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sxndaze's review against another edition
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
The world needs change, not forgiveness.
It’s a somber, queer book for sure. It’s not for everyone, but if you’re in the mood for it, it’ll certainly hit hard. This novel is about what lies and prejudice can do to a person, especially in a society that isn’t so forgiving. It’s not happy, and I’m not sure I would have picked it up if I knew that. But it’s still something I’m glad I read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Sexual assault, Violence, Antisemitism, and Grief
Moderate: Child abuse and Suicide
Minor: Sexual content, Death of parent, and Murder
eidal's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Emotional abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Sexual assault, Antisemitism, and Abandonment
tradepaperback's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Sexual content, and Antisemitism
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship and Child abuse
Minor: Suicide
caelfind's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Toxic relationship, Murder, and Toxic friendship
Moderate: Suicide, Antisemitism, and Grief
heather_freshparchment's review against another edition
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Rape, Suicide, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, and Classism
pkc's review against another edition
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.5
A shocking morality tale masquerading as a passionate love story. This book had me absolutely hooked and I gobbled the last 135 pages up in one sitting. Absolutely breathtaking. Nuanced characters, shocking twists and a derisive cry against the status quo of the time that still rings now. I only deducted a half a star for the ending. It was a bit of a bummer. Otherwise, an excellent, sexy and shocking read.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Adult/minor relationship, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Antisemitism, Grief, Outing, Gaslighting, and Classism
Moderate: Violence and Blood
wordsofclover's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
When Benjamin Bowen and his brother Edgar set off on their Grand Tour of Europe to really see and live the culture and sights their erudite mother has spent their life teaching them, they have no idea that what they counter will implode their family. Horace Lavelle, loud, brash and sarcastic bewitches Benjamin and slowly takes him away from his brother, and his family until what is left behind is utter devastation.
This book is basically about a young gay man ignorant of the real world, and hiding his true feelings about himself and who he is from everyone, meeting someone who sees him and makes him feel alive. This book is a hard one to review as the story and the writing aren't necessarily bad but I can't rate this book higher as I just thought the characters were all so horrible and selfish - and I just felt so sad for what happen to Benjamin's family - and how he didn't really seem to care or understand it was all his fault for allowing Lavelle into his life.
Lavelle was someone who had childhood trauma of sexual abuse and his story is so incredibly sad but that doesn't mean he can be excused for so many of his actions. He practically brainwashes Benjamin, and the way he treated Edgar was so awful - I couldn't understand how Benjamin could be happy being around someone who would treat their loved one in such a way. And he also just forgot that it was Lavelle's fault that Edgar did what he did. This is a story about a toxic relationship but the character never really sees it as toxic, and it's probably only the reader that does and at that, probably not every reader depending how one feels about Lavelle.
I also felt so sorry for Benjamin's parents who by the end of the book are made out to be some wicked villains, when all they had done was perhaps shield their children a little bit too much from the real world. There were some real uncomfortable moments in this when Ben talks to his mother about her hiding her Jewish heritage from them, and makes her feel so bad and at fault, it was really awful.
This book just made me feel sad because the characters were all horrible and nothing redeeming happened to them. The only one who deserved better was Edgar whose only real fault was being a bit of a brown nose to those higher up the social class.
This book is basically about a young gay man ignorant of the real world, and hiding his true feelings about himself and who he is from everyone, meeting someone who sees him and makes him feel alive. This book is a hard one to review as the story and the writing aren't necessarily bad but I can't rate this book higher as I just thought the characters were all so horrible and selfish - and I just felt so sad for what happen to Benjamin's family - and how he didn't really seem to care or understand it was all his fault for allowing Lavelle into his life.
Lavelle was someone who had childhood trauma of sexual abuse and his story is so incredibly sad but that doesn't mean he can be excused for so many of his actions. He practically brainwashes Benjamin, and the way he treated Edgar was so awful - I couldn't understand how Benjamin could be happy being around someone who would treat their loved one in such a way. And he also just forgot that it was Lavelle's fault that Edgar did what he did. This is a story about a toxic relationship but the character never really sees it as toxic, and it's probably only the reader that does and at that, probably not every reader depending how one feels about Lavelle.
I also felt so sorry for Benjamin's parents who by the end of the book are made out to be some wicked villains, when all they had done was perhaps shield their children a little bit too much from the real world. There were some real uncomfortable moments in this when Ben talks to his mother about her hiding her Jewish heritage from them, and makes her feel so bad and at fault, it was really awful.
This book just made me feel sad because the characters were all horrible and nothing redeeming happened to them. The only one who deserved better was Edgar whose only real fault was being a bit of a brown nose to those higher up the social class.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Antisemitism
Minor: Suicide
berodatheelf's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Bullying, Child abuse, Death, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Antisemitism, Grief, Murder, Alcohol, and Classism
purpledaydream's review against another edition
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Antisemitism
Moderate: Suicide
lordbyron's review against another edition
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.0
I don't usually do full reviews on here, but I had such high expectations for this book and was quite sorely let down that I would really like to air my grievances. Also, I've not really seen a full breakdown of the book that expressed the issues I had with it.
