A Private Affair ( 1st Book of a Trilogy)

*** Spoiler Alert ***A Private Affair is Mr. Mike Warren's debut novel which chronicles the awakening sexuality of private Sean Matthews and it is a page turner. Drama, lies and infidelity abound, the story of Sean Matthews is both engrossing and troubling. Mr. Warren does a good job crafting a complex, multi-dimensional character who just can't keep it in his pants. While there are a number of issues I have with the story, I am rating this novel 4/5 stars. This rating is largely based on the fact that I could not put the book down until I finished it and I definitely plan on reading the sequel, Sweet Swagger.The Good...The protagonist, Sean Matthews, was as authentic as any character could be. He wasn't the hero or the villain. He was a man who was dealing with his own personal demons in a world that frowns on bisexuality. Sean considered himself a religious man, often praying for forgiveness and asking for strength from God, but he, like the divorced pastor he had a sexual rendezvous with, was but a sinner. As much as he wanted to do the right thing and be the husband his wife, Venus deserved and the father his son needed, it is difficult to not see that Sean married way too early. He didn't have time to figure out who he was and what he wanted.Sean's journey of self-discovery is the primary plot of this novel. That journey is made increasingly difficult because of his self-diagnosed addiction to sex and the fact that he married at 23 when he and his girlfriend got pregnant. So, instead of figuring out what he wanted on his own, he has the baggage of responsibility on his back. It makes for great drama and suspense.Sean sees himself as a heterosexual man who is increasingly sexually frustrated by a wife, who he suspects and finds out is cheating on him, who refuses to engage him in the bedroom. This, coupled with the fact that he is paired with the ever flamboyant Cameron in the barracks, sets the stage for him to open himself up to a host of sexual experiences with men. While Sean says he simply wanted to see what it felt like to bust while receiving head as a reason to allow a man to deal with him sexually, Mr. Warren makes the character acknowledge his sexual attraction to the aggressiveness of another man.The Bad...There were a number of plot threads that possibly could have been developed more. There were moments where I was left wanting more. Mr. Warren could have possibly done some more introspection since the novel was written in first-person from the perspective of Sean Matthews. A chapter or two about his developing sexual attraction to men or his struggle with his faith or even his issues with not being the man to his wife and son would have sufficed. These elements were present but lacked continuity.While it seemed somewhat obvious that Sean and Cameron would end up together and the primary plot of Sean's self-discovery was satisfied, there was no transition from the friendship status to the lover status. Sure, there was a sex scene during a drunken encounter between the two, but aside from that point, Sean had only thought of Cameron as friend and little brother. Once again, I personally thought some introspection on Sean's part would have worked well but in the end it did work.The book end with a couple of major developments. The marriage scene seemed a bit cliché to me but it still had me wide eyed and saying "oh my God." So it worked. The conclusion to the drama with Dule Thomas seemed rushed, much like the last two or three chapter in the novel. The ending leaves room for an interesting sequel but I feel like it could have been developed more and left a more appealing taste to whet the appetite of readers to seek out the next installment. But once again, I will be reading Sweet Swagger so Mr. Warren did something right.The Ugly...This novel is not for everyone. That much is clear. There will be readers who have issues with the fact that folks are having sex without protection. I didn't have an issue with this since it is likely a reflection of reality in Mr. Warren's mind. But I do think a disclaimer would be appropriate since this is a "contemporary" novel. Unless, like most contemporary novels that have characters having sex with numerous partners without protection, there is a STD plot thread that arises.Something that bothered me was the violence in the novel. Violence in and of itself is not an issue in fiction for me, especially when it adds depth to a character. But there lacked balance. Cameron was raped by Dule Thomas and Sean in turn raped Dule to get revenge for his friend. The err of this was summed up by a simple prayer. Also, the violence of Sean towards Venus was troubling. I'm sure that many young couples dealing with the issues that these two are dealing with in the story slip and result to violence. This plot in the story is a reflection of reality. My issue was simply that there was no moment where a character addressed this domestic violence. A conversation between Sean and his mother, maybe her detailing her experience with violence from men, would have sufficed. The violence makes Sean more authentic, but the issue of violence overall could have been handled differently.ConclusionA Private Affair is a solid read. No book can be everything to everyone but I sincerely believe that Mr. Warren wrote a book as honest and truthfully as he could. For that I thank him and say I look forward to more from him.

