Words cannot express what I'm feeling right now, having just completed Kaje Harper's Into Deep Waters. This is a love story for the ages. If you know anyone who says they don't quite "get" marriage equality, this should be required reading. Actually, it should be required reading for being human and teaching empathy.
Daniel and Jacob aren't your usual gorgeous gay romance stars. They are average guys. In fact, although this is the most romantic book I've read in years, it's not "romance" as we're used to in guy meets guy, guy falls in love, has HEA or HFN. This is the story of two young Navy enlisted men who meet when they must hide what they mean to each other or risk court martial or the weight of the law. Two men whose commitment to each other knows no bounds.
A gifted author can make you feel for the characters, but a truly gifted author can make you believe these characters are real, and even now living in New Jersey, still in love, still taking tender care of each other. Kaje Harper is that author.
In ways, our protagonists are real, as reflected in real-life stories we read when we were still fighting for marriage equality. Stories of men and women who'd built entire lives together, but weren't granted the same rights as their neighbors.
To say this story touched my heart is a huge understatement. I am a voracious reader, consuming several books a week, and while I love so many of them, if I could pick one book I'd hope everyone would read, it's Into Deep Waters. Ye gods! The feels!
And you want to know the real kicker? This book is free. Absolutely, 100% free in e-book form. It's even a Rainbow Award Winner for best gay historical. I enjoyed this tale in audiobook format, and the narrator did an excellent job of capturing these characters.
Get your copy, and get ready to fall in love.
I simply cannot recommend this book highly enough.
For Jacob and Daniel, two young gay men aboard a Navy ship in WWII, the risks were high. Not just the risks of injury and death from Japanese planes and submarines, but the risk of discovery, of discharge, imprisonment or worse. Only a special kind of love was worth taking that chance. But from the moment Daniel met Jacob's eyes across a battle-scarred deck, he knew he had to try.
Being together required figuring out what it meant to be gay and in love with another man, in an era when they could be jailed or committed for admitting the desires of their hearts. On a ship at war, their relationship was measured in stolen moments and rare days of precious leave, with no guarantees there would be a tomorrow. And if they survived the war, they would need even more luck to keep their love alive through all the years to come.
This story was written for a photo and story request letter as part of the Goodreads M/M Romance Love is Always Write event.
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