A review by grey_jayne
Summer Sons by Lee Mandelo

dark emotional mysterious reflective slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

Lee Mandelo's Summer Sons is fabulous! If I hadn't taken a chance on this queer author, I would not have thought that I would absolutely adore a slow moving masc 4 masc Southern Gothic with supernatural elements and so much grad school research. My reading (and personal) preference is femme 4 femme. Thank you Lee for sharing a fully realized world of fast cars and positive masculine queer characters. And for the horniness, I love when a queer genre book gets a little dirty...or a lot.

I did need to clear the space for the reading, which isn't a bad thing, I just struggle with slow paced books because I have reading difficulties. The audiobook was excellent alongside the printed page. 

I also love how technology is effortlessly interwoven throughout the story, emails, texts, Snaps, sometimes showing the text bubbles and other times presenting the text in italics. It's honestly the best representation of owning a smartphone I've ever read. So visceral, intimate and mundane all at once, which is also a fitting description for the vibes of this novel. Oh, and a haunt embodying those qualities.

This book made me think of Clive Barker more than once. Fall into this story and it will take you on a journey. Just don't expect high octane like some of the blurbs suggest. It's a beautiful slow burn, done extremely well.
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