Title: If It Ain't Love
Author: Tamara Allen
Genre: m/m historical romance
Print length: 44 pages
Publication date: August 25, 2011
Rating: Five Stars
Blurb: In the darkest days of the Great Depression, New York Times reporter Whit Stoddard has lost the heart to do his job and lives a lonely hand-to-mouth existence with little hope of recovery, until he meets Peter, a man in even greater need of new hope.
Review:
What a way to start the month!
This must be the fifth Five Star book I've gotten my hands on in the last two weeks! I'm either extremely lucky lately, or I've finally learned how to pick 'em :)
This was such a charming and beautiful read.
We meet Whit first and he's really down on his luck. The times are desperate, his job is in jeopardy, and everywhere he turns, all he sees are people just as desperate as he is. The author paints a truly disheartening picture of the Great Depression without going into too much detail. There is a scene where Whit offers to buy a cup of coffee to a man he sees crying in the soup kitchen line. In this one simple encounter, the full misery and wretchedness of the era comes to light. It sets the tone for the rest of the story.
So we meet Whit and are acquainted with his misfortunes. But not until he meets Peter, is Whit's true character revealed. Only then we can clearly see that Whit is a survivor, a man who takes every little gift with gratitude and appreciation it deserves. While Whit is a man who has nothing, Peter is a man who lost everything. Family, home, everything he cared about, including his good name. His darkness is so much deeper than Whits, it appears bottomless.
The two men find each other almost by chance, and in the worst of times, they find something worth living for. Even thought the word 'love' is never actually spoken, it shines through every page. It truly does conquer all.
This is a short read but the message is timeless. It will stay with me for a long time.
I recommend it with all my heart :)
Download it for FREE from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005KV1EHW/ref=oh_d__o00_details_o00__i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
Other titles by this author:
Title: Whistling In The Dark
Author: Tamara Allen
Genre: m/m historical romance
Print length: 338 pages
Publication date: December 10, 2008
Overall reviewer rating: Five Stars
Blurb: New York, 1919. His career as a concert pianist ended by a war injury, Sutton Albright returns to college, only to be expelled after an affair with a teacher. Unable to face his family, he heads to New York with no plans and little money—only a desire to call his life his own. Jack Bailey’s life has changed as well. After losing his parents in the influenza epidemic, he hopes to save their beloved novelty shop—now his—by advertising on the radio, barely more than a novelty, itself. Sutton lands work in Jack’s corner of the city and the two conclude they couldn’t be less suited for friendship. But when Sutton loses his job, Jack gives him a place to stay. Sutton returns to the piano to play for Jack and finds the intervening months have healed him. The program promises to rescue Jack’s business and Sutton’s career...but success brings its own risks for two men falling in love.
Review by Mark R. Probst:
Every once in a while I'll read a book that will literally sweep me off into another world and hold me there, in a magical trance. WHISTLING IN THE DARK is one of those novels, and while reading it, I began to feel that I had no business being a writer as nothing I write will ever compare.
Tamara Allen uses a very light touch to show the New York City of 1919 as she recreates a post-war Mecca vividly describing the birth of prohibition, jazz, and radio stations; underground homosexual parties; automats; shady loan sharks; and two psychologically-damaged soldiers, Jack and Sutton, who find salvation in one another. The very long novel has a feel of Americana, but without the overly cheery optimism. What is so fascinating to observe, is how these two characters warm up to each other. The pace is deliciously slow and as they get to know each other, it never once feels staged, nor does the reader feel telegraphed ahead where there relationship is headed. It took great restraint to allow these characters to develop separately before they finally came together romantically. I shan't spoil you by telling you how it happens, but the circumstances that lead up to their first kiss, is one of the most unique and imaginative plot twists I've ever encountered.
Though the novel certainly deals with some dark and serious issues, the overall tone is buoyant and charming and I had a silly grin on my face though most of it. The myriad of supporting characters are well-drawn and there was the full range of good to bad. The only thing I will say that is even remotely negative is that I counted five straight characters that knew about the love affair between Jack and Sutton and were completely supportive of it. It's possible. Not likely, but possible. Also, this book has got to hold the record for the number of times the word "sandwich" is used. That's not a complaint, just a playful observation. There were so many sandwiches consumed in this book, I felt positively stuffed.
WHISTLING IN THE DARK is a truly remarkable first novel and a beautiful and poignant romance that deserves to be read and savored by anyone who appreciates good gay fiction. So please read it, then tell all of your friends to read it too.
Buy it from Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Whistling-in-the-Dark-ebook/dp/B001NIZ616/ref=la_B002BM227O_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1370179826&sr=1-1
More titles by this author:
Title: Downtime
Author: Tamara Allen
Genre: m/m historical/time travel romance
Print length: 504 pages
Publication date: April 1, 2012
Overall reviewer rating: Four and a Half Stars
Blurb: FBI Agent Morgan Nash is on assignment in London when his case goes awry and he finds himself moments away from a bullet through the heart. But fate has other plans: Morgan is knocked out pursuing a suspect... and wakes up in 1888.
While cataloging ancient manuscripts at the British Museum, Ezra Glacenbie accidentally pulls Morgan out of the twenty-first century--an impromptu vacation that may become permanent for Morgan if they can't locate the spellbook Ezra used. Further hampering Morgan's quest to get home is the irresistible temptation to investigate history's most notorious serial killer. But in repressive Victorian London, the unexpected romance blossoming between Morgan and Ezra becomes the most dangerous complication of all.
