Tag: GLBTQ fiction

Review of Dead Cow Pants (Torquere Sip) by Julia Talbot

Rating: 4 stars

Shay has returned a changed wolf to the pack he left for the big city.  Shay is now painfully thin, and way too quiet for his best friend, Darius, who remembers his friend the way he used to be.  Darius thinks a pair of leather pants will do wonders for Shay’s confidence but Shay may just be the only werewolf in history to hate the smell of leather!  Shay believes leather smells like dead cows and refuses to wear any dead cow pants. But Dar has more than missed his friend and figures helping him rediscover his self confidence might just lead to something both have  wanted all their lives. Now if he can just get him to put on those pants!

How can you not love a short story about a werewolf who eschews wearing animals products?  Julia Talbot gives us an adorable story about two best friends reuniting and the unspoken love that has been there all along.  My only quibble with this story is that Talbot delivers such wonderful characterizations and then puts them in a plot that just begs for more backstory.  What happened to Shay after he left the pack?  Why is he so thin? What was going on with Shay to make him leave the pack to begin with?  The story left me with so many questions because I became invested in these characters from the start and loved what little I knew of them.  At any rate, terrific short story full of two intriguing questions and one author’s twist on the werewolf genre.  Great job.

Review of The Gleams from a Remoter World by Fiona Glass

Rating: 3.75 stars

Chris Mullens is a reporter/investigator for The Paranormal Times and he is slowly coming to the realization that the years have been piling up behind him while he has stayed relatively static.  He has remained at the same job for over 10 years, with no social life or partner to speak of.  He lives with Jo Perry, his co worker at The Paranormal Times and  has been her intermittent bedmate when she wants it.  The book he meant to write has never been started and lately all the leads he has followed for paranormal activity have not panned out, either they were hoaxes or just someone’s overactive imagination.  The one thing Chris has decided he wants is to win the coveted Moondust Award for the first journalist to prove the existence of ghosts and the next case their editor hands them just might do the trick if its authentic.

Their editor tells them that in the village of Kilveenan, off the coast of Galway in Ireland, there is a church said to be haunted by the ghost of a dead priest’s son, but the twist is that the son supposedly died in the Great War, so why is he haunting his father’s church? Chris readily accepts the assignment and is eager to be off, Jo Perry, his journalistic partner for the story, seems less so.  In fact she is starting to sound as though writing about paranormal events are the last thing she wants to do.  When the unhappy couple arrive in Kilveenan, they discover it’s not the church that is haunted, but the priest’s house next door and by a spirit so filled with rage that just for Chris to enter the cottage puts his life in jeopardy.

The more Chris investigates the cottage’s history, the more evidence he uncovers that involves, murder, murky family relationships, and a son that never returned to the battlefield.  And what little relationship he had with Jo is disintegrating the longer they stay in Ireland. When Chris and Jo meet up with Paulie and Bill, a gay couple on holiday staying at the same inn, Chris’ attraction to Paulie confuses things further for Chris, just when he needs all his attention to be focused on his investigation.  The ghost in the cottage is shaking Chris to his foundations, tearing him apart in every way.  Will he survive his ghostly encounter?

Gleams from a Remoter World has so many lovely elements to it, especially at this time of year.  The first thing that attracted me to the story is the setting.  I love Ireland and when a story is situated in a coastal village, you have my attention.  But even better is when the village and it’s inhabitants are so beautifully described that you feel a part of the place itself, then mark me down as a happy camper.  I loved Glass’ vivid portrait of life lived at the edge of the ocean, cold, wet winds whipping up the cliffs, moisture clinging to every surface.  The rain hitting you so hard it pummels you.  I loved the variety of people we meet (thank goodness, none are of that Irish leprechaun variety, twinkling eyes sort of thing), more of the brusk common sense type of folk.  Had this been a travel guide I would have been booking a flight out immediately. off to see Kilveenan.