The premise really lured me in, but from the onset I was concerned that the narration felt laboured and formulaic. This didn't improve as the major plot beats -Edgar's suicide, Lavelle's reappearance and death - tended to be foreshadowed clumsily and were very predictable, feeling unearned and lacking gravity. Its main problem, however, is characterisation - though purported to be witty and seductive, Lavelle himself is the most unforgivable letdown. Swearing profusely and acting as a directionless reactionary do not a revolutionary antihero make. He simply comes across as a horrible person rather than a meaningful rebel of any kind and his pithy witticisms are unconvincing. Though there are attempts to redeem him, or perhaps earn him our pity, his backstory felt cheap and hackneyed. Is there seriously no better way to imagine a complex early life for a gay character in a historic novel besides that of a tragic sex worker?
Owing to his lack of charisma, I consequently found Benjamin - the novel's narrator - completely impossible to sympathise with. Put shortly, Lavelle simply doesn't feel worth any of the things Benjamin is prepared to do for him. Benjamin is maddeningly passive, and forgiving Lavelle for ruining his reputation and essentially causing the death of his brother just felt unrealistic. His behaviour comes off not only as astonishingly naive, but breathtakingly selfish. Though I felt the novel was trying to best to make me empathise with its leading characters, I found myself far more inclined to feel for those who were supposedly trying to prevent their happiness (which I assume was not its intention). More generally, characterisation was lazy and one-dimensional.
I would like to be able to say I enjoyed this book on a base level as simply a historical piece. Though it's far from its weakest aspect, it was also disappointing in this respect too. Blackmore really shoots himself in the foot by admitting a historical inaccuracy - a completely avoidable one, at that - before the story even starts, which is then repeated many times in the novel and it really breaks immersion, especially as I wouldn't have known it was inaccurate without him saying so. Inaccuracy is less of an issue for the novel than the sheer disdain and disgust it seems to have for the period in which it is set. Though born in the eighteenth century, Benjamin's outlook is jarringly, bizarrely modern; his sexuality makes him seem far less of an outsider than his weird disengagement from the times in which he lives. He simply doesn't actually read like a person who lived over two hundred years ago, and that's sad, as I enjoy historical fiction because of its distance from the present.
The sex scenes were also not great, and felt like a missed opportunity. There is so much colourful and interesting sexual slang in this period which was hardly used at all; if it had been integrated, it would have lent these scenes a degree of authenticity and character. Instead they are spoken of in very plain, almost clinical terms which rob it of any eroticism and in some cases dips it into cringeworthy bathos. This novel's strength lies in descriptive prose and there was occasionally some nice imagery in its depictions of the landscape. This was interspersed, however, with baffling omissions (such as 'dull cities of Germany') where genuinely interesting narrative opportunities are just completely glazed over and dismissed.
Simply put, there are just better historical gay romances than this. It reads much like a fanfiction, which I could maybe forgive from a debut, but not from an experienced novelist. It seems incapable of deciding whether it is a cynical scandal paper or a romance - either of which would be fine, but it seems eager to be both at once, to its detriment. Don't let the pretty cover fool you - there is very little behind that facade.
The premise really lured me in, but from the onset I was concerned that the narration felt laboured and formulaic. This didn't improve as the major plot beats -
Owing to his lack of charisma, I consequently found Benjamin - the novel's narrator - completely impossible to sympathise with. Put shortly, Lavelle simply doesn't feel worth any of the things Benjamin is prepared to do for him. Benjamin is maddeningly passive, and forgiving Lavelle
I would like to be able to say I enjoyed this book on a base level as simply a historical piece. Though it's far from its weakest aspect, it was also disappointing in this respect too. Blackmore really shoots himself in the foot by admitting a historical inaccuracy - a completely avoidable one, at that - before the story even starts, which is then repeated many times in the novel and it really breaks immersion, especially as I wouldn't have known it was inaccurate without him saying so. Inaccuracy is less of an issue for the novel than the sheer disdain and disgust it seems to have for the period in which it is set. Though born in the eighteenth century, Benjamin's outlook is jarringly, bizarrely modern; his sexuality makes him seem far less of an outsider than his weird disengagement from the times in which he lives. He simply doesn't actually read like a person who lived over two hundred years ago, and that's sad, as I enjoy historical fiction because of its distance from the present.
The sex scenes were also not great, and felt like a missed opportunity. There is so much colourful and interesting sexual slang in this period which was hardly used at all; if it had been integrated, it would have lent these scenes a degree of authenticity and character. Instead they are spoken of in very plain, almost clinical terms which rob it of any eroticism and in some cases dips it into cringeworthy bathos. This novel's strength lies in descriptive prose and there was occasionally some nice imagery in its depictions of the landscape. This was interspersed, however, with baffling omissions (such as 'dull cities of Germany') where genuinely interesting narrative opportunities are just completely glazed over and dismissed.
Simply put, there are just better historical gay romances than this. It reads much like a fanfiction, which I could maybe forgive from a debut, but not from an experienced novelist. It seems incapable of deciding whether it is a cynical scandal paper or a romance - either of which would be fine, but it seems eager to be both at once, to its detriment. Don't let the pretty cover fool you - there is very little behind that facade.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia and Sexual content
Moderate: Suicide, Violence, and Antisemitism
Minor: Sexual violence