Book Reviews

Book Blurb

Rafael owns my heart. He stole it with the first clumsy bump in a Parisian bookstore, and I never asked him to return it.

He gifted me a night to remember, a night that shaped the person I would become. And then, I lost him. I lost every trace that could have helped me find him. Until fate meddled again and put Rafael and me on the same cross-European train through the Alps.

But if I hoped that some divine hand guided us to one another, I was terribly mistaken.

Our second encounter sparked a decade of failed attempts and missed chances. For years, I yearned to be with him, and for years, something took him away. Our lives are so intertwined that we will never be free of one another. And yet, each time I see him, my dream of a happy ending fades a little more.

Is stealing moments with Rafael enough to live on? Can I survive on glimmers of hope? I don’t think so.

It’s time to take our happy ending away from fate’s hands. It’s time to break this cursed cycle once and for all.

 

Book Review

I’ve wondered about any distinction between a book reviewer and a critic. I can easily relate to what a tale seems to be factually about, and I can explicate the essentials of the main characters and (if in the text’s scope) how what happens and to whom it happens just might relate. Of course, it is the reader who determines whether the effort is worthwhile, so…

 

But wait a moment. If you are averse to hypoglycemic tales, or are overly sensitive to what we once called “mush” (i.e., “Everything in life was uncertain, and Rafael was the most uncertain of all.” or “Once you kissed Rafael, no other desire remained.”) – so always read with care.

 

Finally, ‘When We Meet Again’ is replete with platitudes, some more apt to the context than others. I will share a few in my End Notes.

 

The novel is an episodic decade-long saga, beginning in 2014, with Luke at eighteen. He is just coming out – first with self-awareness and then with a public stance. Whew! But the novel is a character study, and Luke and Rafael (who seems quite the cipher) are difficult to present here without detailing too much plot. Part I is somewhat light and seems without any strong direction. Surprisingly, the change in tone and direction in Part II gives us an unexpected updating. The overall ‘why’ remains beyond capture, but seems to matter less. Luke meets Rafael while almost obsessively inspecting a small bookstore (the detailed description of which is indicative of Luke’s character). Their meeting is captivated in almost mythic language – place, interest, attraction, and in a few paragraphs, romanticism is poetically structured. They promptly charm each other, with both hints of intellectuality and the revelation of their common homosexuality (Luke’s being his first). Rafael, a year older, is quite forward. “I usually speak without thinking.” and “I’m only wickedly smart and hella handsome.” Rafael expresses his want to be free in life, and to be happy in the moment. In later years, Luke realizes how little he thought of Rafael’s constancy in his future life, nor was their familiarity then predictable – but future Luke acknowledges that such ignorance was probably for the best. Then their passion for each other was still unknown to each other, as was the pain of heartbreak they could inflict on each other.

 

Detailed sexual acts are not provided in their rather chaste relationship, so licentious readers, you may depart at the next stop. But simple descriptions of their acts, i.e., “There were no fireworks. It was a simple as that. He held my hand, and my heart pounded against my rib cage,” effectively foreshadow their future.

 

They plan, and their plans fail. Yet the forces of romance keep our heroes meeting over time, though the aborted plans seem to frustrate what otherwise seems fated. The plot device allows the author to create a romance, rather than something nearer to porn, The concentration is in getting familiar, not   f—king. The second meeting seems to get closer to coitus, but – guess what – Rafael’s undisclosed boyfriend has an accident and Rafael must go to help. Writing skill permits Rafael’s boyfriend to be important to the plot, but not to be present on the page. Now, with their next serendipitous meeting, two years later, Luke and Rafael’s characters seem more substantial, better and more incisive at articulating the memory of their prior meeting, which allows the novel’s sound to make a subtle change. Of course this meeting still leave open whether there will be lust, romance, or merely friendship – which Rafael offers to assuage Luke’s nervousness about anything more intimate, but puts Luke still in the orbit Rafael’s life, even afar, but within to pull of Rafael’s gravity. Author Hall, shortly after this, again reverts to a fine, astrological statement of our heroes as twin planets, sharing a single orbit. As so often, thank you, Shakespeare!

 

The story continues, as they meet and part, get attached and yet are independent. The character development is almost unimportant, and the facts are also merely page fillers. We are left waiting fort something! The travels and separation create more displacement, and the heroes become more frank about their (chaste) attraction to each other. Luke: “My c*ck spasmed with pulsing pleasure.” And, just as purple prose is blooming, wham, “The planet went still, and all hope died.”

 

Pert II, being two-thirds into the page count, amazingly, has a different sound and texture. It is now two years later, nine after they met, and everything is changed. However the reader has felt about the opening of the book, now the author’s talent comes into full strength. Luke is more introspective, but essentially, he is an empty vessel. The sterling writing denotes the breakup of Luke and Rafael, but details are clouded. Only Luke’s depression is patent. Their relationship had deteriorated into an irrevocable separation, a mutual isolation from each other. And yet, Luke finds his way to Rome and contacts Rafael. What follows is maturity, reconciliation, and a new beginning for both men. It needs to be read, and not merely quoted here. It is about their repeated finding of each other and subsequently losing each other – a cycle that needs to be broken with dialog, maturity, and loving effort. Depression had persuaded that “love dies.” Through thought and communication, the heroes finally understand that “happy endings… they’re not ends at all. They’re just a different kind of beginning.” This conclusion to their story needs to be read, and not merely presented in a review. It is warm, wonderful, and optimistic.

 

 

END NOTES:

 

1. It is admirable when an author dares to make educated references, but is it also a snobbish act? What should we think of the references to many lesser-known books, or to Greek gods and their background stories? Who's familiar with Fortuna? If these are really important, generate footnotes and not a sense of superiority!

 

2. Writing adult lit often carries with it certain customs. In the 1950s sex was hinted at, often fairly explicitly, so there was little doubt what was happening. The reader’s imagination became co-author, interpreting such hints.

 

3. Luke grows into a self-possessed adult. “I kissed him clumsily. I kissed him honestly. I kissed him precisely the way I wanted to kiss him.”

 

4. Consider some of the beautifully constructed paragraphs, describing people and places, and moods – which I could have inserted here. Example: “His hand found its way to mine, and the warm touch was more welcome than the first sip of coffee on a snowy winter morning.” Paragraphs about Luke’s late mother are wonderful to read. But they will be so much more pleasurable for you to read them in context!

 

5. A difficult structure. Luke and Rafael fell for each other based “on a pinch of reality and a truck-load of fantasy” eroded by time. Now they know “love is a promise, and that’s all it is.”

 

 

 

 

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, 296 pages
Heat Level
Publication Date	11-July-2024
Price	$4.99 ebook, $11.99 paperback
Buy Link	https://www.amazon.com/When-Meet-Again-Hayden-Hall-ebook/dp/B0D45VZ87X