A Caryn Review: Silences of Fallen Stars by Vivian Dean

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

silences-of-the-fallen-stars This novella was set in Nebraska in the late 1960’s. Although elsewhere in the country the Stonewall riots were happening, and hippies were experiencing free love, in the heartland things were much less progressive. It was certainly not a place conducive to romance for gay men.

Jim and Ronnie were friends for most of their lives, and in high school they became lovers, but secretly, and innocently. Jim was lucky enough to be able to afford college, so he went to Omaha after graduation, and Ronnie stayed home. Pride, and shame, led to a falling out, and then Ronnie was sent to Vietnam. The story actually begins when Ronnie comes back home, wounded, and Jim is back at his grandfather’s farm after falling short of everyone’s expectations.

I love a good hurt/comfort storyline, and this book did it very well. In the 5 years they were apart, Ronnie and Jim became men, and left the naïve highschool lovers behind. They were both changed by loss and heartache, and in Ronnie’s case, physical injury and disability. Coming back together was not automatically a given, and Ms. Dean did an excellent job of showing the fragility of their new relationship, and how they eventually found their way back to each other.

The historical details were entered unobtrusively, but clearly enough that the impact of the times and the location on the men’s personalities and actions made perfect sense. I am so thankful that I didn’t see any glaring anachronisms that bother me so much in poorly done historicals! Overall, a sweet read, fairly low angst, with relatable characters and a realistic HFN. Definitely recommended.

Cover art is lovely and eye catching.

Sales Links

JMS Books LLC

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 69 pages

Published September 3rd 2016 by JMS Books LLC (first published April 19th 2015)

ASIN B01KPNUMEU

Edition Language English

A Caryn Review: Out of My Mind (Browerton University #3) by A.J. Truman

Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars

out-of-my-mind Mac is a college freshman who has been hiding his sexuality pretty much all through high school, but decides to start college out and proud, and has high hopes for dating. Gideon is the first man he meets that he thinks might be interested, but after one kiss, Gideon basically runs away screaming, leaving Mac scarred for life.

Fast forward 2 years later, and Gideon has broken up with his girlfriend, but is stuck with the apartment. Mac is in a similar situation having broken up with his boyfriend and is without housing. Although they both remember the disastrous first meeting, and Gideon is still a little afraid that “the gay” will rub off on him, they move in together because they have no other options.

With that setup, the men are now clear to develop and act on their attraction. Of course, Gideon is gay, but he’s hidden it so deep he doesn’t even acknowledge it to himself. As the story progresses, it becomes clear why Gideon does this to himself, and we also find out about Mac’s history that leads to his own hang-ups. Their path to a relationship is full of ups and downs, fueled of course by the usual lack of communication.

I think there was a lot to like about the book. The Jewish humor, with the stereotypical Jewish mother and the magic of matzo ball soup, was especially entertaining. Big Bird was hysterical (and you’ll have to read the book to know what that’s all about!) The secondary characters were interesting, and supported the story and the MCs. But overall, there were too many negatives, and while I was reading I found myself focusing on them instead of the story. The point of view alternates between the two men, which became very confusing and periodically I would have to back up a sentence or two to figure out who was doing/saying what to whom. There were character inconsistencies: in the first chapter Mac seems to be the geek with OCD, but later on Gideon is. Gideon is the excellent dancer, then Mac is. From one sentence to the next Gideon drops his girlfriend but then she drops him. They decide to have sex without a condom because they don’t have one, and then it appears in the scene. All questions and conflicts are solved with sex. There were a few points where there was some real drama and conflict (when extended families get involved), and I thought “Oh, it’s finally getting good!” but then it would devolve into the resolution via sex again. I think with some tighter editing, the book could have been much better, because it certainly had potential.

Least favorite quote:

“Mac yanked him into a kiss that dared to suck his lips off”

Ugh. Not sexy.

Cover art is cute.

Sales Links

Book Details:

Kindle Edition, 300 pages
Published September 19th 2016 by A.J. Truman
ASINB01KSL0Y0G
Edition LanguageEnglish
SeriesBrowerton University #3

A Caryn Review: The Eleventh Hour by Elin Gregory

Rating: 4 out of 5 stars

the-eleventh-hour-by-elin-gregory This book has it all! Action, adventure, romance, spies, car chases, explosives, intrigue, cross-dressing…

Wait. What? Cross-dressing?

Yes indeedy. London, 1928. Ten years after the end of the Great War. An anarchist threat against the British Government foiled by a cross dressing linguistic specialist.

I loved it all. I was immediately drawn into this fast paced adventure where field agent Briers Allerdale teams up with linguistic agent Miles Siward to track down and neutralize the vicious terrorist Andrija. Briers has been stationed in the Balkans for years, and is one of the only men who’s ever seen Andrija’s face, and those of his comrades. He gathered intelligence that Andrija was on his way to London with his henchmen, but no one knows what Andrija has planned, or what his target is. They only know that Andrija’s girlfriend and co-conspirator has taken up a position as a nanny next door to a diplomat with the Foreign Office. With nothing else to go on, the home office decides to station Briers and Miles to do surveillance of Josephine and try to discover the rest of the plot. The catch? They must pose as a married couple in the rooming house across the street.

