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liszt91's review
lighthearted
slow-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
1.0
maya56's review
4.0
This was my first foray into reading Tinnean's work. I'll definitely be reading more!
I became so caught up in this story that I started reading in the morning and just couldn't put it down until I was done at 4:00 am the following morning!
There was some tying up of loose ends and perhaps some clarification as to Geo's motivation that I might have wished for but that didn't seriously detract from my ultimate enjoyment of the book.
I became so caught up in this story that I started reading in the morning and just couldn't put it down until I was done at 4:00 am the following morning!
There was some tying up of loose ends and perhaps some clarification as to Geo's motivation that I might have wished for but that didn't seriously detract from my ultimate enjoyment of the book.
kytan's review
3.0
3 1/2 stars.
I liked the story, but the ending felt very rushed, in an emotional sense.
It left a sense of imbalance.
Tl;Dr: this book should be about Ashton getting free from all the people whose affection he craved who never cared for him, and finding someone who does love him.
But while we get shown a lot of his loneliness and other people mistreating him, we are just told he gets his HEA, we aren't actually shown any of it. So it feels incomplete.
Long version:
For the whole book we are shown and told how Ashton only wants to be seen and loved, not just by a lover, but by his "family", how very alone and lonely he feels. His uncle was a cruel man, the other children despise and bully him, even as adults, the servants can't stand him and more or less refuse to serve him, and he is in love with a guy that, while using him for sex, not only despises him as a person, but is also ashamed of his own sexual desire for a man (so it's not even a good sexual relationship). Then there is his aunt, perfectly happy with doting on the other children and ignoring how they mistreat him. (They continually call him Awful as if that was his given name, and she never has anything to say to this)
And by the end of the book nothing has changed on that front.
Sure, the servants learn to respect him, but on the other hand he realizes that his aunt cared even less than he thought about him, and she goes from ignoring other people mistreating him to saying pretty hurtful things to him herself.
Geo and Ashton's romance is supposed to be the counterbalance to all this.
In theory the story is about Ashton getting over the people whose affection he uselessly craved as a child and finding someone who actually loves him.
The problem is that in the beginning Geo is not better than everyone else. By his own admission, he is resentful of Ashton's aunt, and initially wanted to take it out on Ashton. Then he switched to wanting some fun, and uses the debt to more or less coerce Ashton into his bed. And even when they have become friends, he explains that he has no interest in love.
And then he leaves, without a word.
So for most of the book, Ashton is quite reasonably convinced that Geo only sees him as an investment or a bit of fun to be discarded at any moment. So once again he is left loving and craving affection from someone who doesn't reciprocate.
We are never shown them going from this precarious relationship to something real. We are just told that it happens.
Geo comes back, ad suddenly they are proper friends. We (and Ashton) are given no reason we should believe Geo actually cares, aside from the fact that he is the love interest of the MC of a romance book, so duh.
Geo has to go away again, and when he comes back, suddenly they are actual lovers.
Just like that. A bit of practical issues resolutions, and the book ends.
There are pages and pages of people being mean and unkind to Ashton and of the hurt he feels because of it. (And no real sense of satisfaction, as most of them get a happily ever after.)
But there is very little of Geo actually showing that HE cares, and of Ashton finally receiving the affection he craves. So the ending feels unbalanced. Sure, we are told he gets his happily ever after, but we don't get to see any of it, while we saw his suffering in detail.
I liked the story, but the ending felt very rushed, in an emotional sense.
It left a sense of imbalance.
Tl;Dr: this book should be about Ashton getting free from all the people whose affection he craved who never cared for him, and finding someone who does love him.
But while we get shown a lot of his loneliness and other people mistreating him, we are just told he gets his HEA, we aren't actually shown any of it. So it feels incomplete.
Long version:
For the whole book we are shown and told how Ashton only wants to be seen and loved, not just by a lover, but by his "family", how very alone and lonely he feels. His uncle was a cruel man, the other children despise and bully him, even as adults, the servants can't stand him and more or less refuse to serve him, and he is in love with a guy that, while using him for sex, not only despises him as a person, but is also ashamed of his own sexual desire for a man (so it's not even a good sexual relationship). Then there is his aunt, perfectly happy with doting on the other children and ignoring how they mistreat him. (They continually call him Awful as if that was his given name, and she never has anything to say to this)
And by the end of the book nothing has changed on that front.
Sure, the servants learn to respect him, but on the other hand he realizes that his aunt cared even less than he thought about him, and she goes from ignoring other people mistreating him to saying pretty hurtful things to him herself.
Geo and Ashton's romance is supposed to be the counterbalance to all this.
In theory the story is about Ashton getting over the people whose affection he uselessly craved as a child and finding someone who actually loves him.
The problem is that in the beginning Geo is not better than everyone else. By his own admission, he is resentful of Ashton's aunt, and initially wanted to take it out on Ashton. Then he switched to wanting some fun, and uses the debt to more or less coerce Ashton into his bed. And even when they have become friends, he explains that he has no interest in love.
And then he leaves, without a word.
So for most of the book, Ashton is quite reasonably convinced that Geo only sees him as an investment or a bit of fun to be discarded at any moment. So once again he is left loving and craving affection from someone who doesn't reciprocate.
We are never shown them going from this precarious relationship to something real. We are just told that it happens.
Geo comes back, ad suddenly they are proper friends. We (and Ashton) are given no reason we should believe Geo actually cares, aside from the fact that he is the love interest of the MC of a romance book, so duh.
Geo has to go away again, and when he comes back, suddenly they are actual lovers.
Just like that. A bit of practical issues resolutions, and the book ends.
There are pages and pages of people being mean and unkind to Ashton and of the hurt he feels because of it. (And no real sense of satisfaction, as most of them get a happily ever after.)
But there is very little of Geo actually showing that HE cares, and of Ashton finally receiving the affection he craves. So the ending feels unbalanced. Sure, we are told he gets his happily ever after, but we don't get to see any of it, while we saw his suffering in detail.
jkh107's review
3.0
Old skool Victorian romance in tenor and plotting--between two men. Kind of fun.
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