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K.C. Wells
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Truth & Betrayal (Southern Boys Book 1) Kindle Edition

by K.C. Wells (Author), Meredith Russell (Illustrator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 438 ratings
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Jake Greenwood thought losing his older brother Caleb in a traffic accident was enough to change him forever. But when the driver turns up at the funeral, Jake now has a target for all the rage inside him. Because the man responsible for stealing Caleb’s light from the world has no right to intrude on their grief.

Jake’s right about one thing—Caleb’s death changes everything, but not in a way he expects. When he goes to Atlanta to collect Caleb’s things, Jake’s world is turned upside down as he makes a shocking discovery.

Caleb had a secret. The same secret Jake is hiding from everyone who knows him.

Well—almost everyone.

But now he wants answers, and there’s only one person who can provide them.



Liam Miller knew deep down he’d get a hostile reception at Caleb’s funeral—Caleb had told him more than once that a black man in that town was always going to stand out—but he can’t stay away. He has to say goodbye. Caleb’s family know nothing about his life in Atlanta, so maybe it’s better that his secrets die with him.

What he hadn’t counted on was Caleb’s brother Jake, turning up in Atlanta—and asking for Caleb’s laptop. Because Liam has a good idea what Jake will find.

Maybe it’s time Jake learns he’s not the only one who’s hurting.



Jake’s not sure how it happened, but he’s gained a friend, a link to Caleb’s other life. What he hadn’t counted on was just how much he’d come to rely on Liam—how much Jake is attracted to him.

Liam can see where things are leading and he fights it. Because any way he looks at it, this is wrong. Except he’s about to learn Jake is as stubborn as his brother, and then some. Suddenly they’re way past the point of no return, and Liam knows in his gut they are heading for a shitstorm of epic proportions.



Truth & Betrayal is a slow-burn, painful, yet inspirational story of love, loss, and coming of age that will have you crying, laughing, and rooting for two men whose romance has potential pitfalls in every direction. It’s a story of grief and goodbyes, loss and restoration, discovery, firsts, lasts, and above all, a love that’s bewildering, unexpected, and so very strong and true.


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  1. Book 1 of 3
    Southern Boys
  2. Print length
    413 pages
  3. Language
    English
  4. Sticky notes
    On Kindle Scribe
  5. Publication date
    August 3, 2018
  6. File size
    1430 KB
  7. Page Flip
    Enabled
  8. Word Wise
    Enabled
  9. Enhanced typesetting
    Enabled
  10. See all details
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Editorial Reviews

Review

"This book was sooo beautiful! The feels... OH THE FEELS!!!"

"If you want a layered story that will have you crying, laughing, cringing and rooting for two MCs whose romance has potential pitfalls in every direction, I suggest you snap this book up right away."

"Truth and Betrayal is the book to read if you want to completely lose yourself in a world filled with emotions. If you like stories and characters that will stay with you for a long time after you've closed your reader/paperback, you need to pick this one up. Be prepared to start with tears. It's not impossible you'll end with tears too, but those will be of a completely different nature."

"I believe this story is the best KC Wells has written, to date. I have my favorites as I've read almost all of her work, but this touched my heart in a special way. I don't recall being so captivated by a story in a long time. It's the love that shines through here--love for a brother, a lover, a parent, a family, a friend, and more. I suppose I could go on and on, and I could go into detail about Jake's discovery of love and Liam's discovery of the kind of love that lasts a lifetime, but it's best if I leave the details for the next reader. And I hope there are many. This is a story that deserves to be shared. And it's most definitely going on my Best of 2018 list."

"There's grief in this book, painful goodbyes of the forever kind, but don't let that scare you off. Because then there's love, bewildering and quite unexpected, but so true and strong it's inspirational.
I'm just so happy to have read this. This one's a keeper!"

"Truth and betrayal is a story of so many things: loss and restoration; anger and forgiveness, discovery, firsts, lasts, and of course love. The chapters unfold like the petals of a new rose, each bringing a new revelation, trial, tribulation and discovery from chapter one to the epilogue.
In true K.C. Wells fashion you will laugh, cry, scream and cheer with these characters as each is revealed, and you are immersed in their contribution to this amazing telling of life and love."

"I loved everything about this book. I don't want to give anything away so I'm just going to say this is simply some kick ass story telling."

"This was a book unlike any I've come across and read this past year. This story will stick with me for a long time to come. Even now, I think back about what I've read and I want to go back and read and experience it all over again. And what an experience! With flawless writing, characters that pull you in and a story that won't let you go. It was a slow burn romance and it never felt like it was rushed. The characters go through various situations and at one point I had a lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. Not much can get so much emotion out of me like this book does.
My best advice would be to read it and see why this may be the best book you've ever read."

