RELEASE DAY REVIEW: 'Mascara & Bandages' by Brandon Witt
Title: Mascara & Bandages
Series: Mary’s Boys #3
Author: Brandon Witt
Published: July 12, 2017
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Cover Artist: AngstyG
Genre: Erotic Romance; Contemporary Romance
Length: 121 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Comfort/Hurt; Cross-Dressing; Novella; HEA; CW: Gay Bashing
About Mascara & Bandages Ariel Merman is a new drag queen who’s already finding a family at Hamburger Mary’s. After a performance as Ariel, Zachary Cooper walks home in his makeup and is assaulted by homophobes. Zachary’s worry that the attack has thrown a wrench in his good fortune is eased when he looks into the eyes of his doctor.
Dr. Teegan Chau is a little lost after divorcing his wife and coming out of the closet, but he can’t deny the pull he feels toward the young man he patches up. Luckily, Zachary takes the initiative and asks Teegan out. But attraction is the easy part of their blossoming relationship—as they deal with an ex-wife and child, being a drag queen in a heteronormative culture, Zachary’s lingering trauma from his attack, and Teegan acclimating to life as part of an out-and-proud gay couple.
The challenges seem daunting at the start of a romance. Can Zachary and Teegan make it through the rough patches and take a chance on the love that’s been missing from both their lives?
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
Brandon Witt’s Mascara & Bandages brings the fears and fortitude of a drag queen to chilling reality.
And yet the tone is so gently hopeful I almost wished I could enter the world he created.
By day Zachary Cooper feels honored to man the bookstore his parents built before their deaths. At night, he performs as a drag queen named “Ariel Merman,” at Hamburger Mary’s, where he’s found home within a circle of friends. Or, at least, he did work there, until hospitalized by a brutal gay bashing.
Three years divorced after coming out as gay, Dr. Teegan Chau doesn’t understand what attracts him to Zachary, who arrives with face make-up, a broken arm and ribs, and a crushed testicle. Perhaps it is because Zachary faces life straight-on, unlike Teegan’s stoic, disappointed parents, who haven’t once broached his orientation since he came out to them.
Zachary has always been self-conscious. “The guys who were into twinks found him too effeminate.” After his assault and losing a testicle, he is more insecure. And Dr. Chau has never dated a man. How can they possibly navigate their attraction?
Drag queens are rarely depicted as wholesome. Sure, many people’s brashness is thin cover for hearts of gold.
But Witt brings us men with the courage to show their vulnerabilities.
As a mutual friend says of Zach and his “drag mother,” ManDonna:
“You think you’re too femme for another man to want you. That because you do drag and are skinny, you’re weak. You and ManDonna are some of the strongest men I know. You both show it in different ways, but both of you are tough enough to do exactly whatever the fuck you want to do, regardless of what anyone else says. That’s sexy.”
I love how Witt explores identity. Can Teegan redefine himself to break free from his parents’ internalized contempt? Likewise, when and where does Zachary end and his persona as Ariel begin? “Ariel didn’t take control of Zachary. She set him free.”
To reveal these elements doesn’t give away the story. Because Mascara & Bandages isn’t really about what happens, but how.
The novella invokes a mood - slow, dreamy, and befitting a merman, emerging from a sea of confusion, with a breath of fresh love.
This is the third novella in Witt’s series, but I wouldn’t have known it. I’m gonna play catch-up and eagerly await the next edition, probably while heading to the real Hamburger Mary’s in my area!
A copy of Mascara & Bandages was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Dreamspinner Press, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
Brandon Witt is many things. Above all, he is living the dream. After years of writing and reaching for the stars, he is a published author through Dreamspinner Press. Thus far, his novels include The Shattered Door, Then the Stars Fall, and three installments of the Men of Myth series. Also, he has short stories published in various anthologies.
For the first eighteen years of life, Brandon lived in a small Ozark town, El Dorado Springs, Missouri before moving with his family to Colorado.There he got degrees in Youth Ministry and Special Education and worked as a counselor and special education teacher for fifteen years.
The tension of his religious upbringing and being a gay man finds its way onto nearly every page in his novels, as does experiences that over a decade of loving children who have faced much abuse and many struggles. Reflecting what he has discovered to be true in life, Brandon's writing does not shy away from challenges and conflict but also revels in the joy that can only happen when truly embracing and loving all that life has to offer.
For more from Brandon be sure and visit his website.
