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walford's review
5.0
Reread June 2020: This is either a perfect book or perfect for me in this moment. Even though I read this at breakneck speed Again (it's pulse-pounding from the get-go), I only now registered the gorgeousness of Harper's sentences and the evocation of natural beauty in which the story is set. I've gotta get my ass to Scotland. And I may have to reread All of Ms. Fox's books.
My first review: Ms. Fox is really on a roll these days. She's doing gay romantic suspense better than anyone. I've dated myself already by comparing her to Mary Stewart (that's a Sixties reference, for you babies BTW).
This one is very well-plotted and she's so good at grounding her stories in a place; it feels really real. I liked our protagonists and loved their romance. Only one supporting character did I find impossible to believe in, although she was charming (violet lace gloves, Harper, really?).
Get this one and save it for a rainy day.
My first review: Ms. Fox is really on a roll these days. She's doing gay romantic suspense better than anyone. I've dated myself already by comparing her to Mary Stewart (that's a Sixties reference, for you babies BTW).
This one is very well-plotted and she's so good at grounding her stories in a place; it feels really real. I liked our protagonists and loved their romance. Only one supporting character did I find impossible to believe in, although she was charming (violet lace gloves, Harper, really?).
Get this one and save it for a rainy day.
thebroadsheets's review against another edition
I've spent nearly a month trying to get past 40-ish percent and I found it impossible. I just could not get over the ludicrousness of the plot.
claudia_is_reading's review against another edition
5.0
God, I love this! It's perfect! The characters, the plot, the narration!
I love Viv, with his almost child-like innocence for moments, and the next his apparent cynism when he simply is stating facts.
I love how Mallory manages to understand Viv, and yes, a lot of times he gets it wrong, but he eventually sees it and fixs it.
And yes, the cold fusion plot might be crazypants, but I still love it. What can I say? to me, plot, subplot, everything here is about just one question: when a life is worth living? And I love the answer :D
I love Viv, with his almost child-like innocence for moments, and the next his apparent cynism when he simply is stating facts.
I love how Mallory manages to understand Viv, and yes, a lot of times he gets it wrong, but he eventually sees it and fixs it.
And yes, the cold fusion plot might be crazypants, but I still love it. What can I say? to me, plot, subplot, everything here is about just one question: when a life is worth living? And I love the answer :D
susanscribs's review
4.0
Geez, Harper Fox, did you really have to tear out my heart and stomp on it like that? It's not enough you have a genius MC with Asperger's syndrome, but did you also have to up the ante? with a fast-acting fatal disease? Until the last chapter I wasn't sure you weren't about to pull a John Green Fault Is In Our Stars on me.
Viv might have been an almost too saintly "special person" - he never really showed any anger for what I considered an egregious betrayal by Mal - and his dislike of being touched sure disappeared magically enough whenever Mal was around - but as always Fox delivered breathless romantic tension mixed with danger and a bit of dry humor, which allowed me to suspend my skepticism. I bought Cold Fusion on its release date, January 4, and finished it just a few days later, but it will probably end up as one of my top M/M reads for 2016. Unless Fox releases another book later this year!
Viv might have been an almost too saintly "special person" - he never really showed any anger for what I considered an egregious betrayal by Mal - and his dislike of being touched sure disappeared magically enough whenever Mal was around - but as always Fox delivered breathless romantic tension mixed with danger and a bit of dry humor, which allowed me to suspend my skepticism. I bought Cold Fusion on its release date, January 4, and finished it just a few days later, but it will probably end up as one of my top M/M reads for 2016. Unless Fox releases another book later this year!
thebroadsheets's review
I've spent nearly a month trying to get past 40-ish percent and I found it impossible. I just could not get over the ludicrousness of the plot.
poultrymunitions's review
2.0
unbelievable.
it's been a long month, and my disappointment with this book is so keen i find i don't even have it in me to be anything but bleakly succinct where i should be expansive and helpful.
a friend put it this way:
all the lovely prose in the world can't elevate a crazypants plot and a distressingly poor representation of autism.
the story is completely bananas. with thecold fusion on and off again like a bloody hobby, and the murdering so and so, and the bone marrow transplant happening in five minutes, and all the rest of the unhinged goings-on.
and then the autism stuff started out okay but then veered into the offensive and the bewildering.
but for me, the worst of it was the wildly unsympathetic narrator.
i lost my temper with him early, and our partnership never recovered. always saying and doing the wrong things, and being a dick to his supposed and astonishingly sudden love interest, and then outta nowhere he's a ride or die motherfucker here to stick it out to the end, and then he's fucking up like he's 15 and seriously angry about his ma ironing a crease into the front of his jeans or something.
selfish, impulsive, thoughtless, destructive, overbearing, and reckless.
and irritatingly credulous, too.
he's fuckin horrible.
so yeah.
...you'll note my exhaustion has mysteriously vanished long enough for me to articulate my antipathy for him.
it's been a long month, and my disappointment with this book is so keen i find i don't even have it in me to be anything but bleakly succinct where i should be expansive and helpful.
a friend put it this way:
all the lovely prose in the world can't elevate a crazypants plot and a distressingly poor representation of autism.
the story is completely bananas. with the
and then the autism stuff started out okay but then veered into the offensive and the bewildering.
but for me, the worst of it was the wildly unsympathetic narrator.
i lost my temper with him early, and our partnership never recovered. always saying and doing the wrong things, and being a dick to his supposed and astonishingly sudden love interest, and then outta nowhere he's a ride or die motherfucker here to stick it out to the end, and then he's fucking up like he's 15 and seriously angry about his ma ironing a crease into the front of his jeans or something.
selfish, impulsive, thoughtless, destructive, overbearing, and reckless.
and irritatingly credulous, too.
he's fuckin horrible.
so yeah.
...you'll note my exhaustion has mysteriously vanished long enough for me to articulate my antipathy for him.
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