Review: More fabulocity brought to you by way of Tyack and Frayne
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 31, 2013
Again, from word one, Gideon and Lee got me, all thanks to Harper Fox: "Five days before Christmas, the ancient seaside town was lit up with every bulb and bauble the council could afford. Strings of lights picked out the line of the harbor and crisscrossed the narrow cobbled main street that followed the water front."I’ll try to offer some semblance of my reactions to this story. Just know, I love. I love.From there, ladies and gents, we get the best that is Harper Fox by way of Gideon and Lee. *sigh* I can hear the waves crashing in that uneven yet calming rhythm. I can feel the grit on the glistening cobblestones. I can hear these characters’ voices: their hesitations and declarations, subtle and true. This all takes place in a very real world, with a touch of the paranormal that teases and evades in an attempt to disrupt it all.Life isn’t a constant stream of explosive developments. Most of the time, we’re holding our breath, hoping the words we’ve spoken, what we’re sharing within them, are welcomed. Fox gracefully blankets her story with this honesty. Stir this together with humor (I dare you not to smile) and sex (touching and hot and very G & L), my friends, and we have a book worth every second of time that you spend with it, and beyond. Yes, I want to read this story every day.At a point, the worry began. Something was definitely wrong. I had to hope that Gideon would be able to help Lee, help him through this, out from under it. It’s much scarier when you can’t see the thing that is trying to steal you away from those you love, leaving only the outer shell behind. In other words, I was taken on a proper ride: from loving reunion (yes!), celebratory and quiet declarations, to danger, to changes that could mean life wouldn’t turn out the way these two were allowing themselves to work towards. They just had to be ok, they had to be.And then… it all changes, from an unexpected source. And then… it happens, without candlelight or planned speeches or a fancy meal – just the sunlight. The moment you think you know what’s happening, how long it’s going to last, what it all means? Best damn turn on a dime for my buck! Yeah, yeah, I know, but I had to. ;) I had a lot of these moments while reading this story and this is what I love to feel when I take that leap of faith into ‘please let this be a good book’ land.The pain is real without being shouted from the rooftops, no chest-thumping. The gentleness is real in the way we all dream about and hopefully get. The landscape and the sounds, the breath and the embraces, they’re all so real.I’m pretty sure I’m about to say this is her best work to date. Yep, I am, that’s what I’m saying. Not an unnecessary word in the bunch. Gideon and Lee are two favorite characters and even more so when together. They work. All of the supporting characters are easy to imagine and make sense in the roles in which they’re cast.I’m just going to stop here. I could clearly, undoubtedly, excitedly go on for a very long time. Just go and read this. And make sure to read Once Upon A Haunted Moor first!!! I think you’ll find yourself wanting to stay wrapped up near the fireplace with this story, the writing, these men, for a very long time. ;) I love.