Tamara Allen

There's a little bit of a story with this book.

If you know me intimately enough to find out I write (bad) historical fiction and publish it as fanfic online, then you'll know how similar this story is to my own large one. Please don't sue me Tamara--trust me when I say I hadn't heard of this and was pretty stoked when an anonymous message recommended it to me on my blog.

Well, a handful-of-a-lot months later I found an e-copy through the LA library, and 3 days later I was done. I never wanted to write again (God how horribly stilted my writing was in comparison) and I just wanted to reread for the first time all over again.

There's nothing much else to say except that this book was fun. I loved the setting (this is what historical fiction should be about--well researched and for world-building), I loved the romance, I loved the pace and the characters and the drama. It was as my friend said "like eating candy". It was a horribly niche treat.

I eventually figured out the anonymous message was none other than my friend Kaija, and that her dumb Vancouver library doesn't even have the book. She has my amazon kindle info now, and I'm happy to say Tamara has also become a bit of a star with us (thanks for adding me back on twitter;;;)--we're both pretty stoked that something like this exists and her passion and care for something so... esoteric. We're book clubbing it a bit and like to joke about asking the author to explain bits to us we can't understand as we're both fairly literary and love a good explication (so Tamara if you're free in the distant future *call me hand signal*)

The only thing pulling me away from giving it 5 stars is that I felt the writing in the beginning was a bit confusing, and I either grew to better understand it or it did indeed get better. I felt like i had to reread parts sometimes because it wasn't terribly clear, but beyond that--hell it was a good time. I live for cliché: all romance, post WWI and gay together. I absolutely recommend it if you're looking for something sweet, affirming, and fun.… (meer)

Sweet and fun romance taking place right after WWI in New York. It's right before Prohibition and in the midst of strong anti-homosexuality laws, despite what you took comfort in overseas. Sutton and Jack are both very charming characters, as is the rest of the cast, but you will definitely get frustrated with them both. It's the typical "I have all these feelings but I'm not going to say anything which will cause a very dramatic miscommunication" trope in mm romance but it works itself out and you get that HEA. It tackles some tough problems - like PTSD, anti-gay laws, and war injuries -with aplomb but that I can see how it may read differently with someone who's actually experienced any/all of those things. Like all of Allen's stories I've read, it's a meandering, quiet romance between two men who are conflicted so while it wasn't a book I could have devoured in one sitting, it's still a recommend if you need something light and sweet.… (meer)