Book Reviews

Book Blurb

I fled my hometown seven years ago. I never planned to come back. I never planned to give up my city life for a small town. And I definitely never planned to fall for another man.

 

Henry

Tripp Lake, the place I love the most. Working at a cat café on Main Street gives me a chance to get some deserving cats their forever homes.

 

But when a blast from the past walks into my café, I’m not sure what to feel. Alex was always hot and popular in high school – and straight.

 

So it’s a shock when he keeps accepting my invitations to hang out. I don’t think I’m imagining the spark between us, but is Alex actually interested in me, or am I letting this straight boy break my heart?

 

Alex

Tripp Lake, the place I hate the most. I’m only here because of my father’s heart attack. But the second I return home, I remember all the reasons I ran away.

 

My parents are overbearing. This town is small and boring. And I want nothing more than to flee back to my new life in San Francisco - a life that doesn't come packed with any surprising new feelings about a guy I went to high school with.

 

Henry is a ray of sunshine amid this bleak journey home. But I've never been interested in a guy before. When a relaxing hike results in my first timid kiss with another man, I start questioning a lot more than just my decision to leave Tripp Lake. Is Henry worth staying in this crappy town for?

 

Book Review

Reviewing books can be a challenge, especially as positivity is encouraged so as to engage the interest of possible readers. With reviewing ‘Stray Awakening’ I am faced with a storyline into which the author could easily slip much treacle. The language employed can flow beautifully, with effect, or merely rise to the equivalent of driving directions from AAA! The characters may seem real – depending on the reader’s particular experience, or they may be more akin to children’s paper cutout figures. So many possibilities, and ‘Stray Awakening’ is entertaining, but perhaps somewhat prosaic. While predictable, it remains worthy of one’s spare time (but not on the level of curing cancer, establishing world peace, or even an hour’s decent conversation).

 

Structurally, it begins with contrasting character studies of Henry and Alex – the start of a fine mood piece. Tripp Lake, Washington, an hour from Seattle, is a very small town with a single main street and “a whole lot of trees”. The Rainbow Rescue Cat Cafe specializes in selling light food fare while inducing people to play with and perhaps adopt homeless cats. Tripp Lake is a place loved by native Henry, while expat Alex hates it more than anywhere in the entire damn world.

 

Henry is the embodiment of gentle kindness. As the novel borders on being an adult fairytale, for contrast, Alex’s parents presented as being close to the necessary archetypal villains. Alex’s mother is determined to see her son settled and married, toward which end she lays into him with investigative questions. “So, how is San Francisco? How is your job? Is it going well?” Alex is a misfit, and is unhappy with his job, his home town and, apparently, even (especially?) his parents. Coming home to help with his father’s health issues immediately discomforts Alex, as does his initial disdain with a place filled with cats which is also serving coffee “How did a health inspector approve this?”.

 

Place, people, and problems are promptly established. Pets, too! Alex and Henry barely knew each other in high school, but Henry sees how devastating Alex has become – a purpose for writing this story. While many romantic stories establish commonalities (such as both heroes loving classical music, or collecting stamps), the obverse of differences between the leads can be a wonderful source of conflicts to be overcome by love and/or sexual attraction. Observation: In much gay lit the issue waivers between which will come first – love or sex. It’s often a critical plot point! The mutual love of nature seems an adequate catalyst for Alex and Henry.

 

This novel is quite light. Through issues and qualms, the HEA is totally predictable and the enjoyment is about the trip to that conclusion. Their ups and downs work in the plot, and their sexual congress is explicit, even poetic, as in “… so hungry, so passionate that it’s like a hurricane tearing down the walls to leave me windswept and exposed.” Though treated too lightly, Alex’s introduction into gay sex presents the possibility that the gap between gay and straight may be somewhat illusory, though his subsequent introspection may be exactly on point.

 

Enough! This isn’t ‘War and Peace’, but the tale is engaging, the characters are sufficiently genuine as to encourage the readers’ commitment, and no bad after effects need be of concern. Fun for fun’s sake.

 

 

 

DISCLAIMER: Books reviewed on this site were usually provided at no cost by the publisher or author. This book has been provided by the author via GRRT for the purpose of a review.

 

Additional Information

Format	ebook and print
Length	Novel, 245 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	16-July-2024
Price	$2.99 ebook, $12.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/Stray-Awakening-First-Time-Romance-Rainbow-ebook/dp/B0D99ZWS77