Review of Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story

Okafor Prosper · Post by **Okafor Prosper** » 06 Nov 2021, 08:25

[Following is an official OnlineBookClub.org review of "Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story" by Mark Zullo.]

2 out of 4 stars

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Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story by Mark Zullo is a romance/erotica novel that revolves around Jesse and his journey through finding true love. From a young age, Jesse could sense that there was something different about himself. While other boys fantasized about the girls they liked, he found himself more interested in boys. This would come with a lot of bullying that he suffered at the hands of his schoolmates, hence causing the development of feelings of loneliness and other issues that would be worsened by his first love and closest friend leaving him by relocating. His journey through this story then portrays the pursuit of happiness while we are walked through his relationships and adventures. Can Jesse find his heart's desire despite his excesses?

Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story is told in the first-person perspective, as Jesse is in the driving seat of his story, fully immersing us in his experiences. His story is not told in chronological order, as he jumps forward and backward in time at will with each chapter, and while including the year each part of the story occurred helped me follow the story, this presents my first criticism of the book. I have to say that I found it a bit tedious piecing the events together, even though I found the mystery of getting to know more about Jesse's life intriguing.

My favorite part of the book would be the complexity of Jesse's character. His story highlights social issues that a lot of people experience for being different in real life, and the author does well to detail how these experiences affect him. As a result of his past and the abandonment he suffered in several relationships, Jesse developed a need to be wanted. He also became somewhat of a hypocrite, as he often got jealous and expected loyalty from his partners that he couldn't offer in return. I definitely disliked his personality at first, but as the story went on, I got to understand why he was the way he was.

Nevertheless, there is not much to know about most of his lovers in the story. One that particularly intrigued me was his relationship with his first love, Dani, who taught him how to defend himself against bullies when they were both adolescents. Watching Jesse discover more about his sexuality and the development of his feelings for Dani was fascinating. However, Jesse's other relationships didn't particularly tickle my fancy, as they lacked depth and seemed to be all about sex. Initially, I enjoyed the sex scenes, especially with the amount of detail the author employs in describing every action and emotion. Nonetheless, it started to get tiring when I knew that every new guy Jesse talked about would end up in his bed, and there were too many guys to keep track of. Even the descriptions whenever Jesse met a new guy revolved heavily around his physical features, and I found this to be shallow.

I have to applaud the work done in editing this book. I did not find any errors while reading, which indicated that Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story is a flawlessly edited book. Considering the issues I discussed, I rate this novel two out of four stars. I enjoyed the underlying theme of finding love, Jesse's love for music, and following his growth, but there could have been much more focus on these elements to add more depth to the story. Mature readers who enjoy romance novels containing a lot of graphic sex scenes will enjoy this book.

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Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story
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Shivansh_007 · Post by **Shivansh_007** » 11 Nov 2021, 14:56

Thus seems like an interesting book. I haven't read stories about bisexual love yet so this will add a different genre to my bookshelf. Thanks for the honest review.

19blueofficial · Post by **19blueofficial** » 13 Nov 2021, 16:56

Very informative book. I love the way it talks about people of an entirely different sexuality. I really like the main character.

19blueofficial · Post by **19blueofficial** » 13 Nov 2021, 16:57

Very informative book. I love the way it talks about people of an entirely different sexuality. I really like the main character.

Valerie Garske · Post by **Valerie Garske** » 16 Nov 2021, 15:20

I appreciate your honest review. I prefer a book about relationships, not only sex. It is hard to be critical and fair.

Stephen Ikimi · Post by **Stephen Ikimi** » 17 Nov 2021, 09:40

As a great fan of romance movies and now romance novels,I like this book. I love to learn about the experience of people in their journey in seeking true love and gain valuable lessons from them. That's a thorough review. Bravo!

Shilisia · Post by **Shilisia** » 23 Nov 2021, 16:01

Thank you for a great review but I'll have to pass on this one. For a romantic book, I'd expect more depth in the romance between two people who found each other.