RELEASE DAY REVIEW: 'The Garden' by Rosalind Abel
Title: The Garden
Series: Lavender Shores #2
Author: Rosalind Abel
Published: July 25, 2017
Publisher: Self-Published/Wings of Ink Publications, LLC
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 267 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Comfort/Hurt; HEA; Standalone
About The Garden
Beautiful Gilbert Bryant designs jewelry for the rich and famous, and he made his escape from his gossipy little hometown of Lavender Shores. However, with so many friends and family, he keeps getting pulled back. When he attends his best friend’s engagement party, Gilbert can’t help but sample one of the new men in town. It’s just some innocent—or not so innocent—fun. Nothing that will even cross his mind once he gets back to his everyday life.
Walden Thompson dreamed about living in Lavender Shores since he visited as a child. He finally gets his chance, and he embraces the opportunity to start over, to become someone new. He leaves both hurts and dangerous habits in the past, where they belong. When Gilbert crosses his path, Walden gives in to his baser instincts. He can indulge in the carnal pleasures this once and still be okay.
Their few hours together haunt Gilbert, the two-hundred-mile buffer from home no longer shutting out the past or the sexy man he left behind. Walden is just beginning to recover from the smoldering encounter with Gilbert when they are thrust together once more. This time, neither of them can walk away, no matter how hard they try. But when their pasts crash into each other as surely as the magnetism that pulls them together, walking away may be the only option.
4 HEART READ
REVIEW:
When an author freshens a classic theme, as Rosalind Abel has with The Garden, it’s happy dance time. Afterwards, I read The Palisades (this Lavender Shores series’ initial novel), which I also enjoyed. Each book succeeds as an encapsulated standalone.
Gilbert, born into a Lavender Shores’ founding family, banished himself from his idyllic, gay-centric family and community. This self-imposed exile was generated by an undisclosed tragedy that’s left him guilt-ridden, numb, sarcastic, and in ongoing therapy.
On a rare visit home, preparing for his best friend’s wedding, Gilbert is shocked when his emotions are stirred by a quickie with Walden, the town’s new science teacher.
Their encounter is everything Gilbert does, and doesn’t want – and more.
Walden ends a lengthy self-imposed celibacy for the scorching hook-up with Gilbert. “That’s the thing about weaknesses. They make you weak. So I didn’t stop,” Walden notes. In fact, Walden expects so little of Gilbert he thinks, “He could feel me pond scum and I’d be touched he made me breakfast.”
Their affinity shatters Walden’s defenses. Perceiving Gilbert as a fellow refugee from the human race, Walden finds himself physically revitalized and inexplicably emotionally involved. A chance meeting months later, leaves Walden raw, unexpectedly revealing his situation.
Gilbert remarks to Walden, “’You overwhelm yourself a lot, don’t you?’” Walden admits to himself, “All the thinking just stressed me out and left me feeling insecure. And I was labeling Gilbert a wounded bird. I had no room to talk.”
Can two men, who should really remain single, actually help each other?
With society’s rejection of sexual variability, hurt/comfort themes abound in LGBTQ romance, but few emphasize the steps to develop fulfillment. Abel emphasizes the difficult choices these characters have made to manage their pain thus far. They are independent, mature men, not waiting for the right man to fix their problems.
As Gilbert muses to himself, “That wasn’t how being a man worked. How being an adult worked. You fixed yourself. You didn’t wait for love to do it for you. You fixed yourself, and then you earned love.”
How refreshing! Two men who want to grow up on their own, for whom love is a catalyst and mirror, not a crutch.
Abel skillfully demonstrates the path to self-respect - plowing one’s pain into constructive endeavors. Like Frances Hodgson Burnett’s iconic story, The Secret Garden, in which two sickly children heal themselves by tending a garden, Walden has created magic in his backyard, the labor and resultant creation rejuvenating his spirit. Similarly, Gilbert’s jewelry design quenches his soul.
As Walden sadly tells Gilbert, “’One day we’re going to believe we deserve each other.’”
Yes, I danced the happy dance reading this novel.
In real love, people can never deserve one another. Their love is inexplicable grace, a magic we work daily to deserve.
The magic of storytelling is also an act of love, sharing one’s essence with the audience. Thank you, Rosalind Abel, for sharing your artistry with us. If only we could give half-hearts, The Garden would deserve 4.5!
An copy of The Garden was provided to Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, by Rosalind Abel, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Amazon/KU
Meet the Author
Rosalind Abel is the pen name for Brandon Witt's new imprint of MM Romance novels. The writings under Rosalind's name are purely MM Romance, sexy men, beautiful locations, humor, romance, and happily-ever-afters. Rosalind's first series is Lavender Shores.
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