Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Until September
AUTHOR: Chris Scully
PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing
LENGTH: 245 Pages
RELEASE DATE: February 6, 2016
BLURB:
As a teenager, Archie Noblesse clawed his way out of the poverty, heartache, and abuse of the reservation and left his family behind. Desperate to shake the shadow of his past, he reinvents himself as Archer Noble, an outspoken blogger and controversial author who lives only for himself. But when his beloved sister dies, Archer is saddled with guardianship of his niece and nephew.
Elementary school teacher Ryan Eriksson is devastated when his best friend Marguerite is killed, leaving her two young children orphaned. Helping Archer with his new responsibilities eases his grief, but when Archer offers him custody of the children, Ryan’s left with an impossible choice: get the family he’s always wanted, or respect Margie’s wishes and convince Archer to give parenting—and his heritage—a chance.
To buy time, Ryan promises to stay for the summer, hoping that Archer will change his mind and fall for the kids. But Archer’s reluctant, and the growing attraction between him and Ryan complicates matters. Legal decisions must be made, and soon, before Ryan returns to school. But with hearts involved, more than just the children’s future is on the line.
REVIEW:
Oh dear. I’m going to have a problem reviewing this book because, honestly, I didn’t really like it. BUT – at the same time, I can totally acknowledge the fact that this is extremely well written and most people will probably love it. There’s nothing wrong with the story, however I find myself pretty much repelled by one of the main characters. So, let me attempt to do this.
Archer Noble’s beloved sister, Marguerite, has just been killed in a tragic accident and the controversial author slash absolute manwhore (words used in the book – but yes, maybe I’m a bit judgy) finds himself guardian to her two young children. As a firm supporter of the idea that gay men should remain unmarried and childless and be free to fuck around indiscriminately, this is obviously not the ideal situation for him to be in. So as soon as he meets his sister’s friend, Ryan, who has emergency guardianship of the kids, he offers to give them to the younger man.
Ryan had no idea that the brother his friend use to rave about was none other than gay author, Archer Noble. He views the notoriously opinionated man as just as damaging to gay rights as those hate spouting homophobes. Ryan has always longed for a loving husband and children, and who is Archer Noble to tell him that as a gay man he’s wrong to want that? When Archer offers to sign the children over to him, Ryan sees his chance to have the family he craves, but he knows that it would be wrong. Despite Archer’s attitude, the kids need him, and maybe he needs those kids too. The two men come to an agreement that the four of them will live together in Marguerite’s house until Ryan needs to return to work. Until decisions can no longer be put off. Until September.
So let’s start with why I said I was repelled by Archer, because that’s a pretty strong word to use. I called him a manwhore ( I believe he himself says that he’s sucked more cock than a Hollywood hooker) but that’s not really my problem with him. I understand that people deal with grief differently but when Archer walks out of his sister’s funeral/memorial (whatever it was) to facilitate a Grindr hookup…just no. He walked out on those two grieving children, of whom he had guardianship, so he could go fuck some random guy. The number of times that he continued with that behavior, leaving the kids in Ryan’s care so he could go have sex, once even bringing his hookup to their house, I just couldn’t get over my distaste of him. I didn’t want Ryan to end up with Archer. Even after Archer realized that his behavior needed to change if he wanted to keep the children…I wasn’t able to make myself like him. However, I understand that my issue with Archer is my issue. I’m not about to wail that I hated one of the MCs and one star the book. I can recognize that the author didn’t make a mistake or get it wrong – the author wrote the character as they wanted and I stand by my earlier statement that most people will probably love this book.
This story wasn’t so much about the romance but there is a strong sense of love through the whole book. Between Archer and his sister, between the men and the children, it’s really a focus on family rather than romance. Both characters change a lot through the story and though I disliked Archer, his evolution was definitely well done and interesting to read. While the children play a large role in the story, neither of them are bratty page stealers, in fact, until right now it never even occurred to me that some people may avoid this book because it features children as part of the main plot. The kids never once got on my nerves, as so often happens with youngsters in stories, and are perfectly blended into the scenes so, although they are important and present, the are never really the focus.
This is only the second time that I can recall recommending a book that I’ll probably never pick up myself again. I honestly do think that readers who enjoy a well written and emotional family drama should give this one a go. Maybe check out some other reviews if I’ve left you uncertain or confused. I can be rather unforgiving and judgmental, but hey, at least I’m aware of my flaws, right!?
RATING: 
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