I am unfamiliar with all those ghost hunting shows or the people who track down paranormal happenings, so I don’t know anything about the equipment they use.  I can see the running around ruins and graveyards (done that myself a time or two) and again the author’s gift for describing the Irish landscapes and buildings give the reader an immediate closeup feeling to the scenes underway.  I loved the ghost story here that incorporates all the good elements of a murder mystery, familial relationships, and a love affair that was hidden.  The author did a wonderful job of building the suspense with the ghostly apparitions, the drops in temperature that herald the appearance of the angry spirits, the change in color of the surroundings when history unfolds before Chris’ eyes.  Also realistic is the boring, tedious research that had to be done into the background of the church and the Anglican priest who presided over it and its members.   Fiona Glass made this part feel so very authentic, right down to the dusty tomes and hard to read signatures on ledgers.  Again, the author brought this element to life for the readers to the point we could almost breathe the musty air of the small town offices they had to visit for their information.

And then there are the characters of the story and my main quibbles come forward.  I can pretty much narrow down my issue with this story to two words: Jo Perry.  Chris Mullen, his interaction with the paranormal, and his interest in Paulie should be the main focus of the story.  But Jo Perry keeps interfering in almost every way possible, including my enjoyment in the book.  This is a m/f story that becomes a m/m story as Chris is clearly bisexual, which is just fine.  But the problem is with the amount of time she figures in the story, which is too predominate for my taste and the fact that she is inherently unlikable.  Jo Perry is supposedly a long time friend/partner of Chris, they graduated from the university over 20 years prior but does she act like a friend?  Not in any  way you would recognize.  She is distant, dismissive, uses Chris as a sexual partner when it is on her terms but possessive when he looks elsewhere.  She is rude, bratty to all about her, treats Chris like a doormat, and it turns out she is homophobic to boot!  All of this would have been fine if first she had taken up less of the story, and secondly, the author had the other characters around her react to her behavior in a realistic manner. That did not happen unfortunately.

Then there is the character of Chris Mullen, who I happened to like quite a lot. He is a quiet, thoughtful person whose good nature and calm demeanor seem to make it easy for Jo to take advantage of him.  Chris apparently dislikes confrontation to the point of submerging his wants almost completely in deference to other peoples needs and expectations.  While some might attribute that to a “lack of backbone”, I can see the glimmerings of a different take on his behavior altogether, such as an inclination towards depression.  Two much of this book involves conflicts between these two characters of Chris and Jo instead of centering in on Chris, Paulie, Paulie’s long term partnership with Bill who is suffering from full blown AIDS, and Bill, who I was sure realized that Chris was attracted to his partner.  What a wasted story element. This awkward triad had so many interesting elements going for it.  Apparently Bill has been suffering from AIDS for three years and this was a “last vacation” for them both. I wanted to know when was he diagnosed with HIV?  How had that effected Paulie? When you have a ghost filled with rage, how interesting would that have been to contrast that with the rage/anger of Paulie? Or even Bill?  Like I said, a missed opportunity to concentrate on people I wanted to know so much more about than Jo Perry.

We are given one or two hints to explain their behaviors.  She is bitter about a divorce, he is “depressed” but neither explanation is gone into detail, and it never redeems her behavior.  This is especially true when it turns out that she is homophobic to the point of rudeness and anger, attacking Chris for his bisexuality and the other men for their gay partnership (even one that is critically ill!). Chris’ depression is mentioned once or twice, but it is clear that he has never done anything about it.  Then there is the weight around his neck (and the readers) in the form of Jo.  Towards the end of the book when she has left (of her own accord by the way), Chris’ boss mentions how much Chris has moved forward in the last several weeks.  Does no one in the UK come right out and say  “Well, thank god, that soul sucking monster has left the building?” Is that not “done” over there?  And for one final blow, literally, to the reader and Chris, on her last appearance, she smacks Chris a hard one across the face when she takes insult over something innocuous he said that she misconstrued.   But does he finally let her have it, at least verbally?  No, she has her homophobic way one last time.  Little by little this character interaction just leached away my good feelings about this  book, leaving me with a sour taste in my mouth over abusive behavior given its own reward in a manner of speaking.

So, after all that, it does have a wonderful and wonderfully realistic ending, a HFN that is in keeping with the final two characters I think.  It also left me very conflicted over the rating.  So much of this book is deserving of a 4 rating or higher from the settings to the paranormal mystery to even the character of Chris Mullen himself.  But it is dragged down by the repellant persona of Jo Perry and her over the top involvement in the plot and her overextended presence on the page.  I cannot tell you how many times I wanted to pull up a chair next to Fiona Glass, hand her a red pencil and a glass of cabernet and talk about this book! Because really this is ¾ of a wonderful book.  Oh well, in any case I will certainly be looking forward to others Fiona Glass writes but color me divided when it comes to Gleams from a Remoter World.