About the Author

K.C. Wells started writing in 2012, although the idea of writing a novel had been in her head since she was a child. But after reading that first gay romance in 2009, she was hooked. She now writes full time, and the line of men in her head, clamouring to tell their story, is getting longer and longer. If the frequent visits by plot bunnies are anything to go by, that's not about to change anytime soon. If you want to follow her exploits, you can sign up for her monthly newsletter: http: //eepurl.com/cNKHlT

Product details

  • ASIN ‏ : ‎ B07G1BWKXF
  • Publisher ‏ : ‎ ; 1st edition (August 3, 2018)
  • Publication date ‏ : ‎ August 3, 2018
  • Language ‏ : ‎ English
  • File size ‏ : ‎ 1430 KB
  • Simultaneous device usage ‏ : ‎ Unlimited
  • Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
  • Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
  • Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
  • Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
  • Print length ‏ : ‎ 413 pages
  • Customer Reviews:
    4.4 4.4 out of 5 stars 438 ratings

About the author

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K.C. Wells

K.C. Wells

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K.C. Wells lives on an island off the south coast of the UK, surrounded by natural beauty. She writes about men who love men, because not to write would be unacceptable.

The rainbow rose tattooed on her back with the words 'Love is Love' and 'Love Wins' is her way of hoisting a flag. She plans to be writing about love - be it sweet, slow, hot or kinky - for a long while to come.

Customer reviews

4.4 out of 5 stars
4.4 out of 5
438 global ratings

Top reviews from the United States

Sylvie
5.0 out of 5 stars One of K.C. Wells' Best!
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2018
Verified Purchase
As usual, with a book I love, words fail me when it comes time to leave a review! I'll just say that I adored the main characters, Jake and Liam, and their emotional journey.
Truth and Betrayal had me in tears for the first couple of chapters, and for the last couple of chapters as well. Fortunately, the second bout of tears were happy ones!
Truth and Betrayal is not currently part of a series (although the author promises a sequel!!) and it's not a spin-off of any of her other series. It is a complete novel with two compelling main characters, lots of supporting characters, and a very happy ending, so read and enjoy. And prepare for lots of FEELS!!
2 people found this helpful
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Zealot1958
4.0 out of 5 stars This Pains Me
Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
It pains me more than I can say not giving this a full stars review. Being a great fan of K.C. Wells for a few years I was excited to find this new book which appears to be part of a 2-3 book series, if not more. As usual the story is interesting and provocative, centering around a 19 year old Jake discovering his older brother Caleb was involved romantically with Liam, an attractive African-American who also happened to be driving the car when a tragic accident takes Caleb’s life. The coming out and emergence of Jake into his gay identity is done well. The honest depiction of racism in small southern towns and fear about trying to come out to religious parents is also tackled pretty fearlessly. Now for my beefs with the book. First, Liam’s speech idioms seem out of touch with his family background and education. It may be that I was running together the interchanges between Jake (for whom those speech patterns and word slurs seem more appropriate) and Liam — so if I’m mistaken about Liam speaking in that same manner I’ll happily stand corrected. My biggest beef however, is with the discussion between Liam and Jake concerning PrEp, condoms and the realities of sex when gay men are involved. I’m not a prude by any means. But the discussion about not using condoms when you’re on PrEp or stopping PrEp because you’re in a committed relationship (as contained in the book and in a post-Epilogue section), are exactly why so many people in our community continue to become infected with STIs (including some there are no treatments for). If you’re going to honestly discuss the realities of sex in 2018 then you cannot ignore that people lie about their status (if they know it at all) and about having sex outside their relationships. It’s how a great deal of folks in this community contract STIs, including HIV. The manufacturer of Truvada (PrEp) continues to advise doctors who prescribe it to counsel patients (and it’s in the prescription insert) to use it in conjunction with condoms. So from a non-prude, sex-positive gay man who has lost more dear friends to HIV/AIDS than my heart can bear to remember...I think the “reality” K.C. Wells feels inclined to promote here is misguided and to some extent irresponsible. I know this is a work of fiction but applying this logic to Jake’s situation, let’s hope he’s bet well on what Liam has told him about being “the one” and “this is forever”, because by stopping use of PrEp and condom usage he’s not just gambling with his heart, but potentially his health as well.
12 people found this helpful
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Anne Shure
5.0 out of 5 stars Beautiful cover. Beautiful book.
Reviewed in the United States on August 4, 2018
Verified Purchase
First, the cover. It’s so nice to see a person of color on the cover of a book. I’m not a POC myself, but it really bums me out when I see a book with a sexy white guy on the cover, alone, and discover that his love interest isn’t white...and therefore isn’t on the cover. So that alone makes it a five-star read for me. Kudos to the author for choosing to put both main characters on the cover, and for choosing such perfect models to depict them.

Aside from that, I don’t think this review will add much to what’s already been said about this book. It is truly worth a five-star rating (and not for the cover). It’s the kind of book that I find hard to review because I felt so deeply for the characters, sometimes to the point of tears, but I can’t really tell you why. It’s more of a situation where you have to read it for yourself. Grab the sample—it’s nice and long—then make up your mind about reading it. I hope you give it a chance.

