THEGAYUK

Tag: Book Review

All the latest book reviews. Browse The THEGAYUK’s complete collection of for books.

  • Book Review | The Wolf At His Door (Runes Trilogy Book 1) by Adrian Lilly

    ★★★★ | The Wolf At His Door (Runes Trilogy Book 1) by Adrian Lilly

    Alec is an out gay man and his twin brother Adam is straight; both are College Students and live at home with their parents – Ilene & Jason. Their older sister Lucy lives with her partner Rene nearby. Also close is their grandmother – Geraldine, a woman who has psychic ‘vibrations’ when something bad is going to happen.

    With Geraldine’s vibrations getting worse, Alec’s friends Sam & Celeste introduce him to Jared. Then Sam & Celeste are brutally murdered.

    The Prologue is overly dramatic, too descriptive and far too long. But once past that you discover Lilly‘s wonderfully engaging writers voice and his third person writing style that switches between characters perspectives. His writers voice and storytelling makes The Wolf at His Door an easy read that becomes highly addictive as the reader reads on.

    The story is told in three parts. In part one Lilly introduces the characters, Alec’s friend’s are brutally murdered in the night at a cabin in the woods and people are going missing. Part two deals with the aftermath of the murders, the Police start their murder investigation, green-eyed evil Darius targets Alec and the investigation of the missing people is on-going.

    In the third and final part Alec & Co. start their own investigation as to what’s going on. This leads to an absolutely epic ending and sets out the direction for the 2nd book. The love interest for Alec adds to the story. Overall the storyline was outstandingly captivating, oozes brilliance and is well paced.

    The description was perfectly measured throughout; although it did have a few Americanism’s that Lilly could have minimised or removed for more universal appeal. There were a few minor errors in dialogue formatting. But neither the Americanism’s or the errors in the dialogue formatting interrupted the flow of the storyline.

    Throughout the story there is a good mix of scenes: slow ones that evoke an emotional response, investigation ones that ignite the mind with questions and face-paced action scenes that grip the reader.

    By the end of The Wolf at His Door the reader has many answered questions; but some are left unanswered – which is what will make the trilogy enthralling.

    The Wolf at His Door (The Runes Trilogy) by Adrian Lilly is essentially a werewolf, gay, mystery novel. An enjoyable read that makes the reader impatient for the release of the 2nd book in the trilogy.

    The book is only available in eformat; but this makes it perfect to read on the bus, train or tube to work. The chapters are short meaning you could read several on the way to work. However you will find yourself reading on the way home as well – desperate to find out what happens next.

  • BOOK REVIEW | Henry Darger, Throw Away Boy

    ★★★ | Henry Darger, Throw Away Boy

    Henry Darger (1904-1973) was an Chicago-based artist, who was completely unknown in his lifetime. He created pieces of art that depicted children. In some of the art children were innocently enjoying life and in others they were being horrifically tortured. Darger also completed two fantasy manuscripts entitled The Realms and Crazy House. Many critics dubbed Darger as a mentally unstable individual who may have thought about harming children.

    But as Jim Elledge uncovers in Henry Darger, Throw Away Boy that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Elledge has spent a decade researching and writing this book which gives a comprehensive insight to the life of Darger. It is well researched, which is indicated by the extensive bibliography and notes sections.

    The book starts by describing the poverty, dangerous street life and Darger’s lack of supportive loving parents. Darger’s mother died in childbirth and his father was an alcoholic. It is suspected that Darger was sexually abused on a number of occasions throughout his childhood. This commonplace abuse, did make uncomfortable reading at times. His behaviour, even as a young child, was feral which is understandable given the emotional trauma he experienced. His bad behaviour led to his father putting him in a religious mission and later an asylum institution.

    Darger escaped the institution and became a Janitor in a hospital. He began to create his art and write his manuscripts, as a way to fictionalise his traumatic childhood experiences. In his manuscripts he wrote about a number of secret societies, all that have one mission: to protect children. He fell in love with a man (Whillie) and continued to work tirelessly on his art over the decades that followed. But after some early criticism, he didn’t feel able to share his work with the world. It wasn’t until after his death that his landlord discovered the work.