Cover art by LC Chase.  I like the gray color tones and the ruins in the background, perfect if you are looking for ghostly ambience for the book cover.

Review: The Gravedigger’s Brawl by Abigail Roux

Rating: 5 stars

When Dr. Wyatt Case admits to his best friend and co worker Noah Drake that he had been hiding under his desk rather than face the acting head of Board of Trustees of his museum about the low attendance, Noah suggests a lunch break to a new bar near their work.  Noah had met the bartender over their mutual love of old motorcycles and thought both the bar and the bartender were just his boss’s type.  The Gravedigger’s Brawl was situated in an old Victorian house in an area called The Fan and the minute Dr. Case enters the bar he feels an affinity for both the bar and intriguing bartender with the kohl ringed eyes called Ash Lucroix.  Ash with his Gaslight dress, finds the history professor with his leather patches and loafers adorable and just as intriguing in his absent minded professor sort of way.  The two men share a love of history,  and their attraction to each other grows every time they see one another.

But there are strange noises are starting to be heard from all corners of the bar, sounds coming from empty floors and things are happening at The Gravedigger’s Brawl that cannot be explained by old appliances and faulty wiring,  Then Ash falls and hits his head and no one believes his explanation about a strange man standing directly behind him. Their friends think it is just all the spooky Halloween decorations and stories they have been telling but Wyatt is not so sure.  His research leads to some disturbing things that happened in the house that is now the bar.  Can the evil Wyatt has read about be coming back to life?  The answer to that question might mean life or death to all involved at The Gravedigger’s Brawl.

Wow, what a wild, spooky ride Abigail Roux turned out and just in time for Halloween.  Abigail Roux delivers a loving tale of romance wrapped in the gossamer threads of a spider’s web of murder most historical, evil deeds and ghosts determined to live once more. Abigail Roux knows how to build a suspenseful atmosphere in her stories. And here she starts weaving the threads of ghostly happenings and otherworldly beings right from the start and the first bang heard from above. The author takes the usual mindset of the average person’s take on ghosts and hauntings  then gives that outlook to most of her characters. From that standpoint the author starts to play, and ups the anxiety level for each person as more and more unexplained things start to go wrong at the bar.  You know the drill, the uneasy laugh you might cough up as the floor squeaks above you and you try to remember where your friend was and when was the last time you saw them.  She plays on our logical disbelief on all things supernatural and then makes them a reality for all involved.  Are we scared close to the end for our favorite characters?  You betcha we are!

I just love the main characters here, a gang of six, actually four with two on the edges who vibrate with life lived very distinctly on their own terms.  Starting with Dr. Wyatt Case, a true absent-minded professor whose love affair with history and his museum has seen every other part of his life slide slowly into the dust.  He even has the suede jacket patches and loafers to prove it, good thing he is also cute and adorably naive when it comes to personal relationships.  Another thing in his favor, he has his best friend looking out for him.  That would be professor Noah Drake, lithe, handsome, intelligent and as socially active as his boss is static.  A meeting with a fellow motorcycle enthusiast who just happens to be a bartender at a bar owned by a man Noah has been dying to get to know better gives Noah the idea of a way to bring both couples together. The bartender would be Ash Lucroix, quirky, preferring his Gaslight inspired suspenders and matching tongue studs (hot, hot, hot) when performing his flair on top of the bar with Ryan, the other bartender. Ash’s ex boyfriends have not always measured up to his expectations and when his attraction to Wyatt turns into a relationship stumbling block for both of them, it is his nature that helps retrieve the situation, along with some very realistic groveling from Wyatt.  And throughout all the missteps, the arguments and very hot sex, I always felt that these two were real.  Their goofy, fumbling, drunken walk home had me in stitches because who hasn’t been there and done that, at least once.  And Abigail Roux  captured that beautifully in every hysterical detail.  Even when they were on the outs and their relationship shaky, it never felt less than authentic. There is also Caleb, the English, grumpy Goth that owns the bar and eventually Noah’s heart, Delilah in her leather corsets and hooker boots, and Ryan, into leather, whips and Delilah. One after another, great characters march across the page, spouting quick, snappy dialog and living life very much on their terms.  I loved them all and have a very new appreciation for tongue piercings.

