The heart wants what it wants…My life is a carefully constructed lie. I’m in love with my best friend, but the way I feel could get us both killed. So as long as we stay here on the dusty ranch, I can never tell him how I feel. And if we leave, we’ll have nothing but the shirts on our backs.But when Josh is accused of a crime he didn’t commit, fate forces my hand. I steal him away, where it’s … hand. I steal him away, where it’s just the two of us against the world. I will do anything to keep him safe. I’ll steal. I’ll fight. I’ll tell lies.
Yet I can’t tell Josh how I feel.
I can’t tell him that this is all my fault.
And kissing him in the back of a stranger’s truck wasn’t exactly part of the plan…
Contains: first times, impossible choices, awkward confessions and love up against the kitchen counter.
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I absolutely adored this story!! Sarina Bowen crafted such a fascinating tale of survival and coming into your own with Goodbye Paradise. Told in dual pov, Caleb and Josh escape from Paradise to find their forever but first these two have to face their truths. Man I loved this pair! There was something so raw and honest about these two best friends who have both secretly loved the other for years finally finding their way. Thru ups and downs, they find there are people that support them, despite their fears. Just a beautiful story of survival, of love and passion, of finding a family where you thought you had none.
A paradise read!
Most people called it a cult…
But for twenty years, they called it home…
This book is literally EVERYTHING. A phenomenal and well written read that has me mesmerised and obsessed over these characters. It’s books like this that makes me fall in love with stories/reading over and over and over again.
This book is a work of art. Pure amazingness.
Full of cults, running away, discovery, truths, family and love.
Perfect for readers of contemporary romances.
Stressfully Sweet
An intense story of closeted love prevailing all obstacles.
I read this all the way through, it was do good!
Highly recommend MM read.
As I start to write this review, all the words I come up with involve emotions and feelings I had as I read the story of Caleb and Josh: horror, heartbreak, fear, sweetness, kindness, welcoming, loving, acceptance. This story shows that despite the absolute awfulness that some brave souls come from and the unimaginable risks they take to escape, the world they escape to has many more good, decent and charitable people awaiting them. It’s heartwarming and leaves me with the best kind of mushy feelings. Loved it. Highly recommend this well-written book. 🙂
If I could this book more than 5 stars I would. I want to begin by saying this book is beautifully written. I like the gentle and tender approach this author has taken with the characters. I enjoyed discovering the new world with them. The sex scenes were sweet but sexy, at times innocent but daring and forward. I enjoyed the ride and the beautiful loving relationship between Caleb and Josh. I couldn’t get enough!!
I loved Caleb and Josh. The strength they had to overcome their upbringing and the story of them coming together was beautiful. Highly recommended read for this emotional and beautiful story.
Everyone should read this book. I loved it, and learned so much from it!
I was thrilled when this book popped up on Bookbub. I’m a huge Sarina Bowen fan and this book did not let me down. I love Josh and Caleb. The story had an unusual plot with the main characters “escaping” from a religious cult. They don’t know the world, but they have each other. In their old world, men liking men was unacceptable/forbidden. Very sweet how they learn to accept their feelings for each other and figure their place in their new world. Definitely recommend.
My first M\M read…and still my favorite
Sarina Brown is an author that I have more recently started reading. And it’s a testament to her writing that I continue to work my way through her books. Goodbye Paradise definitely adds to her list of phenomenal reads!
I wasn’t too sure at the beginning if this would be up my alley, with the characters starting on a Compound- essentially a religious cult. But holy cow, how this story evolves is amazing! I couldn’t help but feel for Josh and Caleb and the predicament they began in, but rose above!
Great book, and a definite reread. I can’t wait for Hello Forever (another standalone in this series)!!
THIS story is so sweet, sexy, and heartbreakingly real.
WOW!!! This was a super hot and oh so sweet male/male romance! I have been on a Sarina Bowen kick so I thought I would check these out and she did not disappoint! I won’t lie, I was a little hesitant when I read the blurb, I’m not a huge fan of lots of religion in books. But I loved how she wrote about the cult and how they thrived after they left.
Josh had always known he was different, he also knew his world said it was “wrong” but he couldn’t help his feelings. He was in love with his best friend. Would he ever be able to do something about it?
Caleb knew he needed to get them out of there. The problem was, how? When his plan didn’t go exactly as expected, would they still make it or would it be the end?
These boys!! Swoon Absolutely loved their story! So sweet!
3.5 Stars
Josh and Caleb were sweet but this fell a little flat compared to her other books. I think she could have done a lot more with the coming from a cult aspect. She showed us a few of Josh’s firsts (like his first Coke) but there were a lot others she could have explored. Their love was a bit nieve at times but you could feel their love for each other. I teared up twice, once from heartache and once from happiness. And I doesn’t think I’m spoiling much to say the later came at the ending.
I know that this was one of Sarina’s earlier books and I will say her writing has evolved like it should with each book she wrote and she’s definitely one of my favorite authors.
I am so so late to the Sarina Bowen fan club but late is better than never, right?
