REVIEW: 'Misfits' by Garrett Leigh
Title: Misfits
Series: Urban Soul #1
Author: Garrett Leigh
Published: March 16, 2015
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Artist: G.D. Leigh/Black Jazz Design
Genre: Contemporary Romance; Erotic Romance
Length: 277 Pages
Tags: Gay; M/M; Ménage; M/M/M; Comfort/Hurt; Disorder: Tourette Syndrome; HEA; Standalone
About Misfits Restaurant owner Tom Fearnes has loved his partner Cass for as long as he can remember, but their work often keeps them apart. When he meets a striking young man named Jake on the vibrant streets of Camden Town, their heady first encounter takes an unexpected turn.
Jake Thompson can hardly believe his luck when he wakes up in Tom’s bed. Tom is gorgeous, kind, and . . . taken. Tom’s explanation of his open relationship leaves Jake cold, but Tom is too tempting, and when hard times force Jake to accept Tom’s helping hand, he finds himself between two men who’ve lost their way.
Cass Pearson is a troubled soul. He loves Tom with all he has, but some days it feels like he hasn’t much to give. Jake seems like the perfect solution. Cass risks everything to push Jake and Tom together, but Jake resists, wary, until the darkness of Cass’s past comes to call. Then Jake finds himself the last man standing, and it’s time to dig deep and shine a light for the men he’s grown to love.
5 HEART READ
REVIEW:
Once again in Misfits, the debut novel in her Urban Soul series, Garrett Leigh proves she’s the Queen of comfort/hurt.
Leigh paints an exquisite picture of life’s pains and how to manage them – by daring to love those who possess the self-respect we want to earn.
Tom, director of his own thriving restaurant business, wouldn’t have left Jake, the gorgeous waiter he picked up, had he known his partner, Cass, would return to their flat and find Jake in their bed.
Tom hadn’t told Jake that he and Cass have an open relationship. He can almost hear Jake swearing. Jake’s Tourette Syndrome makes cursing an art form. As Jake sheepishly admits, “‘I shouted ‘crunchy tits’ at my brother’s girlfriend in church.’”
But discovering Jake in their bed actually amuses Cass. As he says to Tom, “‘So, who is the pretty thing you left in bed for me? .... Find him. Fuck him. Fix him. It’s what you do.’”
When Jake takes employment with Tom, helping to develop their newest venture, he can’t fathom why Tom and Cass, who clearly adore and are committed to one another, spend only one night a week together. Sure, Tom is busy and Cass delights in his gig as head Chef for one of their establishments, but...
Jake also finds it mysterious that clean-cut Tom avoids his loving, generous family, in favor of misfits like him and the brooding Cass, who makes no bones about having grown up on the wrong side of the track.
And why does Cass seek Jake’s friendship through texts? Where’s the jealousy? “‘Why is this bit so easy,’” Cass asks Jake, kissing him. Tom responds, “‘Because articulating it is so hard.’”
Can the three men snap together, like puzzle pieces, into one image? Or will the jagged edges of their unshed tears and silent howls accidentally rip one another?
Leigh specializes in ambivalent men who have learned from their pasts, accepting the happiness and misery it wrought simultaneously. In fact, their continued pain pays honor to their traumas. “‘I don’t think we ever know anything for certain,’” Tom tells Jake.
It’s hard to create two characters who are more as a couple than apart. To meld three multi-faceted personalities is an achievement. Garrett Leigh sets her bar high and clears it with sunshine sparkling through.
Leigh meanders through the three men’s complex psyches with awesome delicacy. Her forte is common men with unique, but not unusual problems. I was awed by the responsible choices Tom, Jake, and Cass make, how they consistently find the best in each other, and thus find their own strengths.
Some authors create characters with great psychological intricacy. Others concentrate on the dance of intimacy, the twists and turns that create a rhythm of love. Leigh melds both - unique personalities and Tom, Cass and Jake’s rhythms with palpable flair.
And then there’s Ms. Leigh’s every day wisdom, like her cure for anger. “‘Learn something. Read a book. Explore someone. Anger is just a hole where your life could be,’” Cass tells Tom.
Oh, and how about this one: “Life would be far easier without principles,” Tom thinks to himself.
Do you long for the decency of common folk, for romance wrought in accountability? If so, pick up Misfits. It’s easy to see why it was a 2016 Lambda finalist.
A copy of Misfits was awarded to Annie of Kimmers’ Erotic Book Banter, through a random pick at Garrett’s Den, Ms. Leigh’s Facebook Group, at no cost and with no expectations in return. We offer our fair and honest opinion on behalf of our readers.
Meet the Author
Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.
Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards. In 2017, she won the EPIC award in contemporary romance with her military novel, Between Ghosts, and the contemporary romance category in the Bisexual Book Awards with her novel What Remains.
When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.
Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with photographer Dan Burgess.
For more from Garrett be sure and visit her website!
