THEGAYUK

Tag: Three Star Book Review

The latest Three Star Book Review from THEGAYUK.

  • BOOK REVIEW: The Half Life of Hannah by Nick Alexander

    If your first love came back to offer you everything you ever dreamed of, what would you do?

    ★★★

    Hannah is thirty-eight and the happily married mother of eleven-year-old Luke. Her marriage is reassuringly stable, and after fifteen years she has managed to push the wild dreams of youth from her mind and concentrate on the everyday satisfactions of here and now. The first half of her life hasn’t been as exciting as she had hoped, but then, she reckons, whose has? When she succeeds in convincing husband Cliff to rent a villa in the south of France for a summer vacation with her sister Jill and gay friend Tristan, she’s expecting little more than a pleasant few weeks with her family. But they each have their own baggage – their own secrets – ready to explode on this not-so-relaxing holiday in France. When a phone call at the villa announces the imminent arrival of a ghost from her past, the ambiance is transformed into a raging sea of jealousy as Hannah is forced to question everything she thought she knew and believed. But is she brave enough to take the life-changing decisions her future happiness requires?

     

    Kindle chart-topping author Nick Alexander’s work has crossed from his incisive gay themed novels to this series that is more mainstream and a little frothier. It’s a welcome distraction from the world but isn’t exactly going to cause seismic shifts in your consciousness. It’s a great holiday read, absorbing, slightly silly in parts but fun the read. There’s even a pivotal role played by Grindr; something you don’t often see in mainstream fiction. Good characterization and sound narrative make this a book worth a look at.

     

    “The Half Life of Hannah” is part of a series and the sequel “Other Halves” is available to buy or download too.

     

  • BOOK REVIEW | Speaking Out

    ★★★ | Speaking Out

    Speaking Out is a collection of photographic portraits of LBGT young people (aged 14-24 years old). 65+ young people, mostly from the USA are photographed. On each portrait young people have shared their thoughts, feelings or an experience. The young people have been honest in sharing their joys and tribulations of being an LGBT youth in a heterosexual world.

    In Speaking Out photographer Rachelle Lee Smith took the portraits, handed young people a sharpie pen and left them to write what they wanted. Among other topics, young people wrote about: stereotypes, identity, homophobia, self-love and romantic love. Young people identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender. It was great to see transgendered young people represented, however the vast majority of the young people identified as lesbian.

    Years later, some young people reconsidered their portrait. They wrote about how their lives had changed and what they would write now. It was enjoyable to read these reflections from young people and the book would have benefited from having more of these. Several pages of the book felt wasted as they contained quotes that either praised the photographer or the book its self. Never was there any praise for the young people who were actually brave enough to share their stories.

    Speaking Out is presented well, it’s a large book with 127 glossy pages in full colour. There is the odd page where a young person’s handwriting makes it difficult to read what they’ve written, but at no point is it unreadable.

    Speaking Out is an enlightening book that shows how we are all the same, rather than how we are different. It should be available in every school, college, library and youth club.

  • BOOK REVIEW | The Wolf in His Arms (Runes Trilogy Book 2) by Adrian Lilly

    ★★★ | The Wolf in His Arms (Runes Trilogy Book 2) by Adrian Lilly

    The first book is The Wolf at His Door, which I reviewed here

    Alec & Jared the gay, werewolf lovers are back. With Lucy, Alec’s sister, they set out to reveal the truth about what happened to them by decoding documents they found in a underground lab and to find their pack. But they are not the only ones looking for their pack. The Wolfs are hunting members their pack and offering them a choice: join them or they’ll kill them and their family.

    Along the way, Alec & Jared are at it like rabbits while Lucy is coming to terms with her new inner wolf. They track-down other members of their pack including: Maxwell another gay werewolf and his best friend Haley, and Nadia and her mother Helena.

    Alec, Jared & Lucy discover the Wolfs have much bigger ambitions, than just recruiting their pack. The Wolfs are bent on world domination and already have a plan set into action. Alec, Jared & Lucy decide they must stop them. They learn about the elusive Tutelars, protectors of humans. Will the Tutelars recognise that Alec, Lucy and Co are trying to help or just seem them as another pack of werewolfs?

    The story builds to a fantastic ending as the Wolfs set their plan into full motion, sending human society into panic and disarray. Can Alex, Jared and Co stop them or is it too late? This is where the book ends and it leaves the reader wanting more.

    The Wolf in His Arms is written in third person with a good show and tell balance. It keeps the reader hooked throughout with it’s fast-paced, ever-twisting storyline. The Wolf in His Arms is a brilliant, superb and reasonably told story.

    At times, a lack of editing did let The Wolf in His Arms down. It was repetitive on occasion, overly used description of weather – which wasn’t always consistent and used dialogue tags that distracted from the dialogue.

    I recommend reading The Wolf at His Door before The Wolf in His Arms. The Wolf in His Arms gives an adequate backstory, but doesn’t give the reader the same emotional connection as The Wolf at His Door does. I can’t wait to read the final book in the trilogy.

    The Wolf in His Arms is available in ebook format only and its short chapters mean that it is perfect to read on bus, train or tube to work. The Wolf in His Arms is available to buy on Amazon.

  • 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 | Lover At Last by J.R. Ward

    ★★★ | Lover At Last by J.R. Ward

    Tales of the supernatural and dark vampires stalking dystopian worlds seem to have abounded in recent years and are; it seems, here to stay.

    If you’re looking for an erotic vampire story with a gay twist then J.R. Ward’s ‘Black Dagger Brotherhood’ series are the ones to look out for. ‘Lover at Last’ is the 11th book in the series but works well as a standalone also.

    The story follows the stories of Qhuinn, a disavowed aristocrat who is now a brutal fighter in the darker corners of a ravaged New York and Blay, who after years of unrequited for Qhuinn has finally started to move on. What follows is a multi layered story with good dramatic tension and erotic scenes. If you like Twilight but just wish there’d been more male on male action then this series is for you

    Buy the book here

  • BOOK REVIEW | Blackout by Joey Jameson

    ★★★ | Blackout by Joey Jameson

    Dice Valentine is a nightclub stripper with the body of an Adonis and dance moves which leave the crowds of men watching hot under the collar.

    Becoming tired of the life of hedonism and the darkness of the world he inhabits, Dice is considering quitting stripping when he hooks up with a stranger for a night of casual sex. When the stranger is found dead the next day Dice finds himself drawn into a mystery which he needs to unravel in order to clear his own name.

    ‘Blackout’ is by turns erotic and thrilling with a plot which manages to keep the reader turning the page until the end. Jameson evokes an atmospheric world inhabited by shady characters and skilfully handles the genre of erotic mystery with a deft touch.

    Whilst being no great literary work in terms of style and execution, the novel is essentially fun and diverting which is great for a summer read or for an autumnal night by the fire as the seasons change.

    Buy it here

  • BOOK REVIEW | In The Mirror, A Monster

    ★★★ In The Mirror, A Monster

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