And finally, there is historical Richmond where Abigail Roux lived for several years and the ghosts that haunt that region and beyond.  With Roux, the setting is always as almost as important as the characters themselves. The author’s intimate knowledge of the city and its settings adds so much flavor and ambience to the story that it acts almost like another character within the story. Ash’s apartment lives for us because Abigail Roux lived in such a one herself for two years.  And I have to admit I was desolate to find out that The Gravedigger’s Brawl was just a glorious figment of her imagination, so vividly did she describe it.  The ghostly tales and hauntings within the story, with few exceptions, are real as well, which is not surprising in an author as dedicated to doing her research as Abigail Roux.

I don’t know if The Gravedigger’s Brawl is a stand alone story or a start of something new.  The possibility of a new start gives rise to my hope that this is not the last we have heard of this quirky, wonderfully endearing group of six people.  Maybe if we get enough voices together we can see a haunting revival next Halloween.  In the meantime, gather your candy corn, eyeball chewing gum and all the ghostly accouterments and settle down with this wonderful book, perfect for Halloween or any time of the year.

Cover art by Reese Dante.  Reese Dante gives us a wonderfully evocative cover, perfect for the story within.

Review of Texas Heat (Texas #3) by RJ Scott

Rating: 4.75 stars

Riley and Jack Campbell-Hayes are hoping that the trauma of the past is finally behind them and their families.  Jack’s mother Donna is remarrying and all have gathered for the celebration,  Jack is expanding the ranch holdings into training quarter horses and Riley is moving his “green” energy exploration business forward just as he always wanted. Veterinarian Neil Kendrick is marrying the love of his life, Donna Campbell. Neil is aware of the complicated feelings of some of her family have with her marriage to a much younger, less wealthy man, so he brings along a good friend, Robbie Curtis, for support.

Robbie has just landed back in the States from a long stay in Australia that ended badly for him. An experienced horse trainer, Robbie is just the person Jack needs to help with his new business and Robbie settles uneasily into life on the Double D Ranch. Then Eli Martin, Riley’s old friend from college, reappears on the scene.  Loud, energetic,and a force of nature, Eli is now a fashion photographer and wants to use The Double D as a backdrop for underwear campaign using cowboys.  Eli takes one look at Robbie and decides that cowboy is the one for him. Now all he had to do is convince him.

But Robbie is still full of pain from the events in Australia and Eli is hiding a secret of his own, facts that will make a relationship much harder for both of them.  Haley, Riley and Jack’s daughter wants a sibling and a former competitor wants to sabotage Riley’s latest oil exploration venture. Nothing ever comes easy for the married couple and those that surround them.  But even with 20 half naked cowboys lounging around the barns and the gay rodeo in town, Riley and Jack’s rock solid love proves to be the answer for all that life throws at the people of the Double D.

Texas Heat is the third book in the Texas series from R.J. Scott and what a terrific series it is.  Starting with the book The Heart of Texas, we have followed the relationship up and downs of Riley Hayes and Jack Campbell through blackmail, marriage, murder and the barn burnings of Texas Winter (Texas #2) to finally arrive at a happy state for both men and their families.  And what a long hard road they have had to travel but Scott has done her job in giving us two great characters to start off with and then continuing to flesh them out and surround them with equally interesting families to support them and add their own drama and surprises.  It really is the tale of two families whose pasts interconnected through passion and business decades earlier, the reverberations of those events passing through all generations to effect the current generations in the form of Jack and Riley.  We have watched as Riley Hayes grow from petulant pretty boy obsessed with his own ends to happily married man concerned for the welfare of both families he has come to love.  Jack has also grown in his love for Riley,  lessening his suspicion of others as well as his need for control.  Seeing both men at this stage in their lives as fathers to Haley and husbands and businessmen is one of the true joys of this book.   We have been through so much with them that their happiness here becomes ours.

In addition to Jack, Riley, Haley, and all the rest of the families from the first two books, Scott gives us Eli Martin and Robbie Curtis, a fascinating couple in every  respect.  Robbie has been hurt emotionally from the loss of a partner and is afraid to open himself up to the possibility of love and perhaps more loss.  Eli was with Riley through his irresponsible  years, in fact he was co pilot of them as well.  But a life changing event now sees Eli grabbing out with gusto for everything life has to offer.  If he sees it and wants it, Eli goes after it without thinking it through. How can two such disparate men make a relationship work? There are no easy solutions and it takes both men taking a realistic look at what they want and what they can offer each other.  We get a realistic vision of a relationship in progress.