I just finish reading Mark Warren's A Private Affair. It was a serious page turner and I read the book all in one day. Sean's struggle at accepting his sexuality was honest and highly believable. Here's a man for the most part firmly believed he was straight his entire life and then suddenly thanks to his unexpected friendship with Cameron, he discovered himself entering into a world he never expected to be in. Warren could have given us more depth and insight to Sean's struggle but it was enough there to keep you involved as unexpected twist and turns continued happening in Sean's life. It was a little melodramatic at times but you do get the sense Warren knew what he was doing. Sean is a highly sexual animal - with an incredible muscular body and huge "manhood" - and the many sex scenes he's involved in were wonderfully graphic and hot to read. Sean is one serious STUD. And Warren gave us a cliffhanger at the end of the story that will have the reader on the edge of your seat.My major problem with the story is Sean's extreme violence...especially towards his wife Venus. He physically abuse, slap, shove and hit his wife repeatedly throughout the story and the thing that's so disturbing it's never examine. If anything it's treated as being normal, a state of fact, no big deal. Yeah Sean beats up on his wife, so what? That type of attitude I found seriously disturbing. At one point towards the end of the story, Sean was hitting her and she's several months pregnant. Venus is no saint, but many of the things she did in the story, Sean was doing the very same thing from nearly the first page. But regardless at what Venus did, no woman deserves violence thrown at her, certainly not to the extreme in which Sean went after her. It made Sean a rather unsympathetic character at times. In fact there were plenty of times in which Sean behaved like a complete jerk to many of the other characters in the story. He gets angry with them for doing things in which he was doing the exact same thing. He's definitely a character that has hypocrite written all over him.And yet Sean remains an interesting and fascinating character. Despite his many flaws you still feel for him. Certainly enough to purchase the sequel.

This book had 3 connections I like to read about and it did not disapoint. I didn't realize there would be SO much sex in it. Seems like 40% of the book, but Sean keeps awfully busy with so many men after he decides he likes it. (Hate to give the book away).The thing that really confused me though was the religious element. Sean is portrayed as a Christian, yet it seemed in name only. I hope this isn't indicative of the way church going black brothas really act...because I was disappointed in the infidelity, adultery, cursing, foul language, fighting, cruelty, lying and general lack of any morals. And then he'd pray. ? ? ? The author only makes Sean doubt himself or question but for a moment and then he plunges into whatever sexual situation he wants. There didn't seem to be a honest desire for a Christian walk. But then again, this was fiction. But I do hope it isn't the typical walk for DL or gay black men. The personal relationship with Jesus is more important than the activities. Even if it IS the minister! Gotta joke a little bit I suppose.

I did enjoy aspects of this book, including the overall premise of new army recruits as the basis for gay erotica. However, I found some aspects of the plot and character development very unbelievable. Particularly the character of Cameron, whom seem to undergo radical change throughout the book with no explanation of why this was occurring. It appeared that the author had decided on the cliff-hanger at the end of the book and didn't quite know how to achieve this with the characters he had developed at the start. Also, the main protagonist, Sean, seems to have never had any man come on to him before joining the army, then all of a sudden almost very man he meets, he ends up sleeping with. While I appreciate that this is gay erotica and there needs to be regular sex scenes, it leads to an overall sense of unbelievability which implies that all men in the army are on the DL.I wouldn't say that these were big issues, but just enough to be annoying. Therefore, I am unsure if I will continue with this series.