An ambitious, satisfying conclusion to a trilogy of novels set in Philadelphia’s gay club scene.
A couple tries out a new romantic paradigm in Karl’s gay romance novel, the third in a series.
Joey and Henry have been together since 1976, when Joey, a White guy from suburban Pennsylvania, inherited an empty factory in Philadelphia’s “Gayborhood.” With the help of Henry, a Black Philadelphia native, Joey managed to turn it into Club Sanctuary, a pillar of the local gay scene. By 1992, the two have been married for over a decade, and though they don’t mind bringing others into the bedroom, they have agreed to only do so when they are both present. Joey recently violated this rule, and, even worse, he didn’t use protection—a major risk as AIDS ravages the gay community. The only way Henry will stay in the relationship is if Joey agrees to fully commit to their previously lax dom-sub relationship: “I want you to decide, dog,” Henry tells Joey. “Do you want to be choked with my discipline, or let go? You can have freedom or you can give in to me totally. It’s one way or the other. What’s it gonna be?” It’s the start of a new era, with new rules and new obstacles. Joey appreciates the structure, but what will happen if that structure is suddenly—violently—ripped away? The book shifts the point-of-view character every chapter, with Joey and Henry alternating narrative duties with club regulars like Mr. GQ, the gossip columnist for the Philadelphia Gay News. From sex scenes to comic dialogues, the author’s prose is reliably sharp and insightful, as when Henry explains the fine art of tying knots: “We’re practicing how to make bondage knots properly. There’s an art to it, you know. The wrong kind of knot could end up hurting a sub, I mean, not in a good way.” This is the concluding book in a trilogy, and Karl takes admirably big swings to wrap up the story. Though romance forms the heart of the novel, the book has the weight and scope of socially minded literary fiction.
An ambitious, satisfying conclusion to a trilogy of novels set in Philadelphia’s gay club scene.Pub Date: March 29, 2023
ISBN: 9798987912645
Page Count: 286
Publisher: Self
Review Posted Online: May 8, 2023
Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 15, 2023
Review Program: Kirkus Indie
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.
Two people with bad luck in relationships find each other through a popular Reddit thread.
Emma Grant and her best friend, Maddy, are travel nurses, working at hospitals for three-month stints while they see the country. Just a few weeks before they’re set to move to Hawaii, Emma reads a popular “Am I the Asshole” Reddit thread from a Minnesota man who thinks he’s cursed—women he dates find their soulmates after breaking up with him, and the latest one found true love with his best friend! Emma has had a similar experience, which inspires her to DM the man and commiserate. She’s delighted by her witty, lively interactions with software engineer Justin Dahl, and is intrigued when he suggests that if they date each other, maybe they’ll each find their soulmate afterward. Emma upends the Hawaii plan and convinces Maddy to move to Minneapolis for the summer so she can meet Justin in person. The overly complex setup brings Emma and Justin together and the two hit it off, with Justin immediately falling head over heels for Emma. Jimenez then pivots to creating romantic roadblocks and melodramatic subplots centering on each character’s family of origin. Justin’s mother is about to serve six years in prison for embezzlement, which means Justin must move back home to care for his three much younger siblings. Emma was traumatized by her own mother for much of her childhood, left to fend for herself and eventually abandoned in the foster system. When her mother shows up in Minnesota, Emma must face her traumatic childhood and admit that she has prioritized her mother’s well-being over her own. There is little time devoted to Emma’s painful efforts to heal herself enough to accept Justin’s love, which leaves the novel feeling unsatisfying.
A wallowing, emotionally wrenching family drama that leaves little time for romance.Pub Date: April 2, 2024
ISBN: 9781538704431
Page Count: 432
Publisher: Forever
Review Posted Online: Feb. 3, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2024
SEEN & HEARD
SEEN & HEARD
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.
A collegiate diver and swimmer secretly pursue kink together, and risk falling in love along the way.
Scarlett Vandermeer is struggling. Despite a successful recovery from the injury that almost ended her Stanford diving career, she hasn’t been able to get her head together, and it’s affecting her performance. Plus, she’s trying to stay focused on getting into medical school. A relationship would be out of the question. By comparison, Lukas Blomqvist is a swimming idol, a record-breaker who wins medals as easily as breathing, and Scarlett has long been convinced he would never look in her direction—until one fateful night when a mutual friend lets slip that they have something unexpected in common: Scarlett likes to be submissive in the bedroom, while Lukas prefers to take a dominant approach. Now, they both know a big secret about each other, and it’s something neither of them can stop thinking about. It’s Lukas who suggests they have a fling—purely physical, just to take the edge off, so Scarlett can get out of her own head and stop overthinking her dives. Initially, their arrangement is easy to stick to, but the more time they spend together, the more Scarlett starts to realize that what she feels for Lukas is more than physical attraction. Complicating the situation is the fact that Scarlett’s friend Penelope Ross used to go out with Lukas, and the longer Scarlett keeps mum about her true feelings for him, the more difficult it is to keep the situation hidden from another person she really cares about. While Scarlett and Lukas’ relationship does begin as a physical one, their deeper psychological connection takes a little too long to emerge amid all the other storylines, resulting in a somewhat rushed resolution. However, Hazelwood’s latest is proof of the depth and maturity that has emerged in her writing over the years, and it highlights her embrace of sexier, more emotional elements than were present in her original STEMinist rom-coms.
A surprisingly sensual sports romance.Pub Date: Feb. 4, 2025
ISBN: 9780593641057
Page Count: 464
Publisher: Berkley
Review Posted Online: Dec. 28, 2024
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 1, 2025
SEEN & HEARD
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