What I continue to appreciate with RJ Scott’s writing, no matter the series,  is that even as our emotions are engaged with two couples at differing stages of their relationships, other events are swirling around the outskirts just waiting to come forward with a jump and a bang. Scott keeps juggling a number of plots in her story but never lets one drop.  There are so many layers to appreciate and think about that when the end of the book comes the author has a structure in place for the next in the series without losing reader satisfaction with the current story.

I can’t wait to see how the next book continues the saga of the Campbell-Hayes family and the fortunes of the Double D Ranch.  Who needs Dallas when you have the Double D? If you have started the series,  don’t forget to pick this one up.  If you are new to Scott’s Texas books, start with The Heart of Texas and work your way to this one.  They need to be read in the order they were written. RJ Scott rarely disappoints and here she comes through with bells on her  cowboys boots and then some. Don’t let the Campbell-Hayes pass you by!

Here is the Texas series in the order they were written and should be read to understand the characters and the events involved.

The Heart of Texas(Texas #1)

Texas Winter (Texas #2)

Texas Heat (Texas #3)

Review of Fair Catch by Del Darcy

Rating: 4.5 stars

It was Friday night lights and the score of the football game on the field was close.  Blake Thompson of the Mustangs watched and waited to see if the new Patriots field goal kicker was as good as they had heard. Then out came a slim figure, even in his football pads, brown hair caught under the lights and AYERS36 on the back of his jersey.  It was the first glimpse Blake would get of the boy he would play against and fall for.  Blake knows that he has to fight to play because of his height but he loves football, and his team.  And then he meets Alex Ayers at Rory’s Roadhouse, a local hangout after the game, a place the two teams mix, relieve stress and have fun.  That night turn’s into one of life’s game changers for them both.

Alex Ayers headed towards the sidelines after nailing his kick on the field.  It’s not hard to notice THOMPSON12 when not only is the Mustangs backup Quarterback doing a great job moving his team down the field but that he’s the same size as you are, a rarity among the humongous QBs around the league.  Alex is tired of moving from high school to high school as his dad follows jobs in the construction field.  He likes this high school, his team and wants to stay.  When the two teams hang out at the same place after the games, Alex meets and connects with Blake Thompson, the boy he saw on the field.  First there is a connection between the two boys, followed by attraction that they act on, becoming friends and lovers.  As the school year continues, two things are obvious.  Alex is already getting scouted by college teams for his kicking ability and as Blake is one year younger, he is the one who will be left behind.  The boys are experiencing so many firsts in their lives, including a first love.  Alex has never made a commitment before, his rootless upbringing making that impossible.  Can he now make one to Blake, the boy he leaves behind?   And how will Blake handle the loss of his football dream and the jealously he feels as Alex becomes a star player?

Fair Catch and Del Darcy deliver an insider look at what it means to be a gay teenager, and a gay teenager who plays football at that.  This is a long book at 403 pages but Darcy uses every bit of it to bring two very different young men to life in their struggle to come to grips with not only their sexuality but the restructuring of their high school dreams to include life’s reality.  I cannot begin to tell you how much I appreciate it that Del Darcy did not try to fit this journey into a smaller length book.  Blake and Alex’s story spans a three year time period in their lives from high school to early college. And as with real life, this journey from high school aspirations and teenage emotions to a older, more mature understanding of themselves is fraught with exuberant highs and depressive lows and everything in between.  Things are both deceptively easy in high school and hard as packed dirt to get through. It is through the characters of Alex Ayers and Blake Thompson and their circle of friends we once again experience what it means to be so young where high school was everything real, and life outside that framework was so huge as to feel alien.

Del Darcy an incredible job with the characters here.  They are everything that teenagers really seem to be.  They are full of themselves, and they are scared, they are sullen and timorous.  They are filled with joy, and lust, and yet filled with the need to accomplish big things, do big things, become the “big thing” for their families and themselves.  The dialog snaps with vivacity, rhythm and authenticity of youth as it flows out of the characters mouths. I can think of no other time in life than the teenage years when emotions and sexuality coincide with a person’s path to maturity with all the wildness and predicability of a roller coaster ride.  You know there will be heights to climb and dips to swing through but you are never prepared for the real thing, the real ride once you are on it.  Darcy makes all the characters here go through life’s challenges, the pain, the hurt feelings and makes us feel them too.  There is not one single character I  did not come to care for and indeed, with Dakota, I ended up going through boxes of tissues right up to the end of the book.  These people burst through the pages of this story full of life, laughing, crying, arguing, and loving. They smoke, swear, and on occasion show cowardice because they don’t know any better or because to do otherwise is even more frightening.

