Rating: 5 out of 5 stars ★★★★★
Years have gone by since the death of Noah, his special needs son, and Wiley Cantrell realizes it’s time to move on. He and his husband, Jackson Ledbetter, try to adopt little Tony Gorzola, a deaf boy with HIV who is emotionally traumatized.
Difficulties quickly set in. Tony is a sweet boy but very damaged by abuse and neglect. And Tony’s mother, in prison, is unwilling to relinquish her parental rights. No sooner do they get the go ahead to foster Tony when another child they had considered becomes available—the daughter Jackson always wanted.
With two children on their hands, life is complicated—wonderfully so. But just as things begin to settle down, Tony, his immune system compromised, falls ill with pneumonia—and Wiley and Jackson find their little family faced with crisis once again.
A portion of the proceeds from this book are being donated to the Kentucky Youth Law Project (www.kylpinc.org), whose goal is to reduce homelessness and promote legal protections for LGBT youth in the state of Kentucky.
I fell in love with this author’s stories since I read Shaking the Sugar Tree, the first book in the Sugar Tree series by Nick Wilgus. Although all his books left me a mess, they are addictive and I always wanted more. If you haven’t read the series yet and you are planning to do it, please do not go on with my review, you don’t want to know what happens in the third book now.
That said, as you can read from the blurb, this story takes place years after Stones in the Road, years after the death of my beloved Noah. I can admit it was a huge shock, I wasn’t expecting the author to go where its forbidden to go. Before reading it, I thought I would have preferred a third book in this series was not written. Not because I don’t love the author’s works, just because I would have preferred wondering about what would have happened to Noah and not actually know. I thought for a moment I was going to skip this book cause I wouldn’t like it. But I couldn’t. I’m too much into these characters’ lives and so I had to put aside my beliefs. I appreciated the author gave me just some glimpse of the time when Noah was dying. My heart couldn’t have taken it all.
The first chapter opens with Wiley and Jackson ready to adopt a seven years old deaf boy with HIV. They already meet other children but Tony is special and Wiley knows he can be the only parent to that kid. His stubbornness and courage will lead them in a beautiful journey to a possible happiness.
And when the sweet Amelia will join their new family, the circle will be completed. The story is full of obstacles and trauma to discover and try to overcome with the only thing all these characters need, love.
I was happy to meet Wiley and Jackson again and find out Wiley is still Wiley. They are still funny together, bantering and making fun of each other, and six years after the death of Noah they are at a point in their lives where they are still recovering yes but can maybe see a family again in the future.
Let’s be honest and say I cried a lot, maybe too much; some scenes, like the ones at the cemetery, were very emotional and too hard to take. Wiley is not ready to let Noah go, he’s still hurting, grieving. I cried through all the story till the last word. And it was okay. I cried for Noah, for Wiley, for Tony, for Amelia, for all the love I breathed from the pages, for the braveness of these flawed persons.
Go Tell it on the Mountain is a beautifully written book, as always the author was able to let me feel every good and bad emotion the characters felt. That’s one of the reasons why I read his books even if they break my heart. IMO Sugar Tree is one of the best series I read so far. I have no idea if this is going to be the last book in the series or there will be more. If it is, I will of course be sad but it’s the perfect conclusion for a series like that.
Go Tell It on the Mountains is a love story, powerful and touching. I wish I could give it two thousand stars. My words are not good enough to really express my feelings about this book and I think it’s not easy to do it. I just want to highly recommended it. Just a warning: the series is not a light one. If you’re looking for romance, you’ll find it somewhere else, but if you’re looking for love, Sugar Tree is the right place, you’ll get every shade of love to fill your heart.
The COVER ART by Anne Cain follows the style of the covers of the previous books, well done.
Sales Links: Dreamspinner Press | ARe | Amazon
Book Details:
ebook, 336 pages
Published February 22nd 2016 by Dreamspinner Press
ISBN139781634769075
Edition LanguageEnglish
SERIES Sugar Tree