My only problem with the book—and it’s *my* problem—is that I spent a lot of time on the metaphorical edge of my seat, imagining the absolutely worst ways in which characters could be outed to less-than-accepting people. I admit that, a couple of times, I was so distracted by thoughts of doom that I had to backtrack a bit and re-read a passage or three. So for anyone out there who is also a worse-case scenario imaginer, I have put a very mild spoiler at the bottom of this review to help you keep your mind on the book and off of possible impending disaster.

And although this book can definitely be enjoyed as a stand-alone, I was thrilled to see that the author has another book planned in this same setting for two other characters. I can’t wait!

And now, for the spoiler...read further at your own risk!

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No one is forcibly outed in this book.
2 people found this helpful
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Top reviews from other countries

Dragon Jude
5.0 out of 5 stars Good
Reviewed in Canada on July 11, 2023
Verified Purchase
This book has all the feel goods with enough angst to make it good. Characters are well developed, and interesting..
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Mrs N
5.0 out of 5 stars My heart was battered...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on September 19, 2020
Verified Purchase
This was a pretty hard story to read, I wanted to wrap both Jake and Liam in cotton wool and protect them.

This family tragedy, coming of age and sexual discovery was handled so gently, it was heartbreaking at times.

I found it hard to read about so much hatred, anything different had to be wrong. I can't imagine living in a society like that. However, the author gave Jake the strength to tentatively push his boundaries and try to learn more. Everything he knew, all of his friends were against everything he wanted and desired. Could he really go against his parents, especially after the tragedy of losing another son? Jake knew he needed some time away. He had to accept himself first.

Liam was such a kind and gentle character, coming from an understanding family, his life was easier and happier despite life kicking him often. Being black and gay and living in the south is no easy task.

When Jake reached out to Liam following the accident that took Jake's brother and his boyfriend, nobody could have seen what was to happen next. Jake had questions only Liam had answers to, so began nightly texting. As the men opened up to each other events took a different turn. Liam knew he wanted to be the man to show Jake a different life. He wanted to be the one guiding him, introducing him to the right people, but above all protecting him.

I knew what was coming, the more I read the more anxious I got.
Would Jake's parents accept what was happening?
Could Liam's friends and family believe this turn of events?

This story captured my heart from the beginning, at times l found it hard to continue. However, I knew it all had to end in a way that would make me happy, and it did. A beautifully written story .....
One person found this helpful
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Sali
3.0 out of 5 stars Like it.
Reviewed in France on September 7, 2018
Verified Purchase
I like it but didn't love it. I skimmed some part.
It was just long.. And more Jake's journey and less Jake & Liam's story.
There was a lot of Caleb talk.
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AussieReader
5.0 out of 5 stars Love, loss and betrayal - amazing
Reviewed in Australia on May 13, 2019
Verified Purchase
I absolutely loved this book. KC Wells tells amazing stories and this is no exception. The love, loss and betrayal is dealt with perfectly and written in such a way that you can’t help but fall in love with the MC’s Jake and Liam and just hope that they will not give up. These two know their hearts and what they want, but to have it means Jake has to question everything he’s been told ever. Family secrets come out, family loyalty tested with love and acceptance at the core of it all.
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DM
4.0 out of 5 stars Thought Provoking
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 20, 2018
Verified Purchase
This was a very well written story set in Southern States of the US, written by a British author. For me, she did this incredibly well, managing to evoke both the language and culture of the deep south, through her use of dialect, food, descriptions and the seemingly slow pace of life.
Without completely rehashing the blurb, it tells the story of Jake, a deep-Southern boy whose elder brother Caleb has drifted out of his life, only to die in a car crash. For Jake this leads to so many unanswered questions and also allows him to question himself and what he wants. Jake's a good boy, a boy who lives with his mama and father, who he also works for in a small Southern town that's not exactly open-minded and welcoming to all. Jake's also young, turning 20/21 over the course of the story, and his inabilty to stand up for himself, make choices for himself, changes over the course of the book
Then there's Liam. Caleb's partner, who was also involved in the car crash, but came off seemingly unharmed. He's a good man too, though cautious of Jake because of knowing about him and his family through Caleb. And it's this that is the crux of the tale. Caleb's life not fully lived, cut short, but leading to Jake leading his and breaking free of the expectations and stereotypes laid on him by his family.
Reading the book certainly pulled on the emotions. You never met Caleb, but you felt his loss through Jake and this really was the strength of the book - it's ability to pull you in and see Jake's life for how controlled it really was.
So why 4 and not 5 stars? For me there was the slight ick factor of Liam having been Caleb's partner before Jake (though this is interestingly explained through Wells' use of possibly controversial themes - PREP, open relationships, etc) and Jake's inability to stand up to his parents. Myself having left home at 18 to go to university, to still be there and expected to tell his parents his every movement at the age of 20/21, with little or no privacy (what was it with his mother sticking her nose in!!!) was slightly puzzling/irritating!
That said, this slow-burn book is highly recommended & it certainly left a bit of a book hangover. Methinks there will also be a follow up due to the policeman Taylor's role in the tale.
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