Tag Archives: lgbtq

Book Review: The Remaking of Corbin Wale, by Roan Parrish

I picked up a free copy of Roan Parrish‘s The Remaking of Corbin Wale last year and I included it as part of my Holiday Reading Challenge this year. But instead of reading my ecopy, I ended up borrowing an audio copy through Hoopla so that I could listen while I did chores. I thought it was a good review to post today, the last day of Hanukkah.

Last month, Alex Barrow’s whole life imploded – partner, home, job, all gone in 48 hours. But sometimes when everything falls apart, better things appear almost like magic. Now, he’s back in his Michigan hometown, finally opening the bakery he’s always dreamed of. But the pleasure of opening day is nothing compared to the lonely and beautiful man who bewitches Alex before he even orders.

Corbin Wale is a weirdo. At least, that’s what he’s heard his whole life. He knows he’s often in a fantasy world, but the things he feels are very real. And so is the reason why he can never, ever be with Alex Barrow. Even if Alex is everything he’s always fantasized about. Even if maybe, just maybe, Corbin is Alex’s fantasy too.

When Corbin begins working at the bakery, he and Alex can’t deny their connection any longer. As the holiday season works its magic, Alex yearns for the man who seems out of reach. But to be with Alex, Corbin will have to challenge every truth he’s ever known. If his holiday risk pays off, two men from different worlds will get the love they’ve always longed for.

I enjoyed this, as I have most things I’ve read by Roan Parrish. I thought Alex and Corbin were wonderful characters and I appreciated that Corbin’s abilities weren’t discounted, but nor were they ever expanded into any explicit, nameable certainty. I liked that little bit of lasting vagueness and magical realism. I also liked that while he was shy about some things, the things you’d most expect someone to be shy about turn out to be his particular kinks (and matched Alex so well).

Conversely, I didn’t care for how purple the sex scenes were. All the comparing sex to oceans and trees and other elemental powers just irritated me. I found it all distracting. And I don’t think Gareth was given the screen-time he deserved.

All in all, I’d call this a success in the most general sense, but also particularly as a holiday read. It fit the bill wonderfully.

Other Reviews:

ARC Review: The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

https://www.kaetrinsmusings.com/2019/01/the-remaking-of-corbin-wale-by-roan-parrish.html

Come back tomorrow. I’ll be reviewing Second Chances, by Kiska Gray.

Book Review: Unhinged, by Onley James

Leave a reply

I picked up a copy of Unhinged, by Onley James, as an Amazon freebie.

Adam Mulvaney lives a double life. By day, he’s the spoiled youngest son of an eccentric billionaire. By night, he’s an unrepentant killer, one of seven psychopaths raised to right the wrongs of a justice system that keeps failing.

Noah Holt has spent years dreaming of vengeance for the death of his father, but when faced with his killer, he learns a daunting truth he can’t escape. His father was a monster.

Unable to ignore his own surfacing memories, Noah embarks on a quest to find the truth about his childhood with the help of an unlikely ally: the very person who murdered his father. Since their confrontation, Adam is obsessed with Noah, and he wants to help him uncover the answers he seeks, however dark they may be.

The two share a mutual attraction, but deep down, Noah knows Adam’s not like other boys. Adam can’t love. He wasn’t born that way. But he refuses to let Noah go, and Noah’s not sure he wants him to.

Can Adam prove to Noah that passion, power, and protection are just as good as love?

This book has any number of toxic and problematic elements. The way it talks about children who have been victims of traumatic events and develop socio- or psychopathy as broken and irredeemable is hugely problematic. The way it talks about those adults is equally problematic. The relationship between Adam and Noah is toxic and problematic. The circumvention of the legal system and the enactment of vigilante justice is problematic. The uncomfortable parallel of the evil pedophiles doing as they want despite the immorality and illegality of it and the (apparently) not evil psychopathic murders doing as they want despite the immorality and illegality of it is unavoidable and problematic.

There are more problematic aspects to this book than not, honestly. But it’s fictional and oftentimes the unspoken compact between the author and the reader to ensure the main characters remain safe (even as they struggle) and have a happy ending makes the book safe enough to allow the reader to say, “I acknowledge this would be reprehensible in real life, but in this fictional setting I’m going to set that fact aside and enjoy the fiction of it.”

That’s the intersection I stood at while reading Unhinged. It’s a crazy, fun read and I enjoyed a lot of it, with the exception of one big thing. Personally, I couldn’t abide the layering of Noah’s history of catastrophic child sexual abuse with his adult sex with Adam. They are separate events, true. But personally I just don’t want child rape in my sexy-time books, in general. I don’t like to associate those two things in my mind AT ALL.

Certainly it qualifies for everything I said in above paragraph. But I try to avoid rape in the books I read for entertainment, even a history of it. I absolutely don’t want to read about a kid getting raped (or an adult remembering being raped as a child) and then turn the page and immediately feel the flutter of sexual excitement from the subsequent sex scene. I want those two things MILES apart. I do not want them associated in ANY WAY.

That’s a personal hard limit for me and Unhinged all but smashes them together. Noah uses sex to help deal with his emerging memories of abuse, so the reveal and discussion of the abuse was almost always immediately followed by a sex scene. Which means the reader is still remembering the child abuse while feeling the titillation of the sex scene. No thank you from me on that front.

But unless every book in the series follows the same plot-line then I can say that I liked the rest of the book enough to continue the series. I liked Adam’s ‘I just can’t human well’ crazy possessiveness. I liked Noah’s acceptance of it. I liked the brothers snark. The sex was sexy. There was a large aspect of this plot I disliked having to engage with. But I liked the overarching series-level story and look forward to getting to know the other 6 brothers.

Other Reviews:

Review: Unhinged (Necessary Evils #1) by Onley James

https://neverhollowed.com/2021/10/22/review-unhinged-by-onley-james/

Book Review: Holiday Haunts, by Imogen Markwell-Tweed & Wendy Dalrymple

Up to Snow Good

I thought this was super sweet. There was definitely some insider WLW humor. But being able to good-naturedly poke fun at yourself to an expected audience that can share the humor is a super relatable way to make something feel like a comfort read. It’s only a short story, so nothing is deeply defined or elaborately developed. But there is just enough to make you like both characters and root for their happy ending.

Heavenly Reads

I also thought this a super cute story. Jesse’s inner monologue had a lot of character and Angel fit his name. It was fairly obvious where the story was going, but it was fun seeing it get there.

Magic Mistletoe

I thought Nick’s absentminded pleasant demeanor super cute and Paige’s vegan, new age-ness suitably witchy. I like that the eventual age difference was of no concern. All in all a fine Christmas story.

The Assistant Manager and the Beast

Meh, I thought this the weakest of the bunch. I’m not saying it was bad; one of the four stories had to be bottom of the pile and this was the one for me. I really liked the idea of Krampus as a character, but nothing about Heidi stood out as notable for me. But it was a sweet story overall.

Come back tomorrow. I’ll be reviewing Christmas at Rosie Hopkins’ Sweetshop, by Jenny Colgan.

See Sadie Read

Sci-fi, fantasy, UF/PNR & LGBT+