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elfflame's review
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
samnreader's review
emotional
sad
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
While I LOVE this author and the intensity she gifts us with, this book felt like too much. It was too morose, too wintery, too stacked against them. I find myself thinking I would not be up for the tone of the second and happy just leaving it here for now. I had a really long pause on this and just kind of needed to finish it to see if it picked up. Lovely, just not for me. No rating.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child abuse, Homophobia, and Violence
kaje_harper's review
5.0
4.5 stars. This book was released in what seems to have been the author's first year of publication. (Just three years ago - wow, she's done so much good writing in such a short span.) It is a little less crafted, less layered with the gorgeous language that makes a Harper Fox novel something unique, but there are flashes and moments that are stunning. The basic story is a classic, of the rich boy who has material wealth but nothing else good or real in his life, meeting the poor boy who changes his world.
Laurie is an interesting character, a young man with talent and intelligence but who has learned a passive approach to life around his overbearing and volatile father. He's a little absent, feeling colorless when we meet him. The only thing that rouses him to effort and real engagement is protecting and nurturing his younger sister, to whom he is brother and father-figure both. But one cold night he spots a homeless man just about his age, huddled in a doorway, and has a moment of connection that becomes an epiphany. A few days later he tracks Sasha down, and takes him in for the night. And in turn, Sasha unlocks Laurie from the fog of distance in which he is living his life and makes him feel real, urgent and necessary passion within himself, for someone new.
But Sasha is an illegal immigrant with a shady past, and Laurie's father is a bigot and homophobic. Being together isn't simple in any way. The story plays out with a fair bit of drama and unexpected moments of hard-won joy. The plot is eventful, the resolution sweet. Like almost everything this author writes, I read this in one sitting, and will come back to it. Not my favorite Harper Fox, but that bar is very high indeed. Still going on my favorites list, and a reread.
I won a free copy of this book on the M/M group, but I'd been searching for it and would have bought it anyway. I'll read anything Harper Fox cares to write.
Laurie is an interesting character, a young man with talent and intelligence but who has learned a passive approach to life around his overbearing and volatile father. He's a little absent, feeling colorless when we meet him. The only thing that rouses him to effort and real engagement is protecting and nurturing his younger sister, to whom he is brother and father-figure both. But one cold night he spots a homeless man just about his age, huddled in a doorway, and has a moment of connection that becomes an epiphany. A few days later he tracks Sasha down, and takes him in for the night. And in turn, Sasha unlocks Laurie from the fog of distance in which he is living his life and makes him feel real, urgent and necessary passion within himself, for someone new.
But Sasha is an illegal immigrant with a shady past, and Laurie's father is a bigot and homophobic. Being together isn't simple in any way. The story plays out with a fair bit of drama and unexpected moments of hard-won joy. The plot is eventful, the resolution sweet. Like almost everything this author writes, I read this in one sitting, and will come back to it. Not my favorite Harper Fox, but that bar is very high indeed. Still going on my favorites list, and a reread.
I won a free copy of this book on the M/M group, but I'd been searching for it and would have bought it anyway. I'll read anything Harper Fox cares to write.
millah's review
3.25
I enjoyed parts of this book, although some parts made me unsure, like the use of the term gypsy, because I believe many consider that a derogatory term (at least in Norway, maybe it's not the same everywhere). When I started to read, I was also a little sceptical to the whole "rich, privileged guy meets a homeless guy", because I have a hangup that I can't quite explain, but... That didn't bug me too much, the story and the characters pulled me in and kept me interested. The book had some beautiful prose. I liked the vibe of the story, although that same vibe at times made me wonder if it was a contemporary book or a historical one. The vibe felt like historical romance with a prince locked up in a castle. As the story went on, it got a bit heavy on the angst, trauma and miscommunication for my taste. Trigger warnings: trauma, homophobia, previous and current abuse, violence, implied attempt at sexual abuse.
moatzilla's review
challenging
emotional
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, and Xenophobia
Minor: Pedophilia
claudia_is_reading's review
5.0
I never thought I would say this about a Harper Fox's book, but this is a sweet love story :P
That doesn't mean that there aren't dark moments, only that the darkness lays outside the protagonists, who are, in essence, young men who were forced into adulthood by the circumstances of their families rather than age.
Laurie is rich and quite disinterested in his own life and his future; his only interest lays in protect and nurture his young sister in a home presided by an authoritative, bigot father and a medicated, absent mother. Sasha is a Romani illegal immigrant, living in the streets and with a past he prefers to keep in the shadows.
When they meet a series of events are set in motion that will lead to Laurie's father beating him savagely, Laurie leaving home, getting a job as an actor in a play, Sasha's sudden absence, and Clara (Laurie's little sister), vanishing from the family's home.
From then on, betrayal and deception become the main theme and the plot will grip you mercilessly until the very end.
The writing is not the best I have read by this author, but it's still great, and still compelling. And the narration is simply gorgeous.
Another favourite.
That doesn't mean that there aren't dark moments, only that the darkness lays outside the protagonists, who are, in essence, young men who were forced into adulthood by the circumstances of their families rather than age.
Laurie is rich and quite disinterested in his own life and his future; his only interest lays in protect and nurture his young sister in a home presided by an authoritative, bigot father and a medicated, absent mother. Sasha is a Romani illegal immigrant, living in the streets and with a past he prefers to keep in the shadows.
When they meet a series of events are set in motion that will lead to Laurie's father beating him savagely, Laurie leaving home, getting a job as an actor in a play, Sasha's sudden absence, and Clara (Laurie's little sister), vanishing from the family's home.
From then on, betrayal and deception become the main theme and the plot will grip you mercilessly until the very end.
The writing is not the best I have read by this author, but it's still great, and still compelling. And the narration is simply gorgeous.
Another favourite.
anitalouise's review
5.0
So not sure why this has been tagged as historical. It isn't however I can see why some people thought so. It has a somewhat historical flair and plot - It takes place in England. Laurie is 19 years old, struggling under the weight of a cruel father and a mother who is so afraid of her husband that she can't care for her children. Laurie is failing school so his father gets a tutor to come to the home. He meets Sasha among the homeless population on the streets. A very historical like setting but this is solidly in the 21st century. An absolute tour-de-force by Harper - haunting, lyrical mesmerizing. I often find myself so engrossed in the author's words that I lose time. Sasha and Laurie jump off of the page. So many themes are woven throughout - racism, elitism, poverty vs wealth, the haves and have nots and the words, THE WORDS!! Oh my goodness - so evocative. "A panther or one of the mythical beasts that haunted English fields and started black panics in the countryside." "Something in Sasha must have despised him for it, sweeping through the underworld and picking out what he fancied, like Madonna choosing African babies." Dayuummmm! I just love how the ending was handled. Some unknowns - just like life.
olive2read's review
4.0
Oh, HF, you sure do know how to ramp up the angst, even for an instalove story.
breakaway71's review
3.0
3.5 stars, I think. If you read this one for the characters and the romance, it's well worth the time. The plot was interesting, but a little too overwhelming. Several times it felt...cluttered. Disjointed. Just...too much, and with far too neat a resolution to everything. I felt very disconnected from the story, where usually I like to feel like I'm right in the middle of it. I suppose that could have been the writing style just as much as the plot itself, though, I'm not really sure. In any case, I definitely enjoyed it. I loved seeing Laurie lose the immaturity he had in the beginning and really come into his own, and Sasha was a wonderful balance to him. Definitely worth the read, even if not among my favorites of Harper Fox's work.
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