Although Miles hasn’t been an active field agent, he is a very talented actor, and the home office has used him to impersonate women in the past, though only for very minor and short missions. This mission will require him to be much more convincing on a longer term, as he needs to fool not only the people in the rooming house, but Andrija’s girlfriend as well. While Miles might be unassuming, his alter ego Millie is brash, brave, and intelligent, and more than up to the task. Briers is impressed first with Millie, but over time he recognizes that Miles is braver than he thought, equally clever, and worthy of respect. Affection grows between the two men, but their focus remains on the mission, on bringing down Andreja and saving England.

The book is, therefore, primarily an adventure. The romance is secondary, but I still enjoyed watching as Miles and Brier went from wary colleagues to casual lovers to a true couple. The descriptions of being gay at this time in England were very interesting, especially how men of the lavender persuasion went about finding other like minded men. Miles’ female impersonations, though necessary for national security, opened him up to ridicule and derision, and I loved how the author described his inner conflict of enjoying becoming his alter ego while concurrently being ashamed of enjoying it. Briers had a great deal of sensitivity about it as well, recognizing that Millie is actually an essential part of Miles.

Historical fiction buffs will love this, with the realistic trivia of daily life in interwar London. Action aficionados will love the car chase (high speed was less than 40 mph then!) and the sewer reconnaissance. Readers like me who enjoy character development will appreciate how two quite different men came to know and love each other. Highly recommended!

The cover art is different, murky. Not sure what to think of it exactly.

Sales Links

Amazon US, Amazon UK and Smashwords

Book Details:

ebook, 248 pages
Published August 1st 2016 by Manifold Press
ISBN139781908312402
Edition LanguageEnglish
URL http://manifoldpress.co.uk

A Caryn Review: The Hearts of Yesteryear by Vivian Dean

Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars

The Hearts of Yesteryear I really enjoyed reading a book where the MC is actually elderly, so unusual in the world of romances! The theme of coming full circle, of finding what you really want out of life and finding the courage to pursue it even at that age, was truly compelling for me.

John Paravati is a now 77 year old man who left his home in the small town of Shakersville, Illinois, for the bright lights of Hollywood in 1956. We meet him when his movie career is essentially over, but he is still acting in commercials for cruise lines, and he and his costar are thankful they aren’t shilling adult diapers — now that is some realism, people! He gets a letter from a developer in Shakersville who has renovated the old Crown Theater, site of his happiest and most painful memories from childhood, asking him to attend a grand reopening. His initial response is seemingly irrational anger, because he’s never told anyone about his life in Shakersville, why he left, or the boy he left behind. He’s afraid of going back to face old demons, but his assistant eventually convinces him to accept the offer because it will be good for his career.

Thus begins his adventure to confront his past, and the reason why he left home over 50 years ago and never looked back. There are a few brief flashbacks, where we are introduced to his best friend and love of his life, Frank Henson. And this is when I started taking points off my review, for several reasons. Mainly, there was too little detail about John’s life, both in Shakersville, and the intervening 50 years. The Crown is supposedly integral to why he became an actor, and why he fell in love with Frank, but there are only 2 brief scenes about that, and they certainly don’t justify his strong connection to the place. And what happened to him after he left that continued to shape his feelings about his hometown and The Crown? He’s out now, but was closeted for at least part of his career. When? Why? All we are told is that he’s never been in love. So I never did get a good feel for who John is now, and who he was as a teenager, though I feel it is to the author’s credit that I really wanted to know him better.

Frank is necessarily a much more minor character, but I still felt there was a lot more I needed to know about him to understand why his life turned out as it did. His initial motivations for leaving John were very understandable, what with McCarthyism and homophobia so rampant at that time. But why did he wait so long — even when changes in his life made it possible — to contact John if his feelings remained so strong for all those years? I loved the idea of a man deciding to pursue his true feelings and coming out for the first time when he’s in his 70s, but I feel there was so much more that could have been said about that. Keeping Frank somewhat peripheral was really a missed opportunity for the book.

And that is my rant about what I didn’t like about the book. Increase the length, provide more detail and feeling, and this would have been a 5 star read for me. But bottom line, this was a well written, sweet story, with a lot of self-deprecating humor about age and ageism, and likable primary and secondary characters that I want to know even more about. Definitely worth the read!

Cover art is terrific and unusual for this genre.

Sales Links

JMS Books LLC

Book Details:

ebook, 2nd Edition
Published August 6th 2016 by JMS Books (first published September 22nd 2013)
ISBN139781634861854
Edition LanguageEnglish

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