LGBT Romance

Unraveling follows our main character Randy who has lived a lie most of his life. He loves his wife and his adorable son, but he has a dark secret: he’s gay, and it’s tearing him apart. At his wife’s urging, he finally comes clean. His wife is supportive and encourages him to get out in the world and discover who he is.

So he does and meets John, a paramedic who, though comfortable being gay, isn’t happy with his life and is looking for a change. But even though John is attracted to the man, Randy being currently married and newly-out has set off John’s internal warning alarms, and he’s hesitant to enter into a romantic relationship with him. It’s about at this point that Randy’s life takes an extreme turn, and before long, things begin to unravel quickly.

I enjoyed the fact that this novel took place in the 80s as it was during this time that I came of age as well, so in this way, it was quite nostalgic for me. I also had several friends who went through a similar event as our main character Randy — coming to terms with their sexuality and going through a divorce in the process. I thought the author handled that aspect of it wonderfully and illustrated nicely that pain and anguish to all involved. The fact that the story is told from a variety of POVs — Randy’s, Violet (the wife), and John (the boyfriend) — added an extra depth and richness to the story.

Unraveling was such a powerful story of acceptance, especially self-acceptance. Though this is sort of a love story, it isn’t your typical gay romance. In fact, passion isn’t the main focus of the story. Instead, it’s raw, emotional, and quite heart-wrenching in places, especially the self-hatred that our main character exhibited and the homophobia of certain family members. It’s a hard-hitting story about the prejudice that gay people have to deal with as well as the pain that leading an inauthentic life can cause. I liked how the story examined the effect of Randy’s coming out on his wife and son and showed how such a decision impacts everyone around you.

I think this is such an important story to be out in the world. In fact, I know of someone who is currently going through a similar situation as Randy now; hence those issues of acceptance, self-hatred, fear, and confusion about one’s sexuality are still very real concerns even today.

Unraveling is such an amazing, thought-provoking, and gut-wrenching read with vivid and wonderfully rendered characters. Though parts of it were dark and gritty, this book hit me right in the heart, and I found it engaging, poignant and ultimately hopeful — and the lovely epilogue was the cherry on top of this tender and heartfelt story.

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I Buried a Witch is the second book in the Bedknobs and Brooksticks trilogy, a romantic gay mystery series by Josh Lanyon. This book is the sequel to “Mainly by Moonlight,” in which Cosmo Saville, a bloodline witch, marries police detective John Galbraith, but there’s one catch: John doesn’t know his new husband is a witch.

That all changes in this book, however, once Cosmo begins investigating the murders of several Wiccans he believes to be related. He inadvertently comes out of the “broom closet” to John, and his news is not well-received. Feeling tricked and deceived, John leaves Cosmo and refuses to take his calls or see him.

But when Cosmo’s investigation puts him directly in the crosshairs of the murderer, John must decide whether he can put his feelings aside and come to the aid of his husband.

I enjoyed this book a lot more than I did the first one. We got to delve a little deeper into the personalities of John and Cosmo, helping us to understand their motivations in the story (though I still think John is a controlling jerk).

Cosmo’s character has really grown on me in this story. He bumbling, a bit ditzy but sweet and lovable as well. But what renders him a truly admirable character is that he’s willing to risk his own life to help save others and to find justice for the innocent victims who were murdered. I also enjoyed Cosmo’s bubbly personality, and he ended up being quite the endearing character for me.

Lanyon really ratchets up the tension in this book, and I found myself deeply engrossed in the story, especially after a couple of failed assassination attempts on poor Cosmo and the murder of several young Wiccan women. There’s also the imminent war brewing between Craft and SPMMR, a mysterious and possibly nefarious organization that we don’t know all that much about yet.

Several secrets and betrayals do come to the forefront in this story, which immersed me even more in the world that the author has created here. I loved how the tone shifts from light to dark, snarky to serious, and back again.

My only niggle is the amount of French that the author used in the book. Now I happen to speak French, so I was able to understand it, no problem. But for someone unfamiliar with the language, I’d imagine that certain passages would be frustrating for them.

But all in all, I enjoyed I Buried a Witch. Though witches are a continuing theme in this trilogy, the story is, at its core, about relationships: family, friends, and lovers; connecting and sometimes not; and the secrets and deception that often interfere with our closest relationships.

Of course, there are some interesting questions that still need to be answered. Why is John invulnerable to magic? Who tried to murder Cosmo? What tragic event happened in John’s past in Somalia that he refuses to talk about? I’m hoping these and other questions will be answered in the third and final book in the series, which I do plan on reading when it comes out in March of 2020.

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Love on the Hudson follows David Webster, who has just returned home to take care of his father, who has just suffered from a stroke. While at home, David does his best to avoid his former childhood friend, Nick Patras.

David had been in love with Nick since they were children, and at the end of their high school year, they began messing around — first a lot of kissing and eventually, sex. But immediately after the last time they have sex together, Nick rejects David, telling David that he isn’t “like him” and they can’t be together ever again, which destroys their friendship. David moves away, earns a degree, and obtains a job he loves. Nick stays in town and determined to overcome this gay desires, marries a woman.

So ten years pass without them seeing each other, and now David is back. Once Nick hears about David’s return, he immediately seeks him and attempts to repair their relationship. Nick, who has finally admitted to himself that he’s gay and is trying to come to terms with his sexual orientation, divorced his wife and now runs an organic farm with two partners.