Review by Anne Somerville:
Time travel stories hinge on the fish out of water theme, or the `what would happen if I shot my own grandfather?' paradox. Downtime, a really rather charming romance, is mostly about the former, with a bit of the latter. This 300+ page novel was a delight in many ways. The Victorian details were handled very well, and deftly so one never felt it was a history lesson (only a couple of goofs revealed that the writer was not English.) The editing and format was perfectly clean , and the quality of writing was itself superior. And the actual plot was not terribly cliched, in a rather cliched genre, with warm and credible characters who linger in the mind long afterwards.
I have very few criticisms. The plot got somewhat tangled, with Morgan's present day crime fighting confusing in detail, and resolved rather quickly - if it had been dispensed with entirely, it would have been no loss. The interweaving of the Jack the Ripper story with the characters' lives was a tad strained and leads to some slow pacing, but on the whole worked well enough. There were a couple of bum notes in the otherwise well-sustained Victorian era setting, and I also thought the acceptance of Morgan and Ezra's relationship among Ezra's circle was a tiny bit too easy, but not to the point of breaking the suspension of disbelief. The social consequences of being homosexual at that time are certainly not skirted over, but nor are they belaboured. I thought that side of it well handled indeed.
These really weren't enough to tarnish my enjoyment of this story which I inhaled more or less in one sitting. Morgan is the least likable of the characters, which is not to say he's not likable at *all* - but being a brash and rather pigheaded American, he sometimes made me want to slap him. But he's just what Ezra and the others needed to shake up their confined existence, and he and Ezra make a lovely, believable couple. Some of his detective antics are a bit too Hollywood for true credibility but they're used well and keep things rolling along nicely.
Ezra is a darling - psychic, queer, tortured, honourable, and trying so hard to fit in with a society and class completely unforgiving of someone so far outside social norm. I loved how Allen resisted taking the easy course between him and Morgan, and it's a good way into the story before anyone makes a move, having to get past misunderstanding, prejudice and social restrictions before they can admit the attraction between them. It feels right to delay, and for there to be no easy path to their relationship either.
The minor characters are also attractive and well-drawn, from Derry, the Irishman (with a regrettably wandering dialect) to Hannah, the beaten-down maid who blossoms under Morgan's modern approach to women and servants. The little household of bachelors, and the wider circle of men of ambiguous sexuality and class fascinated me, as did the set pieces in drawing rooms and opera houses. Real history and fiction are nicely woven together, to make a vivid and enjoyable setting for the romance.
The ending surprised me, though there are really only a few ways a story like this can finish, and I found myself thinking about Ezra and Morgan for days afterwards - always, to me, a sign of good writing. It's not the most perfect novel I've ever read - time travel stories bring many pitfalls and I know of none that avoid them all - but I still thoroughly enjoyed Downtime, and would happily reread it. Recommended, and I'll be looking out for more by this author. One to watch out for.
I have very few criticisms. The plot got somewhat tangled, with Morgan's present day crime fighting confusing in detail, and resolved rather quickly - if it had been dispensed with entirely, it would have been no loss. The interweaving of the Jack the Ripper story with the characters' lives was a tad strained and leads to some slow pacing, but on the whole worked well enough. There were a couple of bum notes in the otherwise well-sustained Victorian era setting, and I also thought the acceptance of Morgan and Ezra's relationship among Ezra's circle was a tiny bit too easy, but not to the point of breaking the suspension of disbelief. The social consequences of being homosexual at that time are certainly not skirted over, but nor are they belaboured. I thought that side of it well handled indeed.
These really weren't enough to tarnish my enjoyment of this story which I inhaled more or less in one sitting. Morgan is the least likable of the characters, which is not to say he's not likable at *all* - but being a brash and rather pigheaded American, he sometimes made me want to slap him. But he's just what Ezra and the others needed to shake up their confined existence, and he and Ezra make a lovely, believable couple. Some of his detective antics are a bit too Hollywood for true credibility but they're used well and keep things rolling along nicely.
Ezra is a darling - psychic, queer, tortured, honourable, and trying so hard to fit in with a society and class completely unforgiving of someone so far outside social norm. I loved how Allen resisted taking the easy course between him and Morgan, and it's a good way into the story before anyone makes a move, having to get past misunderstanding, prejudice and social restrictions before they can admit the attraction between them. It feels right to delay, and for there to be no easy path to their relationship either.
The minor characters are also attractive and well-drawn, from Derry, the Irishman (with a regrettably wandering dialect) to Hannah, the beaten-down maid who blossoms under Morgan's modern approach to women and servants. The little household of bachelors, and the wider circle of men of ambiguous sexuality and class fascinated me, as did the set pieces in drawing rooms and opera houses. Real history and fiction are nicely woven together, to make a vivid and enjoyable setting for the romance.
The ending surprised me, though there are really only a few ways a story like this can finish, and I found myself thinking about Ezra and Morgan for days afterwards - always, to me, a sign of good writing. It's not the most perfect novel I've ever read - time travel stories bring many pitfalls and I know of none that avoid them all - but I still thoroughly enjoyed Downtime, and would happily reread it. Recommended, and I'll be looking out for more by this author. One to watch out for.
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