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

[Patricia Kahindi]

[Following is a volunteer review of "Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story" by Mark Zullo.]

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3 out of 4 stars

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Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's story by Mark Zullo is a story of love and loss. A story of progressive sexuality that follows the life of Jesse. The book kicks off with a flashback of twenty-three-year-old Jesse on a bus with his then-boyfriend Carlos. As the book progresses, we experience Jessi's different experiences growing up as a gay man. A young Jessi develops feelings for Dani, his neighbour next door. Dani and Jessi quickly become best friends. However, Jessi tries to hide his feelings for Dani, but his feelings manifest into love as time progresses. Before confessing his love for Dani, Jessi finds out that Dani is moving to Texas.
Jessi is left heartbroken, and even though they get reunited after a while, their love story is sadly cut short. With Jessi in the works of adjusting to his new profound sexuality, he meets Charlie, an older church official who is seemingly interested. However, he leaves for the army after a while. It becomes a consistent theme that everyone Jessi gets close to leaves or dies. The inconsistency affects Jessi's ability to maintain a stable relationship, and as a result, he is left seeking casual hookups.
As Jessi gets older, he meets Carlos and Diego. The author describes Jessi's love for these two characters with raw and exhilarating passion. In his early twenties, Jessi first met the wild and free-hearted Carlos and immediately fell madly in love. But because of Jessi's insecurities, Carlos leaves. After, Jessi meets Diego. Diego is more reserved but willing to grow into his relationship with Jessi. Like most relationships, they go through a rough patch and decide to take a break. Carlos returns, but he tells Jessi that he might be dying.
The book was an excellent read, especially the last chapters, where we experience the tragic end of a beautiful love story. I shed a lot of tears towards the end of the book. It was amazing how the author captured the heartbreak, grief, and the new beginning of Jesse's new life. However, the author's main focus was on Jessi's sex life for the better part of the story. There were also several grammatical errors and profane words throughout the book. I recommend this book to all mature readers interested in romance novels with very descriptive sexual situations and who will not find profane words offensive. I will rate this book 3 out of 4 stars because of the errors found.

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Hard Journey of the Heart: Jesse's Story
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