It’s worth mentioning that Nick is still deep in the closet because of his rabidly homophobic family. Now that David has returned, however, winning him back is on the top of Nick’s list. But it isn’t going to be easy given that Nick deeply hurt David and David now wants nothing to do with him. And there’s Nick’s bigoted family to contend with.

Given that this is a M/M romance, we can pretty much figure out that our two guys are going to get together at some point, and I enjoyed journeying along with them as they overcame the barriers that prevented them from being together. We then delve deeply into each character’s heart-wrenching backstory, which wasn’t always easy to read, especially in regards to Nick’s viciously homophobic family and David’s heartbreak at Nick’s rejection of him.

It’s important to note that for Nick, family is extremely important to him, and this is the main thing that’s kept him so deeply in the closet. But he eventually decides that if he’s to move forward with David and with his life, he’ll need to come out to his family — so he does, which is quite a powerful and intense scene.

I liked how the story is told in dual POVs, which really worked well here. Getting both their perspectives made the story a lot more relatable for me and helped me to understand where both these characters were coming from. It helped that each character’s voice was distinctive, and I was always aware of whose head I was inside of.

I always love second chance/redemption stories involving reconnecting with one’s high school crush or childhood best friend and felt that Fisher did an excellent job with love on the Hudson. She expertly handles some pretty heavy themes such as coming out, homophobia, heartbreak, trust, and the importance of family. It was also a joy to see how Nick evolved from being under his family’s heavy thumb. Additionally, I appreciated the added message here, of how families we create can be just as strong — or even stronger — than families created by blood.

I thought that both characters were well-fleshed out and relatable, and enjoyed getting to know them through the pages of this story. I appreciated the fact they were both relatively rational and level-headed fellows which helped to add that extra bit of “realness” to them. They are flawed and genuine, with each undergoing quite an emotional journey through the pages of this novel.

All in all, this was a sweet, heartfelt, and endearing (and sometimes steamy!) story about two men finding their way back to each other, so in this way, it was also emotive and restorative and quickly wormed its way into my heart. Half love story and half identity quest, Love on the Hudson is a sexy, compassionate story about the power of love, and I’m so glad that this book came to my attention. This isn’t the first book I’ve read by this author, and it certainly won’t be the last.

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Counter Culture is a sweet, heart-warming holiday LGBT romance featuring our two main characters, Robin Christopher and Archie Levine.

Robin works in retail at a story called Willoughby’s, and in an effort to copy the American craziness of Black Friday, Robin’s boss is planning a massive celebration and store sale and wants Robin to play an integral part in it.

One night while walking home from work, he stumbles across Archie Levine, a young man dressed in Victorian Style clothing and whom we learn later on is a Steampunk (not a “Steampunker” as was stressed in the book). We also learn that Archie lives with and looks after his mum, tries to remain on good terms with his ex and be a good father to his little boy. With all that he has on his plate, he has no intention of getting into a romantic relationship with anyone any time soon, but yet, he finds Robin intriguing.

So at their first haphazard meeting, the two men only speak a couple of words to each other and go on their way, though they both think about each other quite a bit in the days to come. But as fate would have it, they bump into each other several times over the few days and eventually end up spending time together.

Then Archie’s mum is infuriated by a local department store who appears to disregard the plight of the homeless and plans a protest at the store. Archie, who once was homeless himself, shares in her fury. It doesn’t help that both Archie and his mum hate this particular store with a passion.

As it turns out, the store in mention is Willoughby’s, the same store where Robin works. When Robin discovers that Archie’s mom is planning a protest, he panics, and lies about his place of employment, first to her and then to Archie.

So the question is: how long can Robin hide his place of employment from Archie and his mother? As we can guess, Robin’s lies are eventually found out, and things end up getting pretty messy once they do, especially given that this new budding relationship is fraught with misunderstandings and lack of communication.

So I thought that the meet-cute courtesy of an old refrigerator was adorable. I appreciated that the author didn’t serve up the same old, cookie-cutter characters, and cookie-cutter struggles. Archie and Robin were superlative together; their connection shone right from their first meeting. There was also plenty of sass, snark, and humor to keep the story light and fun.

Though the premise of the storyline was vaguely familiar, it was also completely unique. I really loved how the author weaved in elements of Steampunk into the story and enjoyed learning more about the Steampunk culture.

I also enjoyed the many messages of this book, one of which is how we should not judge people based on our preconceived notions of them and that things are not always as they seem. Additionally, the story respectfully tackles topics such as homelessness, wealth inequality, mental illness, respect, and social class and in so doing, gives the reader plenty to think about.

I loved how the author concentrates on building up the characters in the story. The relationship really develops between the two protagonists, and it’s not done in a hurried manner. The overall steam is low (there is one quite explicit sex scene), but ask me if I minded? NO!

The sexual tension was delicious in its delayed gratification, and often, I find too many sex scenes in a book destroy the romance between the two characters. Here, we’re on this journey of self-discovery with Archie and Robin…and neither of them takes the relationship lightly. We were a good portion through the book before the characters kissed for the first time, and I personally enjoyed the slow burn.

All in all, I thought Counter Culture was a delightful, feel-good Christmas romantic comedy with sweet & charming characters and plenty of humor. I enjoyed the plot-line and the many interweaving threads throughout. The author’s witty and sophisticated writing style and storytelling really worked for me. I thought the plotting was exceptional, and I found myself completely engrossed in the book in no time at all. Counter Culture is a lighthearted romantic romp that warmed my heart and brought a smile to my face at the end.

Advance Reader Copy provided by NetGalley.

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