    Essentially Elledge tells the story of a gay man filled with fear and shame because of societies attitudes towards children, child abuse and gay people. Glossy pages show some of Darger’s work, but more would have been welcome.

    Elledge brings Darger’s story to life through his engaging writing style. If you’re into gay art – in all its forms, you’ll love Henry Darger, Throw Away Boy. Available from Amazon

  • BOOK REVIEW | Checkmate by A. L. Olson

    ★★★★ | Checkmate by A. L. Olson

    Bored university student/cheesy diner waitress Ambrosia’s mundane and ordinary life takes a turn for the bizarre when her boss starts buying chess sets for customers to play, and two of the chess pieces appear to come to life and begin offering Ambrosia unsolicited life coaching.

    When she begins taking the advice of the chess pieces, her life begins to get on the right track until she is thrust into a suddenly bizarre world of hallucinations, seemingly crazy psychologists, and A.I. robots, Ambrosia finds herself the unlikely heroine, almost alone in her quest to save the world.

    This first novel by Olson is quirky yet relatable. Ambrosia is an interesting character, who you want to love, even while she complains a lot about the ‘current generation’ (hipsters with iPhones etc.). The plot moves quickly through familiar territory, interwoven with original ideas. The fact that a lot of the plot twists, and there are many, are inspired by, or borrowed from other sci-fi stories: there’s certainly elements of The Matrix, Philip K. Dick, and many zombie movies; makes the book instantly familiar, without being predictable and boring. Just when you have the idea that you know where you’re going, Olson throws in another twist and the story rockets off in a different direction. It is a great first novel, thought I think it could benefit from a few notes before being an excellent novel, it is a fun read, and well worth the time to get invested in the characters.

    Written to help raise funds to cover the cost of much needed surgery, resulting from hormone treatments, Olson steers clear of and heavy-handed ‘Queering’ of the characters, and the potential same-sex attraction in the story is included naturally and doesn’t feel shoe-horned in. It also doesn’t deal with any societal issues faced by the characters because of their sexuality, real or perceived, and it thus avoids coming off as a ‘preachy’ story. Olson stays true to the story line, and the issues being dealt with there, and thankfully refrains from getting bogged down in queer social issues or politics. This is a refreshing story where the protagonist happens to have a same-sex attraction that is not central to the story, rather than being the only plot point.

  • BOOK REVIEW | Denial Deceit Discovery

    ★★★★★ | Denial Deceit Discovery

    A brutally honest book based on a real persons struggle to come to terms with his sexuality through his open and emotional journey.

    Denial, Deceit, Discovery is a superb first novel by J.James. A truly amazing story of Jack, a young catholic man, and his struggle coming to terms with his sexuality and finding the strength and courage to be true to himself regardless of the consequences.

    At first glance I found the first few chapters quite graphic as the author details his sexual explorations, in fact Amazon have it listed under ‘erotica’. Whilst there are some pretty explicit scenes of gay sex, after reading the whole book, I realised that apart from being erotic, it was instead a brutally truthful account of a lot of rather intense soul-searching.

    The book is split into three sections of his journey, characterising the three chapters Denial, Deceit and Discovery. Based on true events, that are essentially autobiographical, this reads in the style of a personal memoir. The writing is so extremely honest that you often wonder which parts were from the author’s imagination and which were from his own life.

    Anyone will be able to relate to parts of the story regardless of sexuality and even if the book in its entirety doesn’t completely resonate with you, it provides plenty of food for thought. Highly recommended, compelling and easy to read, the content will make you blush, laugh and cry. After completing the book I wanted to carry on reading what happened next of this brave man’s journey on his pursuit for happiness.

  • BOOK REVIEW | How Are You Going To Get Out Of That One, Alan Ambrose, by David Moreton

    Ever seen a book review in 10 words or less? No? See Below?

    Like Carry On? Like farce? Love this!

    There! Never let it be said I didn’t rise to a challenge. But, to flesh it out a little (oooh, errr, Missus), this rib achingly funny book from David Moreton is like a gay romp through all those bawdy British comedies I grew up on. Saucy comments via Carry On – check. Rude jokes via On The Buses – check. Double entendres via Nearest & Dearest – check.

