A World Apart by Mel Gough – Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words

Rating: 2 out of 5 stars

Ben Griers is the darling of Corinth Georgia’s Police Department—intelligent, handsome, and hardworking. Thanks to his beautiful wife and clever daughter, Ben’s family is the envy of the town. Yet desperate unhappiness is hiding just below the surface.

When Donnie Saunders, a deadbeat redneck with a temper, is brought to the Corinth PD as a suspect in a hit-and-run, Ben finds himself surprisingly intrigued by the man. He quickly establishes Donnie’s innocence but can’t shake the feeling that Donnie is hiding something. When they unexpectedly encounter each other again at an AA meeting in Atlanta, sparks begin to fly.

With his marriage on the verge of collapse, Ben is grateful for the other man’s affection. But he is soon struggling to help an increasingly vulnerable Donnie, while at the same time having to deal with the upheaval in his own life. Ben eventually realizes that they cannot achieve happiness together unless they confront their darkest secrets.

I went into this rather excitedly as hurt/comfort is one of my favorite tropes. Unfortunately there were many things about this book that did not work for me. First off the language of the story is really off. It’s set in the US south but the author is from the UK. The story ended up being a hodge podge of what she thinks the South sounds like (insert all the stereotypes you can think of) and then throw in a bunch of British words like “wanker, poof, etc). There was one character who was a British expat but it just didn’t make sense to me that the other characters would talk like this.

My next issue was that it was insta-love. I had a hard time buying this. These are two very different men and they have a lot of issues to work through and I just couldn’t see what attracted them to each other and why it would happen so fast. I found the relationship completely unbelievable and I was not invested in it at all.

My last issue was that there was too much going on. There were too many issues/subjects/topics to count. I wish the author would have just focused on one or two and developed those more. This was one of those “everything but the kitchen sink thrown in” books and those are always pet peeves.

Unfortunately nothing about this book really worked for me. I did not enjoy it and will not be rushing out to try anything else by this author. There are so content warning tags on this story so please note those if you are going to check this out.

Cover: This cover was done by Natasha Snow and I think it is nicely done and eye catching.

Sales Links:

NineStar Press | Amazon | Smashwords | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Book Details:

book
Published September 18th 2017 by NineStar Press
ISBN139781947139886
Edition LanguageEnglish

Pre-order from Ninestar Press with the code PREORDER for 20% discount here.

Release Date: September 18

Publisher: Ninestar Press

Length: 52,000 words

Cover Design: Natasha Snow

Blurb

When Donnie Saunders, a deadbeat redneck with a temper, is brought to the Corinth PD as a suspect in a hit-and-run, Ben finds himself surprisingly intrigued by the man. He quickly establishes Donnie’s innocence but can’t shake the feeling that Donnie is hiding something. When they unexpectedly encounter each other again at an AA meeting in Atlanta, sparks begin to fly.

With his marriage on the verge of collapse, Ben is grateful for the other man’s affection. But he is soon struggling to help an increasingly vulnerable Donnie, while at the same time having to deal with the upheaval in his own life. Ben eventually realizes that they cannot achieve happiness together unless they confront their darkest secrets.

Author Bio

Mel was born in Germany, where she spent the first twenty-six years of her life (with a one-year stint in Los Angeles). She has always been fascinated by cultures and human interaction, and got a Masters in Social Anthropology. After finishing university she moved to London, where she has now lived for ten years.

If you were to ask her parents what Mel enjoyed the most since the age of six, they would undoubtedly say “Reading!” She would take fifteen books on a three-week beach holiday, and then read all her mom’s books once she’d devoured her own midway through week two.

Back home in her mom’s attic there’s a box full of journals with stories Mel wrote when she was in her early teens. None of the stories are finished, or any good. She has told herself bedtime stories as far back as she can remember.

In her day job, Mel works for an NGO as operations manager. No other city is quite like London, and Mel loves her city. The hustle and bustle still amaze and thrill her even after all these years. When not reading, writing or going to the theater, Mel spends her time with her long-time boyfriend, discussing science or poking fun at each other.

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