Think of the issues here.  What does it mean to be gay in high school? Should you come out to friends, and family?  What will happen if you do? Darcy gives us all parts of the coming out spectrum here.  From Blake’s family’s acceptance to the heartbreaking experience that Dakota comes through, trust me that boy will send you sobbing for hours. People are bullied for so for being slight of form or too quiet or too smart in high school, then add in a difference in sexuality.  It is no wonder that the high school years are such formative ones, carrying such weight with them into the adult years.Can you play football in high school or college and be out as a gay male? Can you expect to be given scholarships or a fair look by scouts, especially in certain geographical areas, if you are known to be gay.  I think we all know the answer to that is no.  But here in Fair Catch we watch how that plays out in a teenage relationship and the consequences that decision carries with it.

And what happens when one half of a new relationship achieves the dream of the other person?  Jealously is a tough issues no matter the age, and when a teenager has to face the idea that physically he does not mesh up with his dreams of college football? But the boy he loves does? Then it becomes even harder.  Issue after issue is brought up and addressed, but don’t expect to find easy answers here than you do in real life. Darcy respects that fact and gives us real boys trying to get through life in realistic ways.

So why not five stars? My only quibble here is that perhaps too much time is spent on football.  Yes, it is an integral part of the story but I think most people in the United States know their football basics.  But a little  less facts still would have left the foundation in good stead and the story a little tighter. Fair Catch is a wonderful coming of age, coming out story.  It is intense, joyous and downright heartbreaking.  Pick it up, and remember what it felt like to be a teenager once more.  Just don’t forget the tissues.

Interesting cover design by Alessia Brio.  Love the pigskin background  and the football equipment front and center.

Review: By The River (Elementals #1) by Katey Hawthorne

Rating: 4.5 stars

Adam Kavanaugh has returned to his home town and family after having lived for several years in a series of other cities and towns after college.  A broken relationship, a series of them really, meant he had to start up his life again and this time Ashton, WV called him back home.  But fitting back into the sleepy pace of small town life is not going as smoothly as Adam thought it would.  His young brother TJ is as resentful of Adam’s return as he was of his brother’s leaving town years before.  For TJ, life is should be lived in Ashton, under the shadow of the Appalachians and he has never forgiven his brother for leaving him and the family behind when Adam could have gone to Trinity College right in town as TJ is now doing.  TJ has also never understood Adam’s bisexuality and the relationship between the two is strained.

Now back in town, Adam’s life falls into a strange sort of stasis.  He spends his days painting a mural on the wall in the small clapboard house he bought, he works and games and avoids phone calls from old friends still in town.  And Adam runs a set path through town and along the Ohio River three days a week, trying to make it all seem like home once more.  But a chance encounter with a strange young man floating in the Ohio shatters Adam’s inertia.

Leith Marshall is a member of TJ’s college swim team so Adam recognizes at once the form floating in silence on the surface of the Ohio River. At first, Adam thought that something  must be wrong and races to the river’s edge only to find Leith bobbing contentedly in the current.  Which was odd in of itself.  The Ohio was a fast, snarly, dark river and Leith looked totally at ease within it’s embrace. When Leith emerges from the river to respond to Adam’s shout, Adam admires Leith’s beautiful swimmers body barely covered by a pair of grey briefs. But it’s Leith shy smile and gentle ways that have Adam falling hard within a matter of days.  But the more Leith lets Adam into his life, the more off kilter Leith’s life seems.  Leith and his father live above an abandoned aquarium store that used to belong to Leith’s absent mother.  Leith’s father has some strange ideas concerning his son and water.  Everything about Leith seems connected in some way to water.  Leith cannot stay away from it for any length of time, whether he is swimming in the Ohio or  splashing about in a bathtub.  And when Adam hears Leith sing in a strange haunting language, the idea of a siren’s song springs to mind.  The more Adam falls in love with Leith, the less it matters that Leith might be more than human.  Right up until Leith’s father reminds Adam of his wife’s strange disappearance when the ocean’s call become too strong.  What will happen when Leith says he wants to see the ocean too?