    Right up my street if you’ll forgive me! This book is a gem of a read, taking the reader on a journey as we follow our hero, Alan, through his growing pains, coming out, staying in, cottaging, trading favours for gifts, you name it – it reads like the kind of book Rupert Everett would like to write, but doesn’t.

    David has a talent for writing farce, creating situations that at once make you laugh out loud (not great on a Manchester bus at night) and also inwardly cringe (hoping to god it never happens to you). He describes sex in all its seedy reality, warts an all – as it were. These scenes are all too graphic and farcical, but feel as if they are based on real situations…..cottaging, not as its shown in glossy porn clips, but in all its piss stenched reality, gritty and dirty…..but always with a glint in the eye and a smirk on the chops!

    We read of Alan’s adventures as he moves from man to man, sometimes voluntarily, sometimes shoved/pushed/dumped, from continent to continent, villa to bedsit, Hollywood to Hove. And I feel better for it! We read as he gets involved in scrapes, schemes and porn…..

    At over 3,000 pages, this isn’t a light read – and I thank god its on e-reader, cant imagine the weight of it as a physical book but would imagine it’d give you a pretty good workout carrying it around!!

    You end up feeling like Alan is someone you want to know, want in your life, want to go get a drink with, never want to meet at a urinal, and always check your wallet is still there before he leaves…..fun, frank and farcical…..

    If you are looking for that book to read whilst warming your toes during the long winter nights….do yourself a favour. Ignore those sour-puss, just-sucked-a-lemon, up-yer-bum serious novels that always populate the “high brow” review pages and get this one. It’ll tickle your funny bone, it’ll make you smile, it’ll make you think, it’s the most fun you can have with your clothes on for under a fiver!

    Get your copy here

  • BOOK REVIEW: Framed On Titan, By Stevie Gonzalez

    Ok, I openly admit it. I’m a sci-fi fan and also partial to the odd bit of erotic fiction so combining the two into one story is my ideal read!

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  • BOOK REVIEW | The Heart & The Hand by Dean Harkness

    I know, I know, I can be flippant, I can be irreverent, and I can be rude – but for this review, I’m parking all those trait and reviewing some of the most beautiful poetry I’ve ever read.

    This book is simple, no blurb, no foreplay, no preamble, its straight into the work with some of the simplest and most intelligent words I’ve read

    Take the poem, “Five Little Words”, which does exactly what it says, it plays with the placement of the five little words: This is a love poem……it changes the meaning, plays with its audience, forces you to ask questions, who is its audience?

    “Cemetery” in nine lines sums up loss and death, how we who are left to visit graves feel, how the place makes us feel, what it means to loose someone or something and place them in the ground.

    Dean choose words carefully, as if they were rationed, it feels very Haiku, very Japanese but with very western subjects.

    Take “People Strutting” – it evokes Saturday Night Fever, Tony strutting in his too tight jeans, winkle picker shoes and unbuttoned shirt, off to pull some stranger at the disco….all this in only five lines.
    “Film of You” made me cry… a story of love ended, images gone, a story of film not files, sending things via snail mail to get physical images back……….it speaks to me and my generation of how we felt, how love felt back in the day.

    Dean is something of a renaissance man, a true artist not just with words, but as an illustrator, with images too. if you can, follow him on twitter. I do like that there are no images here, the words paint a picture clear enough, no images needed in this book. Dean does a clever thing and lets his words speak volumes

    And to turn things on their heads, to lighten the moods, we shift on to “Brits in Summer” which reads like an episode of Benidorm on ITV. It sums up us Brits at our basic levels, lobster red, label whores, everything display….

    “Media Sex” reads like an indictment of our age, how everything is lived in the glare of publicity, nothing is sacred anymore, nothing is kept private, we all clammer for publicity, adoration, and are willing to sell the most private details for a column inch in the next days paper or someone else’s blog…….

    “Homeless Man kicked to Death” could read as a headline in any local paper, but instead makes you think about how easily we accept these things. How we are immune to what it must be like to be on the streets, what these people face each and every night. The threats, the drunks, the risks…..

