.There are many things that will block the path he is on, wanting to help his friend and bring his family to accept him. He doesn't know yet just how much he already has learned from his family and faith about helping Jaime face his fears.Marie Sexton does a truly excellent job in blending conservative Christian family beliefs with teaching how a middle ground can be found between the two. I didn't feel at any time that there was a lot of doctrine being thrown at me. The whole tone of this book is quite acceptable without being offensive to an enlightened reader. This was such a hard book to read.....my mind is still amuck with all the angst and emotional roller coasters present throughout this one from Marie Sexton. I get that Jamie was abused, I get that any victim of abuse would suffer life long consequences, I even get that it took Jamie a while to actually trust Levi (a.k.a Leviticus **eye roll**) but what I didn't get was why Jamie's character kept feeding his fears and giving his past so much power that it basically overshadowed the whole romance between both him and Levi. The psychological damage of Jamie's character in and of itself was exhausting and even though at some point Levi was able to penetrate some of his illogical fears I felt as though Jamie's character was a bit depressing. If there was any growth or progressive trust between the two, it occurred in very slow increments which was sort of a double edged sword, on one hand it dampened the overall effect of romance and on the other it mirrored the reality of a sexually abused person trying to get their life back. I liked the story don't get me wrong, it was bittersweet, it was both tragic and eventful, both heart warming and gut wrenching, I just wished Jamie wasn't painted as so much of a victim but more of a fighter overcoming his sordid past. Oh and another thing the Mormon practices were just......odd. Levi and his family were just typical and although I felt his pain and sympathized with his plight it was just hard for me to get past the whole religious allusions and assertions, ughh....(could have done without that). All of this to say that yes it was an interesting read (if a bit melancholy and tense) and yes I would recommend it, just read with an open mind people.
What do You think about Un Po' Santi E Un Po' Peccatori (2014)?
Perfectly fine read. Nothing to really dislike, I just didn't connect all that much for some reason. I liked Jaime, had a harder time liking Levi at first (no means no, not convince me). But he acknowledge what he did was wrong (even if for the wrong reasons) and apologized so it became a non-issue. I didn't like Levi's family, I don't subscribe to the notion of putting up with horrible people because they're "family". And his family was horrible. Even the ones supposedly "on his side". Struggled with the religion aspect, it had it's good points, but it also had a lot of bad points that as a non-believer of any religion it's hard to reconcile with.
—Hannah
Perfectly fine read. Nothing to really dislike, I just didn't connect all that much for some reason. I liked Jaime, had a harder time liking Levi at first (no means no, not convince me). But he acknowledge what he did was wrong (even if for the wrong reasons) and apologized so it became a non-issue. I didn't like Levi's family, I don't subscribe to the notion of putting up with horrible people because they're "family". And his family was horrible. Even the ones supposedly "on his side". Struggled with the religion aspect, it had it's good points, but it also had a lot of bad points that as a non-believer of any religion it's hard to reconcile with.
—kim
Nice romance story if a little predictable. Good writing. I enjoyed the story.
—Sharluvvagirl
