With The Reluctant Heterosexual, Steven Paul Leiva concludes his thematic trilogy: The Love, Sex and Pursuit of Happiness Novels. All three novels look at these essential aspects of the human condition, with each novel focusing on one of the three. By the Sea: A Comic Novel looks at our unease when unhappy. Bully 4 Love: A Rather Odd Love Story takes a skewed view of this most revered emotion. And now, The Reluctant Heterosexual, as the title predicts, concerns sex, which is not always the same as love, nor is it always a happy situation. Subtitled A Tragicomedy in Four Movements A Prelude And An Interlude, each section of the novel, as in a musical composition, has its own tempo, mood, and form as it tells the story-and stories-of Robert Leslie Cromwell and Sandy Smith. Two Homo sapiens sapiens surviving and striving in the late 20th-Century.

Robert and Sandy are intelligent, creative, not unattractive, wealthy, married to each other, and in love. And yet their procreating bodies might as well be standing naked on a savanna in Africa in the late Pliocene Era. It’s the sometimes comic conflict between ancient bodies and modern culture. Can there possibly be a happy ending?

CAVEAT EMPTOR: As The Reluctant Heterosexual concerns sex, it is at times explicit in language, situations, and attitudes. Readers who are offended by such explicitness should not read this book.

PRAISE FOR THE FIRST TWO LOVE, SEX, AND PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS NOVELS

BY THE SEA: A COMIC NOVEL

Leiva writes the story with a great deal of depth and perception as he explores the lives, thoughts, and ambitions of each main character…the book’s ending plays upon the they-all-lived-happily-ever-after angle in a quite satisfying but not wholly exaggerated manner. - Montreal Times.

By the Sea is a delightfully engaging story about an eccentric community that resides in the foggy environs of Leech Beach…Leiva deftly interweaves the characters’ past and present to create a vibrant ensemble that is immediately engaging…By the Sea is a light-hearted, clever read. - Literary Fiction Book Review.

Steven Paul Leiva has written an engaging, thoughtful, and kind book. And what a satisfying book it is! Leiva has built his small world perfectly, and each character is so complete and well thought out that what at first seems disparate pieces fit together perfectly by the end. It’s a hat trick in perfect proportions! - Jo Graham, author of Black Ships, Hand of Isis, and Stealing Fire.

BULLY 4 LOVE: A RATHER ODD LOVE STORY

A deftly crafted contemporary romantic comedy that showcases the author’s genuine flair for originality and a distinctive kind of narrative storytelling that quickly captures the reader’s total attention and holds it firmly from cover to cover…unreservedly recommended. - Midwest Book Review

I will say this definitely lived up to the title-it’s odd. Not bad odd, and definitely interesting…if you’re looking for your typical romance story, you’ll be sorely disappointed. If, however, you want something that is off the beaten path and a bit unique, then this is exactly what you’re looking for. A must-read. - Liliyana Shadowlyn, The Faeire Review

I am envious…It is sooooooo well written. There are pages I went back and re-read just because they were that good. It has twists and turns and excellent dialog… Leiva’s technique is exquisite. - Jean Rabe, USA TODAY Bestselling Author.