A Slice of Love by Andrew Grey

Synopsis From Publisher:

To make a small fortune, start with a large fortune and open a bakery.  That's the advice Marcus Wilson has heard.  Unfortunately, Marcus doesn't have a large fortune - just a bakery, A Slice of Heaven, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and the determination to make it successful.  He needs more help than he can afford, so when he hires accountant Gregory Southland, it's for hours in the shop as well as on the books. 

Gregory takes a second job at the bakery to help pay the bills now that his health is improving.  Soon he's looking forward to spending time with Marcus, but as business - and their relationship - grows, so do the complications.  First Marcus's stepmother involves him in a cause that could give the bakery a reputation it doesn't need.  Then Marcus and Gregory disagree over whether to involve A Slice of Heaven in a civil rights dispute.  To top if off, Gregory's ex-boyfriend makes an appearance just when he is at his most vulnerable.  But the greatest complication by far is Marcus and Gregory's struggle to learn to trust each other and themselves, especially when it comes to baking up matters of the heart.

This time around it's Gregory's turn at love everlasting.  We first met Gregory in A Serving of Love, he was the heart breaking ex of that books hero, Sebastian.  By now Gregory is in a better place, both emotionally and physically.  He has his HIV status under control and is on his way to living a full and long life, if only he can get his fiances in order and maybe even find love along the way.

Then we have Marcus, a young man determined to find his own way, away from his father's rather large and imposing shadow.  He's on his way to having the successful business he has always wanted, and dreamed about with a former lover, one that lost his own fight with HIV.  He is in sort of a personal limbo, just waiting for the right guy to come along and grab his attention once again.

Like every other couple in this series, I love these two on their own, but I love them even more once they are together.  They compliment each other, both in their strengths, and in their weaknesses.  They fit together, and even when the inevitable tension is introduced into the relationship, they support each other without really needing to think about it.

What I really loved about the story is how the author doesn't shy away from an HIV negative man, dating a HIV positive man.  I've been there, I'm HIV negative and I've dated two different guys who were positive.  I'm not going to lie and say the relationships didn't provide unique challenges and a little extra angst on both our parts, Obviously neither relationship worked out in the end, but I learned from both of them, and I consider both of the to be friends.  I think there is this misconception that if you find yourself HIV positive, that any chance at love or a healthy sex life is gone.  That you are supposed to just crawl up into a ball and wave any chance at a happy life goodbye.  I know many guys who are HIV positive will only date others that are as well, scared to pass the virus on to someone else.  I understand the fear, but it's one that can be overcome with communication and trust.  The way I've always approached the subject is that you can't help who you fall in love with, and that there is almost no obstacle too large to overcome.

So here we are, the last book in the Taste of Love series, though I'm holding out for at least one or two more.  I've grown rather fond of Carlisle, PA, and the men who live there.  I just hope the author feels the same way.