Reviewed by Danielle

TITLE: The Boy Who Came In From the Cold
AUTHOR: B. G. Thomas
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
BLURB: Todd Burton has had enough of small-town Buckman. His abusive stepfather calls him a fag; his friend Austin makes him realize he may be gay, but Todd doesn’t want to admit his stepfather is right; and he dreams of being a chef. Three good reasons to flee his hometown and pursue greener pastures. But when Todd reaches the big city, his luck runs dry. Soon he can’t pay his rent and gets evicted. In the middle of a snowstorm.

Gabe Richards is a wealthy businessman with enough wounds of his own to make him afraid of ever being intimate again. But when he sees Todd outside his building, freezing to death, he takes pity on him and takes him in from the cold.

To their mutual surprise, Todd and Gabe find themselves drawn to each other. “One night” turns into a week. Maybe letting a man in from the cold can melt the ice around Gabe’s heart—and maybe getting evicted will turn Todd’s luck around.

REVIEW:

In this novel, we find Todd Burton in the lobby of an apartment building freezing from the cold. Having nowhere to turn to, he hides from the snow and the cold – desperate to find a shelter. That is where Gabe finds him, who mistakes Todd to be “working” there.

Without giving away too much of the story, it is sufficient to say that Gabe cannot seem to let go of Todd and Todd in his desperation cannot see any solution other than to turn to Gabe for help. Gabe offers Todd a shelter, a comfort, a safe place to stay along with food and clothes. But what should have been a place to stay for one night turns out longer and longer…

Being raised by a homophobic stepfather and a mother who lets his stepfather dictate their lives, Todd has been raised to believe that being gay is wrong and sick. With Gabe being openly gay, this raises an issue for Todd and makes him confused and dejected of his own feelings. Never having questioned his sexual preferences, especially having a girlfriend in his hometown yet also being called a fag for most of his life by his stepfather, Todd wonders where his strong feelings for Gabe come from. We watch Todd struggle with these feelings for a big part of the book.

It is a part of the exploitation of both their feelings because you will discover that Gabe has some skeletons in his closet too. It is a wonderful journey and makes you feel part of the road they are following, not forgetting the sensual way their sexual attraction and exploitation is portrayed. This makes the story quite hot also.

We find two powerful side characters in this story, which are definitely worth mentioning: Tracey, Gabe’s co–worker who is loyal to the bone and in the end is responsible for finding out something about Todd’s past what could be seen as a great twist.

And Peter – Gabe’s gay boss, mentor, good friend and overall an exceptional guy. You can’t not love this man with his brilliant quotes and his magnificent view on life.

Although I did feel a slight resemblance to the “Pretty woman” or some fairy tale story. That could be a critic if you feel it like that along with the over excessive use of the worth shitfire…

I cannot say different than that this is a very beautifully written, romantic story about finding your destiny, your purpose in life including coming out and to accept yourself above all.

I’d recommend to read this book quite strongly and to see if you are able to put it down after you begin because I couldn’t.

To end this with a sentence that says so much:

Beautiful? He said my dick is beautiful? A penis can be beautiful?

Of course it can, he realized. How could he deny it? He’d known the truth forever but had avoided it somehow.

DANIELLE’S RATING:

BUY LINK: Dreamspinner Press  ||  Book Store

==================================
Danielle is one of the official reviewers on The Blog of Sid Love.

To read all her reviews, click the link: DANIELLE’S REVIEWS
=====================================================

Check out all our recommended books in Sid Love’s eBook Store:
Recommended Books

(Support this site and buy the books from my A-store)