REVIEW: 'Nobody's Home' by Dev Bentham
Title: Nobody’s Home
Author: Dev Bentham
Published: November 15, 2016 - 2nd Edition (Original Publication 2013)
Publisher: Self-Published/Love is a Light
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 160 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Comfort/Hurt; HEA; CW: Off-Page Suicide
About Nobody’s Home
Second chances can appear where you least expect them.
An artist: You can’t go home again—that was Nick’s motto for the past twenty years. He was a teenager when he left his abusive, mentally ill father back in Lacland, a small town in the north woods of Wisconsin.
Nick’s made a successful life for himself in New York. Then comes the call—his estranged father has killed himself. Nick flies home to a house crumbling from years of neglect, and one very fat bulldog.
And a veterinarian: Jonas doesn’t love his job enforcing university research protocol. His passion is working with dogs, especially volunteering for his boyfriend’s behavioral studies projects. But when he discovers his so-called "life partner" is messing around, he leaps at a job offer in a small town miles away.
In spite of the grief swirling around Nick and Jonas, their first meeting is electric. But Nick will be in town for only a short time and Jonas is still stinging from the betrayal. The men try to keep their distance, but that’s easier said than done, especially in a small town where misery and hope share the same address.
This poignant story about two mature gay men will warm the hearts of readers who believe happy endings are within anyone's grasp.
This is an author’s version of the story, originally released in 2013 from Amber Allure.
4 HEART READ
REVIEW: In Nobody’s Home Dev Betham joins two men who have been gutted when learning their lives weren’t as they appeared.
This gentle, thorough character study depicts resilience at its best as readers watch them grow and grow up.
A successful artist, Nick has hit a creative dry streak. His dad’s suicide, one of many wrecks his father inflicted, forces a return to the town he ran from 20 years ago as a boy.
Jonas, who works as a veterinarian in his lover’s research lab, loses his work and home when he realizes his partner is unfaithful. Absconding with a research dog, he answers an ad to become a small-town Vet. There he finds Nick, nursing his dad’s pooch.
But, after a quick heated encounter, Jonas realizes Nick is leaving town quickly, and firmly sets limits.
Can these two men nurture a friendship so they can concentrate on healing themselves?
Nobody’s Home has many admirable features. First, Ms. Bentham doesn’t pander to the “love and sex heals all” paradigm. Instead she creates equal interest in Nick and Jonas’s burgeoning careers and their relationships with their pets.
When they develop a bond, it is that of two self-sufficient adults, finally learning what pleases them, before they attempt to please each other.
Secondly, Bentham shows growth through every day occurrences:
“’Morning little squirrel.’ It raised its head at the sound of Nick’s voice. With its tiny ears and squished face, it really did look like a tailless squirrel. Nick stroked a finger across the silky fur of the pup’s back. It was nice to have someone be happy to hear him. No wonder his father had taken to raising dogs.”
And finally, Bentham exquisitely portrays emotions through images, and images through words:
“Nick stared at a length of rope on the stairs. The bulk of it lay in a jumble on the third step while the rest trailed down to the foot of the stairs, the end coiling on top of a heap of handwritten papers. He looked up. A large shiny eye-bolt sat in the middle of the dark ceiling. How long had his father been planning his death?”
“They stayed still and the room filled with the feeling of Jonas’s heart cracking open, and the sound of Nick’s breath and the feel of Jonas’s defenses dissolving a little more each time Nick exhaled-in and out and in and out.”
To be able to capture the horror of a suicide’s aftermath, and love’s bloom - with equal realism - Dev Bentham is a gifted author. If you want a grown-up read, with mature characters, you’ll be pleased with Nobody’s Home.
A copy of Nobody’s Home was purchased by the Contributor so that we may offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Kindle/KU
Meet the Author
Dev Bentham lives in Northern Wisconsin with her Boston terrier and Chicago sweetie. She has published short stories, poetry, newspaper articles and academic papers. She’s worked in nearly every profession from waitress to professor to open-water diver and now writes m/m romance out of an intense fascination with love, courage and gender.
Her characters are flawed and damaged adult men who may not even know what they’re looking for, but when they meet their bershert, their true love, their lives are transformed. Her stories are set in the real world where gay men have gay friends, families who do or don’t accept them, personal histories they’re not necessarily proud of and a myriad of experiences that have made them who they are.
For more from Dev be sure and visit her website.
