Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Before the reunion. Before the heartbreak. Before everything fell apart.

Love, Lust & Betrayal reveals the untold story of Blair Cohen and Luke Roberts during their four unforgettable years at the University of Missouri. Far from St. Ignatius and the judgment of their hometown, Blair and Luke finally find the freedom to love each other without fear — until loyalty, family, and power threaten to destroy it all.

Enter Muffy Van Goth: beautiful, ambitious, and the daughter of Luke’s father’s most valuable business partner. What begins as a convenient family alliance becomes a trap that forces Luke into a life he never wanted — and tears him away from the only person he’s ever truly loved.

From stolen moments in dorm rooms to shattered promises under the Missouri sun, Love, Lust & Betrayal is a powerful story of passion, privilege, and the price of choosing survival over love.
Because sometimes, the greatest sin isn’t falling in love — it’s betraying it.

 

Book Review

In ‘Catholic School Boys in Trouble 4 - Love, Lust, Betrayal’, Luke and Blair are surprisingly (really?) assigned as roommates at University of Missouri. Eventually, in an act almost of recall, they kiss each other, but with more care and intention than in high school. Oddly, they also promptly begin sharing a bed at night, though without committing coitus. For Blair it is warmth, safely, belonging; for Luke it is a storm. He is challenged by that first high hurdle of coming out, which is self-acknowledgment. Then we are given elucidating scenes. First there is Luke at home for Thanksgiving. Muffy - the daughter of a family friend and a class-A schemer, always hangs around, much like Dickens's ghost of Christmas past. Their parents share visions of an ideal joint future for their two children.

 

At an interregnum, drunken Luke professes his love to Blair. Blair, being more cautious and realistic is waiting to a later date, when his own matched response seems more genuine, more committed.

 

Christmas continues the revelation of Blair and Luke's adventure, as they begin with Christmas at Luke's family residence. His parents' character is made evident by their surprise, followed by intense questioning. Blair's family is more homey, more welcoming.

 

Book Four is a kaleidoscope of events and emotions in response. The major change is the arrival of Muffy at their university, as a student. She is the center of a whirlwind of created attitude, intrusion.

 

Author Butler, an ultimate painter with words, presents dormitory and campus life, showing the matching rhythms of Luke and Blair. With growing self-awareness, Luke seems to have survived his personal terrors. And Blair starts to experience real life. They share a bed nightly and finally engage in full sex (though, sadly readers, without enough details) “For Blair, it was everything – warmth, safety, belonging. For Luke is was a storm.” They have reached a place of no return, though Luke is somewhat terrified.

 

As there is a proper limit for reviewers to disclose facts of real feelings, suffice it to say this book discloses the strained relationships of Luke, Blair, Muffy and their families. The writing is realistic, will capture attention, and cannot (should not) be reproduced here rather than read directly. Be prepared for love found and destroyed, characters both evil and inane. Luke discovers a new sense of family with Blair's folks. Muffy discovers warped family for which she is well-suited, the b*tch! We are beyond mere plot and deep into style, to character. And again, ask yourself whether this book is in the order you would have chosen!

 

Forgive my repeated notice, but while a great read, be prepared for its main purpose which is further explication of our featured personae, and how they became those people about whom we've read in Book Two. Sounds off key, but the writing is so good and the rationale so apt, it is worth the reading. As an example, Muffy sees Blair not as a rival, but merely a fly on the wall – to be crushed. We've seen the heroes grow together, despite the odds, and we see that union riven with unerring effort by others. Luke and Muffy become the idolized campus couple. Royalty.

 

Dear reader: While so necessary as a required interregnum, in this fourth book, author Butler, ever creative, provides a new character, Scott - a fine picture of a minion to Muffy, yet totally drawn in his heart to Blair. 

 

Want a preview of literary talent? The author permits Muffy to discover the heroes, together, naked in the shower. “Don't look so nervous, darling…. It's nothing I haven't suspected.” Is Muffy to be pitied for settling for mere appearances?

 

As Blair becomes stronger, Luke loses his direction, his strength. A dual presentation of their lives apart deserves further stylistic kudos.

 

Basically, Book Four ends - as does the detailed recap of this review, with Luke sadly telling Blair “I love you, … but love isn't enough.”

 

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 202 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	25-October-2025
Price	$4.99 ebook, $9.99 paperback, $14.99 hardcover
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Catholic-School-Boys-Trouble-Betrayal-ebook/dp/B0FXSW8QXD