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The Mechanical Universe

Book Review of The Mechanical Universe, by EE Ottoman

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The Mechanical UniverseI purchased a copy of The Mechanical Universe, by EE Ottoman.

Description from Goodreads:
A world of mechanical animation, spell craft, beauty, and romance…

A Matter of Disagreement
Bad enough the rise of mechanical animation is a threat to Andrea’s scholarly pursuits. Much worse that it’s a threat to the livelihood of those who depend on him for support. But all his protestations bring him is notoriety and an unwanted introduction to the man responsible for ruining his life…

Duende
Famed opera singer Aimé has a lot in common with Badri, the Royal Ballet Company’s most popular male lead. They have both dedicated their entire lives to their art and struggle to be taken seriously among the Empire’s elite. But the cost of such dedication is that it leaves no room for other pursuits, least of all those of a personal nature…

Winter’s Bees
Lord Marcel is a brilliant mathematician, member of the mechanical animation movement, and all around dandy. He is less successful in his love for Prince Gilbert. An arranged marriage should have been the perfect solution for bringing secret fantasies to life, but Gilbert wants no part of romance, especially not with a man he regards as a brother.

Review:
On the whole I really enjoyed this story collection. I liked the alternative history, magical world. I loved that all the main characters are people who almost never get to be romantic leads—fat men, trans men, differently abled, castrato, PoC (who fall in love with other PoC), men considered ugly by the standards of their couture, men with small penises. I would have really liked to have seen a woman or two. There are female side characters and they all seemed strong (if strong in very male ways), but no lead females.

The writing is very good, and the editing for the first two stories is pretty good too. It falls apart for the last one for some reason. I mean, really noticeably! But this isn’t the first Ottoman book I’ve read and it won’t be the last.

What I’m drinking: I call it tourist tea. Technically, it’s English Breakfast Tea. But it’s in a cute little red phone box souvenir tin (one in a set of three) that my aunt-in-law brought be from England. Thus, tourist tea…with milk.

pansies

Book Review of Pansies, by Alexis Hall

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PansiesI requested Alexis Hall‘s Pansies from Netgalley. I was approved and then two hours later the paperback showed up in the mail. Apparently, I had forgotten that I’d pre-ordered it. Oops. But it was fortuitous since I ended up reading from both copies and finishing that much faster.

Description from goodreads:
Alfie Bell is . . . fine. He’s got a six-figure salary, a penthouse in Canary Wharf, the car he swore he’d buy when he was eighteen, and a bunch of fancy London friends.

It’s rough, though, going back to South Shields now that they all know he’s a fully paid-up pansy. It’s the last place he’s expecting to pull. But Fen’s gorgeous, with his pink-tipped hair and hipster glasses, full of the sort of courage Alfie’s never had. It should be a one-night thing, but Alfie’s never met anyone like Fen before.

Except he has. At school, when Alfie was everything he was supposed to be, and Fen was the stubborn little gay boy who wouldn’t keep his head down. And now it’s a proper mess: Fen might have slept with Alfie, but he’ll probably never forgive him, and Fen’s got all this other stuff going on anyway, with his mam and her flower shop and the life he left down south.

Alfie just wants to make it right. But how can he, when all they’ve got in common is the nowhere town they both ran away from.

Review:
This is a truly beautiful book. Now, I’ll admit I’m biased, as Hall is one of my favorite authors and I’m kind of predisposed to like anything he writes, but I did very much enjoy this. The writing is lush. The romance so…well, so sweetly romantic you could almost scoop it up with a spoon. Both characters are distinct and likable. Hall even managed to make Fen’s forgiveness believable, which in the beginning I didn’t think was possible. Apparently, I’m a horrible person because I didn’t think Alfie deserved it.