    Dean is a poet that makes you think, and not always about the good stuff, not always about lost love or feelings, but also about the underbelly of society, the people and things you pass by every day, the news stories you may not want to see. And always with an eye on the word count, never using two where one will do, wary of overly decorative narrative….
    Take my advice, read this book, you wont be disappointed. The price belies the content – less than £1 for pages of enlightenment.

    BUY FROM AMAZON

  • BOOK REVIEW | Faitheist by Chris Stedman

    Chris Stedman is an atheist with a humanistic ethical code. Stedman, through his interfaith work, encourages the religious and nonreligious to come together and share their stories to humanise and understand one another for the greater good. He is the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University and writes on his blog NonProphet Status, for the Huffington Post as well as on various other media platforms.

    In Faitheist, Chirs Stedman shares the story of his life (so far). The full title of the book is longwinded (Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious) and the introduction is off-putting. The introduction is full of terminology that is unfamiliar, unless you’re an Atheist Activist or an Interfaith Worker/Volunteer. This terminology and the elongated words are both unnecessary.

    But get past the introduction and Stedman’s story is fascinating. Told in his warm and engaging writers voice his story is educational, enlightening, completely honest and emotionally resonant.

    Stedman starts with his childhood; describing it as ‘not particularly religious.’ He discusses his search for a place to belong and a community to be a part of. Towards the end of his childhood he joins a church and becomes a Christian.

    Stedman moves into his adolescence and tells us of his developing homosexuality. He describes a difficult time in his life, one where his sexuality and his extreme Christian beliefs are at odds. He discusses his self-hate, guilt and his loss of faith in God. He reveals how his mum discovered that he was gay and how she supported him. Lost, Stedman sets out on journey to find himself.

    Stedman tells of his early adulthood; describing his journey to find himself and what he wants to do with his life. He tells that through Voluntary & Community Work he served others (a recurring theme throughout his entire life), he realised that the religious and nonreligious need to work together (interfaith working). He explains that he realised this has to start with understanding one another’s perspective.

    Stedman writes about his set and strong convictions towards the end of this book, clearly promoting humanism. However he has a history of changing some of his views, based on his life experiences. So this left the question as to whether some of his views may change over time. Not his core values, those have always remained a constant, but some of his views on complex ‘grey’ areas in life.

    As Stedman shares his story he describes his patchwork of tattoos and their meaning to him and his life. Stedman demonstrates his wonderful ability to reflect on his own experiences and learn from them. He reveals his unique passion, vibrant personality and how so alive he is. A gorgeous man with a beautiful, caring soul.

    Stedman concludes his book, not surprisingly, advocating the bringing together of the religious and the nonreligious (atheists). He suggests that they should share their life stories with one another. This he states will lead to a better understanding of one another, so that they can work better together. He encourages the reader to open a dialogue with people from all walks of life, to listen to their stories and share yours.

    Stedman could have included some glossy photo pages to match his autobiographical style of story sharing, which would have been great for visual learners. Faitheist by Chris Stedman is a thought-provoking read and will appeal to anyone who is interested in the study of religious or atheism, the effect of religion on homosexuality, humanism, philosophy, ideology, interfaith work and/or bringing communities together.

    Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious by Chris Stedman is available to buy on Amazon.

  • BOOK REVIEW | Grand Slam

    Ok, being a Brit, I have to admit that the rules of baseball are an anathema to me – I have no idea who does what to whom or where, only a scant knowledge that its a little like rounders…. with a bigger bat and tighter trousers.

    Being given a gay romance novel to review that revolves around the game of baseball may seem strange, and it being written by a woman even stranger. This is her debut male/male romance novel and the initial idea came about over a family lunch involving her oldest son. An off the cuff remark by his girlfriend that ‘if he were ever to have a “gay” experience, then it would be with his best friend,’ led to the author picking this up and using it in her book.

    The story revolves around the budding romance of Spencer Hightower and Brock Kinkaid – great all American names, conjuring up images of muscle, sweat and Gap… and this book does a great job of supplying you with imagery.

    I’m not going to spoil the story for you, suffice to say, Spencer is the minor league baseball player with ambition and Brock the audience, after his nephew wins tickets to go see Spencer in action… on the pitch. They meet, fall heavily in love and then the story does something I really love, it shows them dating… not jumping straight into bed, a back seat or handy dark alley… no – actual dating. For me, this is what I love… normal life.

