Through it all, Vaughn’s steadfast commitment allows Oryn to cautiously open up to him. His interactions with the alters vary from discomfiting to humorous, flirtatious to frightening. Vaughn plays a significant role in facilitating this growth. This is not just a story of Oryn’s growth, though the alters are very much front and center at times, so their needs must be addressed as well. He also tirelessly educates himself so he can be the best man he can for Oryn. He exhibits patience when he wants to spend time with Oryn, but finds himself unexpectedly in the presence of an alter. And one of those perceived threats, at least to some of the alters, is Vaughn. In Oryn’s world, an alter can come forward randomly at any time without notice, sometimes triggered to protect Oryn from a real or imagined threat. He eventually finds himself in a relationship, not with one man, but with a complicated system of six individual personalities. In fact, he wants to know more about the fragile man, so he persists in pushing past Oryn’s palpable unease.Īfter spending much time together working on their semester-long project, the men find themselves attracted to each other, but Oryn feels he’s a lost cause. Shy and stuttering, Oryn tries to warn off Vaughn by disclosing his DID, but Vaughn isn’t dissuaded. When Oryn is subjected to ridicule by other students, Vaughn steps in to befriend him and encourage him to work together on a class project. If Oryn can’t learn to accept Cove as part of the system of alters, he can’t heal as a whole. There is Cohen, the most present alter, who is not subtle in his sexual attraction to Vaughn once they meet Reed, who aggressively protects Oryn Rain, an excitable five-year-old boy Cove, the anguished, dangerous, self-harming alter who bears the burden of having endured the childhood trauma that caused the DID and Theo, who is a father figure to Rain, and strives for peace between Cove and Oryn. They differ in age, appearance, temperament, occupation, even sexual orientation. It is a story about a man with a secret – five, in fact – because Oryn has five individual personalities, or alters, living inside his mind.

Love Me Whole is a beautiful and extraordinary book about the love that develops between two men, one with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), and their journey of acceptance and healing. When you fall in love, you are accepting someone wholly and completely.” “Because when you love someone, you don’t get to just love the good stuff and turn it off when things are difficult. Audiobook Buy Links: Amazon/Audible | iBooks

Defying Logic by Nicky James