Reviewer: Alan Chin
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 168
In December 1932, times are tough all over, even in New York
City. Captain Joshua Pascal has moved back into his family home, which has been
turned into a Jewish boarding house. He doesn’t mind living at home, because he
is needed to make ends meet after the departure of his father, but he longs for
companionship, for a partner to share life with. Trouble is, Joshua is gay and
deeply in the closet.
During Chanukah, Joshua meets Will, a street musician and
his baby daughter. Even though Will is seemingly straight, Joshua dreams that
this just might be his chance at love. Joshua gives Will a snug place to live, Will
gives Joshua comfort in each other, but issues of coming out and fear of being
arrested drive a wedge between their love. Can they make a future together?
The author does an excellent job of setting mood and
describing the historical setting. Also exceptional is how the romance develops
at a slow, measure pace, giving the reader time to warm up to these characters.
The plot is rather simple, your typical M/M romance with no surprises and
plenty of overly sentimental moments.
I felt the two main characters were one dimensional, and
needed to show more depth to be believable. The secondary characters were no
more than props, and had very little time on the page. Because of thinness of
these main characters, they were hard to like or even establish a connection
with.
The main issue I had with this story is there is virtually
no real conflict in the story, and the minor conflict there is seems forced by
the author rather than any authentic problems these lovers would encounter.
Conflict is what makes a story interesting, and without it, a story is dull.
Due to the lack of conflict, this is NOT a story I can
highly recommend.
No comments:
Post a Comment