Well With My Soul by Gregory G. Allen (Contains Spoilers)

Jacob and Noah Garrett are brothers harboring a lifelong resentment towards each other while dealing with their own compulsive obsessions. One is a liberal gay man who forsakes his family and moves to New York City from Tennessee where he travels deep into a labyrinth of sex and drugs while fighting the fear over his homosexuality. The other is a southern conservative who is left at home holding the proverbial family bag. The story follows their loosely intertwined lives through the wild times of the late seventies and the restraint of the Reagan years in which one brother ends up becoming a minister and preaching his doctrine while the other believes there are some things people are born with and not meant to change. Well with My Soul is told through the perspective of both brothers and shows how misguided choices can drastically affect those around you for years to come; and family may be all that one has when looking for peace to stifle the embers that smolder beneath the surface.
Goodreads Summary

Noah and Jacob are brothers, but they couldn't be more different.  Jacob is gay and decides to move to New York with his boyfriend, Gary.  He ends up pursuing a modelling career.  Unfortunately, the allure of the city leads Jacob to indulge in alcohol, drugs, and unprotected sex.  He goes to rehab and emerges...very different.  He becomes a minister and marries, having children.  However, there is the undertone of deceit about this whole arrangement throughout the book.  In a horrible twist of fate, Jacob discovers has has AIDS, which he has transmitted to his wife. 

Noah, on the other hand, stayed in their small town.  He stays until his mother dies and then leaves on the wave of his successful writing career to go to New York.  He is newly married when he finds out about Jacob.  The story takes off from here.

The reader will become involved in this book, the characters can make the reader want to throttle them or try to make them make a new decision.  The characters are also well-developed, the author lets the reader into their minds.  The events are quick, years fly by.  The ending is somewhat expected, but satisfying in some ways.  This book is recommended to adults.

4 Stars

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