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A review by skye_28x
Glitterland by Alexis Hall
emotional
funny
sad
tense
medium-paced
5.0
Tropes:
-strangers to lovers
-grumpy sunshine
-opposites attract
1 POV
Plot 5/5
Spice 3/5
Omigod babes. I fink this was like, the most amazin' book ever. (That's how Darian, my sweet bby, talks like in the book :^) Honestly though, I loved it SO MUCH!!
The story captivated me from start to finish. The MC, Ash (28), is a respected crime novelist who is also a type 1 bipolar depressive with clinical anxiety disorder. He's moving through life in misery, avoiding any social interactions (this hits too close to home), his only friends being Niall and Max from college and his agent Amy. One night, at his friend's stag party, he meets Darian, a 23-year-old guy from Essex, who is the definition of sunshine and glitter. Ash treats him like a random hookup but Darian is too much of a sweetheart to forget about.
It was tense and angsty, and the pacing flowed really well. I also loved the prose; it reads like a mixture of literary and romance, which are my favorite two genres. I really enjoyed the intellectual writing style and the references the author adds to his stories that give the characters more depth. It's not filled with excessive descriptions and details; it's just enough to make you feel that you're actually reading a beautiful novel rather than fanfiction (as some mm romances tend to be).
I also appreciate how the author, even though he's writing about a character with mental illness—a sensitive subject—interweaves amusing elements into the story. I especially loved the banter between Ash and Darian and I kept giggling at their interactions.
about the characters:
Ash: My heart ached for him from the very beginning. Even though he seemed quite unsympathetic and cruel in some ways, (his fears and insecurities made him make terrible decisions), I still cared for him and rooted for his happiness.
Darian was the sweetest, purest, most innocent precious angel of a character I've ever read. I have such a soft spot for people like that, and I love that A.H. writes such sweet characters in his stories.
*In the book, Darian's Essex accent is written the way you actually hear it, for example, you'll find words written like "fink, janarwhatamean, gehl, abaht, wif, ahwight, aht, sahnded, monfs," etc.
For me, it wasn't hard at all to follow but I saw a few comments where some people did not like that.
The story has a HFN ending; it's not a fairytale of we lived happily ever after. It deals with real issues and the characters deal with their situation how people in real life would. But it wasn't sad at all! It sure left me satisfied and smiling so yeah.
I obviously highly recommend it! I mean I just finished it and want to read it all over again.
*P.S. I'm obsessed with this author's work. (I was gonna write I am obsessed with this author but that probably makes me sound like a stalker, which I'm not, I promise.)
-strangers to lovers
-grumpy sunshine
-opposites attract
1 POV
Plot 5/5
Spice 3/5
Omigod babes. I fink this was like, the most amazin' book ever. (That's how Darian, my sweet bby, talks like in the book :^) Honestly though, I loved it SO MUCH!!
The story captivated me from start to finish. The MC, Ash (28), is a respected crime novelist who is also a type 1 bipolar depressive with clinical anxiety disorder. He's moving through life in misery, avoiding any social interactions (this hits too close to home), his only friends being Niall and Max from college and his agent Amy. One night, at his friend's stag party, he meets Darian, a 23-year-old guy from Essex, who is the definition of sunshine and glitter. Ash treats him like a random hookup but Darian is too much of a sweetheart to forget about.
It was tense and angsty, and the pacing flowed really well. I also loved the prose; it reads like a mixture of literary and romance, which are my favorite two genres. I really enjoyed the intellectual writing style and the references the author adds to his stories that give the characters more depth. It's not filled with excessive descriptions and details; it's just enough to make you feel that you're actually reading a beautiful novel rather than fanfiction (as some mm romances tend to be).
I also appreciate how the author, even though he's writing about a character with mental illness—a sensitive subject—interweaves amusing elements into the story. I especially loved the banter between Ash and Darian and I kept giggling at their interactions.
about the characters:
Ash: My heart ached for him from the very beginning. Even though he seemed quite unsympathetic and cruel in some ways, (his fears and insecurities made him make terrible decisions), I still cared for him and rooted for his happiness.
Darian was the sweetest, purest, most innocent precious angel of a character I've ever read. I have such a soft spot for people like that, and I love that A.H. writes such sweet characters in his stories.
*In the book, Darian's Essex accent is written the way you actually hear it, for example, you'll find words written like "fink, janarwhatamean, gehl, abaht, wif, ahwight, aht, sahnded, monfs," etc.
For me, it wasn't hard at all to follow but I saw a few comments where some people did not like that.
The story has a HFN ending; it's not a fairytale of we lived happily ever after. It deals with real issues and the characters deal with their situation how people in real life would. But it wasn't sad at all! It sure left me satisfied and smiling so yeah.
I obviously highly recommend it! I mean I just finished it and want to read it all over again.
*P.S. I'm obsessed with this author's work. (I was gonna write I am obsessed with this author but that probably makes me sound like a stalker, which I'm not, I promise.)