Reviewed by Vicki
Series Review of Fallen Rose books 1 & 2
AUTHOR: Charlie Cochet
BOOK 1 TITLE: Roses in the Devil’s Garden
PUBLISHER: Goodreads freebie
LENGTH: 64 pages
BLURB:
In a city overrun by lawlessness and corruption, best friends and lovers- Prohibition Agents Harlan Mackay and Nathan Reilly, are fighting a losing battle. With bootleggers running amuck and countless speakeasies materializing every day, how can two men possibly hope to make a difference? Especially when they can’t even trust their own bureau?
If dealing with hoodlums wasn’t enough, a ghost from Nathan’s past threatens to destroy everything Harlan and Nathan hold dear.
REVIEW:
This is a great little story! It has an established couple which I like, and is set in a time period I am unfamiliar with. I do feel like there is more to it though, there are hints at Nathan and Harlan past traumas in the war, but we don’t really get to know what happened to them. I’d like to see a more in depth story for them….
Anyway. Nathan and Harlan are a couple, living together and working together as Prohibition Agents, trying to clean up a decedent New York City in the roaring twenties. This story has a small plot, a bit about a bad dude selling toxic hooch out of a club, who causes some drama later. The really interesting stuff happens between Harlan and Nathan though. An old lover of Nathan’s reappears and stirs up trouble, they have sweet sex and pissed off sex, and use lots of words and phrases that I assume are appropriate to the era. They meet a sweet boy named Julius who is a temptation. I have no idea how authentic this one is, they both seem pretty “out”, living together, working together, not really hiding their relationship. I did question that a bit, but I admit to not knowing much about this time in history, so maybe homosexuality wasn’t so taboo.
I did enjoyed this story, the world is interesting, and I liked Nathan and Harlan. It was short, so I won’t complain about wanting more, it was good for what it was. I got a good feeling for the era, the language, excitement of a decadent time, and it made me want to read more about it! Conveniently there is another book!
RATING: 
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BOOK 2 TITLE: A Rose By Any Other Name
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 270 pages
BLURB:
Nights in the roaring city remind bright young things that life’s too short to take for granted. Tucked away in Times Square hides the Pantheon: a secret cabaret for wealthy gay men. Pretty young men in elaborate costumes and rouged lips are eager to please, and the champagne flows all night long. It’s a world of frivolity, fantasy, and debauchery. As Eros, the most sought after performer at the Pantheon, Julius uses his beauty and charm on enthusiastic patrons, but growing weary of superficial love, he longs to make a better life for himself.
Five years after being declared mentally unfit after surviving the trenches of No Man’s Land, Edward Joseph Clarence Junior pieced his shattered life back together. Now he’s ready to take on the family empire. To celebrate his thirtieth birthday, Edward’s cousin takes him to the most posh nightclub in town, the Pantheon. Falling under the sway of Eros, Edward and Julius find a love they’ve never imagined and the chance for a future they had only dared to dream about. But as Ares, a notorious gangster and Julius’s most important—and dangerous— client watches them, the threat to their love and their lives grows by the day.
REVIEW:
I liked this one too! This book takes place several years after Roses in the Devil’s Garden, and features Julius the sweet boy that Nathan and Harlan saved from arrest in a booze raid. Julius now works as a performer and prostitute in a club called The Pantheon. He is the featured performer, both on stage and in his dressing room. He’s pampered and spoiled, making top dollar for all of his skills. All of the performers go by stage names and are based around Greek gods, as is the theme of the club. Julius is Eros, the god of love….
Edward is such a strong character for being so damaged. I don’t know my history well, but these books both appear to take place after WWI, and feature some pretty messed up characters. Nathan and Harlan both served, and are paying the price, so is Edward. He’s not been physically damaged, but emotionally he is a mess. He and his brother went together, and only one came home. His father owns a premier department store in New York, and dearly loved both of his sons. Edward comes home so emotionally damaged, he’s pretty much suicidal. He heads to Europe after partially getting his shit together, trying to not make his father watch his recovery. This book takes place after he has returned home. His Cousin Maxwell, and their best friend Albert take Edward out for a night of decadence to celebrate his birthday and his return to New York. They take him to the Pantheon…
Where he meet the beautiful Eros! With me so far?
So the boys all have quite an adventure, there are good guys and bad guys, action and excitement. Sweetness and darkness, and lovely sex. We see the return of Harland and Nathan, coming to the rescue of Julius and Edward. Charlie takes us deeper in to the world of the clubs and New York post war, I can’t honestly say how believable it was, I am not familiar with this time period, so I don’t know if there were clubs like the Pantheon or not, but it this story it all worked quite well. I loved Charlie’s descriptions, I have a great vision of what the Pantheon looks like. I can see the lights, the clothing, the costumes so clearly in my head. I liked all of the characters, Edward is strong and secure, yet has some vulnerability to him. Julius is sweet and kind, but a hardass is well. He knows what he wants and doesn’t want, and he’s pretty clear about that. He’s got two friends, Terry and Lawry that play big rolls, I liked them as well.
I enjoyed the plot, and for the most part the writing was good. There were a couple of times that I thought there was too much dialogue, some cutesy banter that didn’t fit with the gravity of the scene. I found myself wanting to skip over it a bit, just wanting them to get on with it. It wasn’t enough to ruin the story for me, just made me pause and sigh for a few minutes. But overall I enjoyed the story! Great characters, and interesting setting, very visual descriptions, good sex, good action, good connection between the characters, and a great ending!
RATING: 
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