    Too many gay themed books are “one handed reads”, going straight for the crotch from word one, but Grand Slam, although it has no shortage of very well written and highly charged sex scenes, also shows that we, as gay men, actually eat food at times too, we do laundry, we shop as well as all the other stuff we’re fabulous at!

    Of course, being fiction, the normality doesn’t always last and their romance is soon under pressure from outside influences, bigotry and another man, but I’ll leave you to read it and get the juicy details. It is worth the purchase.

    The book is available as both paperback and download and I love that. Too many books of this genre are simple downloads which can almost cheapen the experience. Having said that, I am a convert to the whole e-reader experience, both via tablet and dedicated e-reader.

    Grand Slam is available to purchase here

  • BOOK REVIEW | Confessions Of A Gay Rugby Player – Books 1 and 2, By Patrick Darcy

    What is it recently with me and ball playing books? First, there was Grand Slam by J.T. Cheyanne and now along comes Confessions of a Gay Rugby Player by the talented Patrick Darcy.

    Patrick takes the world of rugby, gay rugby at that, and makes it real. So real, you can smell the sweat on those players, even if you have no idea why they scrum or whatever it is they do….

    The first title isn’t overly long, at just 44 pages in total and is a fully fledged, paid up member of the gay erotica club. This book has no pretensions to be literary or a full novel….it does what it says on the tin, its erotic, its truthful and honest, and above all else, its sexy as hell!

    The storyline is simple, it follows our hero, Conor Murphy as he takes part in a gay rugby tournament in New York. Rubbing up against teams from all over the world gives him plenty of chances to get up to mischief and he doesn’t disappoint, including a quickie with a cowboy!

    In the introduction, Charlie Harding sets the scene when he asks whats hotter than a manly, burly, masculine rugby player? And believe me, if this is your thing, this title wont disappoint you.

    The sex scenes are written with one thing in mind, so hold your e-reader securely… in the one hand…

    Book 2 follows a similar vein, if you will. Connor and his close team mate Sean take Copenhagen, one man at a time. Once again, there are realistic rugby scenes in here that sit convincingly alongside Connor and Sean’s conquests. This isn’t surprising as the writer identifies himself as gay, Irish and a rugby player himself. Also, similarities with Connor continue in that Patricks day job allows him to travel and experience “local colour” which surely must provide fodder for the books.

    I admire both titles for their honesty – Patrick has an innate talent for producing work that entertains the head whilst also appealing to somewhere further south.

    If rugby is your game, or rugby players are your type, treat yourself and download these now…there is a 3rd available but I’ll leave that up to you to discover.

     

    Buy from Amazon

  • BOOK REVIEW | The Magician’s Assistant, by Ann Patchett

    Pleasure & Pain are this month’s theme here at THEGAYUK and The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett has got plenty of both. It is one of my favourite all-time books, one that I have read time and time again.

    The story is about Sabine who we meet when she looses her gay husband Parsifal unexpectedly. Sure she knew he had HIV, but expected it to be a few more years before his death.

    Parsifal was a great magician and Sabine his loyal assistant.

    Parsifal had been in love with Phan who just a short time ago had died from AIDS.

    Parsifal knowing that he was HIV positive and that he had no family decided to marry his life long friend Sabine. This was so that she would be entitled to his inheritance and because on a deep level he truly loved her.

    After Parsifal’s death the lawyer explains to Sabine that Parsifal has family in Alliance, Nebraska. Sabine is grieving and shocked at this revelation. Why didn´t she know about them? Why did he never talk about them and deny all knowledge of having a family?

    We join Sabine on an emotional journey as she meets this family and discovers more about Parsifal´s childhood. During the days Sabine learns more about Parsifal, and in the nights she dreams meeting first Phan and eventually Parsifal.

    Along the way Sabine learns more about herself and realises that Parsifal has given her a most precious gift, more precious than money and security she thought he´d left her.

    This book becomes an absolute page-turner as we connect with Sabine and need to know what will happen next.

    The Magician’s Assistant by Ann Patchett is available to purchase on Amazon and is essential reading for anyone who’s ever loved and lost and then found love again.