I listened to GOODBYE PARADISE as part of the Audible Escape package.
Told in dual POV, this is the story of coming of age in more ways than one. It is beautifully written story about two young men who have run away from the cult they were raised in.
I look forward to reading the next in the Hello Goodbye series and more from this fantastic author.
tags: Audible Escape, m/m, lgbtq+, claudia told me to read, 5 stars, cult, open door sex, acceptance
One of the most powerful books I’ve read, Goodbye Paradise left me breathless. Caleb and Josh’s story of survival, renewal, and love was a beautiful journey of self-acceptance. The characters were beautifully crafted with emotions and depths that made them feel so real they could be my next door neighbors. The prose was beautifully written and was lovely to read. I am still in awe of this book.
The narration was well crafted and performed. I could listen to this book over and over, and still never grow bored of the performance of the narrators. I recommend both the book and audiobook as they are both so well done.
Josh and Caleb’s story was a beautiful and heartbreaking story about stepping in to the real world after living in a restricted compound.
The storyline is so good and builds up to a HEA.
All the characters are well described and the relationships building up between them is a joy to witness.
Josh and Caleb’s relationship is very sweetly described and their feelings for each other is showing from the beginning.
The love scenes is hot but tasteful.
I would have Kleenex ready because there will be tears
I also love the secondary characters, they gave the story even more character.
No unnecessary descriptions of surroundings and good dialogues makes me a happy listener.
Narrators:
Good and clear pronunciation and it’s read with passion so the overall experience is excellent.
I recommend you take the time to listen (or read) a 5 star mm romance from a author I absolutely want to read more books from…..
I’ve had this book on my TBR for forever. I’ve finally downloaded the audio and taken the time to listen.
And I do not regret it.
Caleb and Josh have been raised in a cult.
This is the story of two men, one forced to leave and one who chooses to leave, who find themselves in the outside world trying to make their way across the country.
And it’s also a story of those two men finding themselves within each other.
A solid MM romance from Sarina Bowen. A solid story.
Just know it’s a 10+ and one of my 10 books EVER!
What a wonderful emotional story of deep love and forever family and friends. They’d been friends since they were little, two boys and a girl; happy with their friendship and lives. But, as we all know, that can change in an instant. Lives forever changed when the adults in their lives became part of Paradise, a harsh polygamist setting; where the weak are thrown out like trash, where women have no choices. Read of the courage it takes to move forward after being discarded or the strength to run away to help someone you’ve cared for all of your life. This is a marvelous story of love always there but hidden and the joy of discovering their hidden passion. It’s also a story of the kindness of strangers and the deep friendship and love of those who also lived and escaped Paradise. This is the first time I’ve read this author and it won’t be my last.
There are a lot of ways to tell you loved a book.
But one of the biggest ways?
When you finish it and immediately want to go back to the beginning and start over again. I didn’t even want to be reading it for the first time again. I just wanted a chance to relive all those feelings again. I wanted to watch Josh and Caleb fall in love. I just wanted to fall in love with falling in love again.
When I say this book, had all the feels, I really mean ALL of them. I felt horror, elation, misery, joy, anger, despair, and contentment. Sometimes, I had those feelings all within a single passage. I alternated between laughing, crying, and just straight out smiling throughout this entire story. I wanted so badly for Josh and Caleb to have their happy ending, but with so much stacked against them, I just wasn’t sure it was possible.
Josh and Caleb have known each other their entire lives while growing up in Paradise, but their upbringing was wasn’t conducive to Josh’s “impure” thoughts. Josh knew he was gay, considering the number of naked thoughts he had about his best friend. He was certain Caleb could never feel the same way. Strong, popular, strapping Caleb, who was planning on marrying Miriam, could never love Josh in the way Josh dreamed of. Josh knew he would eventually be cast out, and that scared him almost as much as spending his life there. The only light in his darkness was Caleb, and the thoughts he allowed himself at night while falling asleep. I just loved Josh, and wanted to hug and protect him. He didn’t think he had much to contribute to society. His confidence and self worth were seriously lacking, but if only he could see himself through Caleb’s eyes.
Caleb was the everyman man. He was one of the trusted men on the compound. Having an opportunity to leave each day for chores and errands, he gained an insight to the world that Josh never had a chance to experience. Josh looked to him as the knowledgeable one, but I always felt like Caleb was just as naive as Josh, he just hid better. But Caleb had a plan, and he was going to see it through.
Even though very little of the story was spent in the actual compound, it was a continuous theme throughout the story. It was a part of them, and difficult to cast out of their minds. I watched Josh and Caleb struggle with the life they were raised on, and the one they were currently living. But they struggled together, and as difficult as it was, it was beautiful to witness.
From the first word, to the last, I was completely taken by this book. I was sneaking in chapters during my lunch period, while waiting to pick up the kids, and when making dinner. I didn’t want to put it down and at the same time, I didn’t want it to end. Bowen creates these magical worlds and stories that I just want to experience time and time again.