Saturday, August 3, 2013

Glitterland by Alexis Hall

Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Date published: August 2013
ISBN: 978-1-62649-024-6
Genre: Male/male contemporary romance
Book format: E-book
Obtained via: Publisher Gift
Reviewed by Keldon__



Author A.A. Winters—Ash to his friends—hasn’t had an easy go of it for the past few years. After a hospitalization for bipolar disorder, Ash found out who his friends really were. Now he keeps to that small circle, stepping outside for occasional anonymous sexual encounters. It’s a beige existence, but Ash has resigned himself to doing what he must to stay well.

Darian Taylor is a model, trying to make his way up the fashion industry ladder. He’s from Essex, and more into lip gloss and hair gel than education or scholarly pursuits.
A chance encounter at a stag party ends with Ash going home with Darian, expecting a one-off. To Ash’s surprise and discomfort, he finds himself responding to Darian’s Essex accent and down to earth view of the world. Despite his academic shortcomings, Darian can make Ash laugh; this glitter pirate pries at Ash’s self-imposed walls, and Ash is terrified of Darian finding what lies beneath Ash’s Oxford-educated exterior.

The book was a bit slow to get off the ground, but once it started rolling, the story moved along nicely. The characters are well-written. The dialect speech used by Darian and his fellow Essex residents grated a bit, and at times I wasn’t sure what the sentence meant. This threw me out of the story. Fortunately, it was easy to be drawn back in.

Ash’s illness makes an otherwise predictable plot somewhat quirky, and this adds interest to the story.

Overall, and enjoyable read, and I look forward to more offerings from this author.

This is an objective review and not an endorsement of this book.

 
AT


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