REVIEW: 'Islands in the Stream' by Liberty Lace
Title: Islands in the Stream
Author: Liberty Lace
Published: December 1, 2015
Publisher: Wilde City Press
Genre: Erotic Romance; Contemporary Romance
Length: 85 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; HFN; Novelette; CW: Taboo; CW: Incest
BLURB: At only twenty-one years of age, Daniel Hastings is a young man headed for the top of his game. As Assistant Chief Acquisitions Assessor for a major property development firm, it’s Daniel’s job to assess the viability and investment potential of land opportunities, usually bringing in millions of dollars in profits for his firm. The key to his career is to convince the previous owners of the land to part with their precious properties, and Daniel has found that everything is for sale… at the right price.
That is until he arrives on Saint Etienne, a tiny Caribbean island that a major resort chain intends to develop into a billionaire’s playground. It’s up to Daniel to assess the situation and convince the villagers to sign over their island home… and if they refuse, Daniel and his colleague are under strict instructions to find any legal loophole they can to snatch the untouched piece of paradise out from under its owners.
But there’s one inhabitant on this island Daniel wasn’t expecting to find—his estranged father, Nick… a man who walked out of his son’s life just when the two of them were beginning to understand one another.
Will Daniel give his father a second chance? Will he discover there’s more to life than profits and acquisitions? Or will his career take priority over the life Daniel was destined to live?
4 HEART READ
(Originally Reviewed for QUEERcentric Books Blog)
REVIEW:
I am very familiar with Liberty Lace’s taboo tales and, as bold as she is, Islands in the Stream is her first trip into father/son incest. You have been warned! But please, if this is not a hard limit for you, do read on.
Daniel is a very successful 21-year-old Chief Assessor for an acquisitions firm and has made a big name for himself. But his all-out drive to succeed has been in order to mask the pain from watching his father walk out of his life, at 16, due Daniel announcing he was gay; or so he believes.
Sent to Saint Etienne to transact the purchase of the remote island, in a strange twist of fate, Daniel just so happens to encounter his estranged father, Nick. As you can imagine their chance meeting is less than cordial. All of Daniel’s pent up hurt, loss and feelings of rejection are aimed directly at his father.
But being stuck on a remote island, where islanders must rely on each other, is just what Daniel and his father need!
It becomes apparent rather quickly that Daniel may have unjustly judged his father all of these years without perhaps knowing, or remembering, the real truth behind why Nick left.
As memories start to assail Daniel, and he becomes confused by desires for his father, his island host creates a concoction that opens his mind to the true realities of the past that he has buried deep within. And now he is determined to start his life anew.
Daniel confronts his father with his memories of the truth and they both must tackle their mutual attraction, together. Daniel is determined to see this through. Despite Nick’s insistence that “they shouldn’t be together”, trying to distance himself:
There are plot twists that prove that when it comes to the heart’s desires there is a deeper power at work.
The only thing I found missing in Islands in the Stream is Lace’s usual determination to make you feel, beyond a shadow of a doubt, the absolute connection between the main characters. The usual thorough understanding of their desperate need. That – connection!
Typically, with her work, I have no hesitation in believing there was nothing the individuals could do to stop their illicit attraction to one another. Not to say that some of that was not here, just maybe not as much as I am used to from her. And in truth, maybe it is due to the plot of the book and the fact that Daniel and Nick were estranged for five years.
That being said Islands in the Stream is another piece of touching work by Liberty Lace.
It was also very refreshing to see a little creative humor from Liberty with supporting characters such as Beetlelegs. And angst with the edgy, backstabbing, greedy, Stanley; Daniel’s business partner. Lace even educated me on the likes of krill glowing in the dark. Google it, it’s fascinating!
After having read all of Lace’s taboo stories I don’t know how the depth she puts into them can still shock me; depth in the characters, the subject matter and even the emotions. But each time she captures my full attention and Islands in the Stream is no exception!
I have come to realize that Liberty Lace's magic lies in the characters’ dreams. Their dreams are the window to deeper meaning and your full understanding of why they can not prevent their mutual, and forbidden, attraction.
Islands in the Stream was originally reviewed by Kimmers in connection with the now exited QUEERcentric Books blog. The book was provided free of charge to QCB, by the author, in exchange for our fair and honest opinion.
Liberty Lace
The Temptress of Taboo Romance, Liberty Lace invites you into a world of explicit man-on-man erotica, where forbidden fruit hangs from every tree... where secrets run through every bloodline... and where desires so delicious can be tasted with every bite you take.