Now, as with most of Hall’s books (maybe all, but I’m not a fan of definitives) all that lush writing can come across as painfully purple at times and this one may have been even more descriptive than normal. I think it’s lovely, but someone with little patience for such will probably not call this a winner. I also thought a few sections stood out as notably stuttered, in that they lacked the same level of flourish as the rest. Personally, I could have done with a little less sex, but I did really appreciate what Hall did with the sex he included. There are mishaps, and affection and a broad definition of what qualifies and very little penetration politicking (yes, I made that up), beyond Alfie’s engagement of his own injurious beliefs.

In all honestly, Alfie coming to terms with his own misconceptions and past self, with his own thoughtlessness, his own inability or unwillingness to consider the effects of his actions on another, or even to consider that he should consider such things was my favorite part of the book. Haven’t we all known (or been) that youth at some point?

I won’t call this my favorite Hall book. There’s little chance a contemporary romance could ever claim that title for any author, it’s just not my preferred genre, but this is definitely worth picking up. There is more emotion in this book than in most of what I’ve read this year put together.

What I’m eating/drinking: An extra hot latte from Webster Groves Garden Cafe (my local coffee shop) and, what turned out to be a chocolate chip muffin. I thought it was blueberry when I pointed to it in the display case. But honestly, how disappointed could I be?

Interborough

Book Review of Interborough (Five Boroughs #4), by Santino Hassell

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InterboroughI received a copy of Interborough, by Santino Hassell, from Netgalley.

Description from Goodreads:
The Raymond Rodriguez from a few years ago wouldn’t recognize the guy he is today. He’s left his slacker ways far behind him and is now juggling two jobs and school. But the balancing act doesn’t allow much time for the man he loves.

David is doing his best to be supportive, but problems at work and his own insecurity leave him frustrated—in more ways than the obvious—whenever he goes to bed before Raymond gets home. The heat and affection between them is still there, but they barely have the time or energy to enjoy it. And it doesn’t help that Raymond is still hiding David from his colleagues.

The stress mounts so high that a vacation in paradise is filled with turmoil instead of harmony, and culminates on their return to the five boroughs with broken promises and heartache. They have to figure out how to stop allowing their differences to overshadow their love. It’s the only way they’ll make it to forever.

Review:

You know, I generally know what to expect when I pick up a Santino Hassell book and in that respect there were few surprises here. The characters were real and the situation gritty and über New York. He writes gay and bi men who struggle with relatable difficulties. It’s not the cotton candy fantasy many contemporary m/m romances portray and I love that about them.

In this one I unfortunately felt the under-framing a bit too much at times. There were certain scenes that felt abruptly added because the author had something to say on the subject. (Or maybe like he wrote a book around the theme instead of the other way around.) I’m not really complaining, I agreed with him and there are undoubtedly many who can relate and will appreciate seeing their experiences mirrored by the characters. And honestly the story really did call for them. An interracial romance could easily feel less authentic if racism wasn’t at least alluded to, for example.

But I thought that some scenes had jagged edges, where I could see where they’d been stitched into the plot. For example, privilege was addressed several times in the book—passing privilege, racial privilege, situational privilege (being able to be out or not), financial privilege. These are real-world issues and I’m glad to see them addressed, but sometimes I didn’t think they were dovetailed as smoothly into the plot as they should have been, even when accounting for the fact that some of these things, like a racist interaction with the police, can and often do pop up on any regular Tuesday. Thus, my ability to pick them out as the author’s issue de jour.

But man, if my biggest complaint is a little roughness around socially relevant scenes that I’m glad were there regardless, in a book that otherwise shines, that’s high praise in my opinion. And others I’ve spoken to didn’t even agree that any particular scenes stood out at all, so this is subjective anyhow.

While the book does stand alone, I think a reader would enjoy it significantly more if they’ve read Sunset Park. Otherwise, you might wonder why it’s so important to these two young men to fight for a relationship that truly seems to be making them miserable. As much as I adore Raymond and David, what really choked my up in this book was all the ways the reader is told that they are madly in love with one another. I really liked seeing the gruff, protective exteriors scrubbed away and the beating hearts underneath.

All in all, it’s another win from Hassell. I’ve somehow missed the third book in the series and I can’t wait to go back and read it.