What an utterly beguiling story.  By The River has a quiet, mesmerizing rhythm to it, pulsing with life as it relates the story of a young man who might just be as elemental as water itself.   With her wonderful characterizations and vivid descriptions of a setting that is clearly close to the author’s heart, Katey Hawthorne builds a story of a love between two men that becomes so strong, so elemental in nature that even the idea of loss cannot break it.

I love the mystery that surrounds Leith Marshall from the moment we meet him, floating effortlessly on top of a river whose currents churn around him to little effect.  Even his name Leith means broad river in English, and has a origin in Lethe, the Greek river of forgetfulness.  Leith and water are so intimately intwined that he cannot bear to be parted from it for any length of time and is at his most content when he is immersed in it.  Leith and his father Mr. Marshall, a bitter, isolated man, live in a building that once housed his mother’s aquarium shop, until a flood demolished it and his mother disappeared.   Now just Leith and his father live among the remnants of their former lives, empty dusty tanks and peeling posters of fish still hanging off the walls downstairs, while the sounds of water lapping up against the shore that is their backyard echo around them.    The author pulls us in with her minute attention to the uniqueness that is Leith.  He “smells like fresh rainwater”, his eye color changes in accordance with the nearest body of water, and Leith loves to read in the old store where the sounds of the river is the strongest.  Detail by detail, Hawthorne builds an aura of mystery around Leith’s very nature.  And yet we also understand Adam’s complete acceptance of Leith’s strangeness as a part of someone he loves because we have come to love Leith as well.  The love between Adam and Leith flows like water over everything before it,  including all the obstacles and arguments that others like TJ throw in its path.

I loved Adam as well.  Adam is someone on hold but who can’t figure out the reason for his ennui.  Adam is waiting, poised for change and it arrives in the form of Leith.  Adam has been a serial monogamist with a number of boyfriends and girlfriends right up until his last breakup which really didn’t upset him as much as it should.  Again, it’s as though he knew he was waiting for someone else to come before he could finally commit, focusing inward so much that Adam’ self centered behavior adversely affects his relationship with his brother, TJ.   And then he commits himself to Leith with an ease of effort that sends TJ in a rage even as he fears for them both as out gays in a small West Virginia town not always tolerant of those who are different. Katey Hawthorne adds layer upon layer to her authentic portrait of small town life, until Ashton becomes gritty, real, and memorable as any of her characters.

As Leith surges and flows with life so does Adam but in his own way.  Adam’s tolerant, accepting personality is necessary if Leith is truly to be a part of his life. The weirdness that is Leith continues when Adam meets Mr. Marshall who he views as more of a keeper than father to his lover.  But the man’s torment and  pain over the loss of his Scottish wife  breaks through Adam’s anger on Leith’s behalf.  But the pity he sees in the man’s eyes as he talks about losing his son to the ocean the same way as his wife unsettles Adam when he realizes the pity he sees is for him.  That the father thinks Adam is on the same path he took with Leith’s mother is clear. And when the boys leave town for a short visit to the sea, the scene where Mr. Marshall says goodbye to his son is overwhelmingly painful and sad.

Although the name selkie is never used, it is implied that Leith’s mother was a Scottish Selkie who  resumed her seal form when the call of the ocean became too great.  Or at least that is clearly what the father believes.  Is Leith magical?  He certainly is to Adam, and to his father.  I feel there is a murkiness as well as a mystique that lurks just underneath the surface of the story, just as opaque as the Ohio river that Leith loves so much.  I loved the ending of this story, especially because for me it can be interpreted two different ways.  For me, the nature of the ending of By The River has all the fluidity of water itself as buoyant love the boys feel for each other carries them along with the currents, caught in the ebb and flow of the tides.   The journey to get to this end point was wondrous, sexy and natural for Adam and Leith and the reader. And the last vision we see of Leith is a promise but of what? I think it is up to each person to come to their conclusions as to what happens next, to believe in what has been said between the lovers or the pull of something quite different.  How I loved this and I wait eagerly for the next installment in the series. I know the author won’t let us down.

Cover artist Mina Carter does a gorgeous job giving us a cover that delights from gorgeous male torsos to the falcon tattoo that figures within the story.