Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: The Rekindling of Love
SERIES: The Innkeeper Series #1
AUTHOR: Derrick Knight
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 278 Pages
BLURB:
Dwyer Von Strohm thought his life was perfect. He had a great job as a pharmaceutical sales representative; he lived in Downtown Chicago where he had an unlimited number of hot gay men to pursue. Then one day he becomes a casualty of a poor economy and is terminated from his job.
Dwyer’s situation forces him to move back home and live with his parents in the small town of Glasburg Illinois. Dwyer left Glasburg many years ago because the love of his life, John Fitzgerald, broke his heart. Soon Dwyer and John’s paths collide and it is evident both men still have strong feelings for each other. Will Dwyer find it in his heart to forgive John or will he let the demons from their past prevent them from rekindling the love they once shared?
Even though Dwyer and John’s friends are rooting for reconciliation, their friends are experiencing their own life dramas. Dwyer’s childhood friend Nathaniel Schmitt and his partner Dustin Hurst for years have tried to adopt a child without any success. Now they have opportunity to adopt a baby. Will Nathaniel’s Obsessive/Compulsive Disorder and Dustin’s introverted personality prevent their dreams of becoming parents coming true?
Mark Glaser is living with HIV and is in a long-term relationship with Erik Wolters. Mark contracted the disease after being sexually assaulted while attending college. His attackers were never brought to justice. Now Mark is receiving harassing anonymous phone calls and threating letters. Has Mark’s stalker returned from his painful past or is this a new foe?
David Smith is a local high school art teacher and freelance artist. One day David is offered a solo exhibition at the local Art Center. They want him to include all of his artwork including provocative drawings of he and his lover Lance Perry naked. Soon a powerful and ruthless school board member finds out about David’s pornographic pictures. This school board member gives David an ultimatum. If he displays his work, he will be terminated. Will David have the courage to display his talent or will he succumb to a bigoted conservative’s threat?
The Rekindling of Love is about a group of friends’ experiences with hope, fear, pursing dreams, prejudice, justice, and love.
REVIEW:
I think I’ll begin by telling you that this book was passed around and read by a couple of reviewers at the blog before it landed in my in-box with a request that I read a few chapters and see what I think. The problem wasn’t that we didn’t like the book. We have no problem slapping a book with a low rating if we truly think it’s warranted, but the problem with this book is those of us that read it are a little up in the air about what we think of it. Usual practice is – one reviewer, one opinion, one review. But this book was tossed around with a shrug and an “I just don’t know”. I could almost hear The Wiggles singing “Hot Potato” in the background. But in the end we figured, this poor author must be wondering what on earth is going on with his review, so here it is. I volunteered, I was left holding the package when the music stopped, so allow me to attempt to make sense of just what my opinion is.
I think the author got lucky that I ended up being the one to write the review for The Rekindling of Love because I’m a lover of multiple storylines. Yes, I’d call Dwyer and John the main characters but maybe only a third of the book focuses on the two of them. Their paired up friends see almost as much story time, in fact, John and Dwyer were probably my least favorite characters. Not that there is anything wrong with those two but one of the things that the author has done exceedingly well is create characters that I came to care about very quickly. I loved Mark, who is HIV positive without his status having to become the main focus of the story. It isn’t disregarded as unimportant but it isn’t treated as a drama either. And I adored Nathaniel who is so heartbreakingly focused on his need for a child. So, brilliant characters – check. Multiple storylines that always manage to confuse me slightly at first, which for some reason seems to add to my enjoyment – check. Derrick Knight obviously has a talent for inventing characters and an imagination that can develop complicated (in a good way) storylines.
The obvious problem though, is the execution of the story left a lot to be desired. When I first began reading, the writing style was difficult to sink into. It had an unfinished quality to it that left me feeling I was reading more of a detailed outline for a story rather than the completed book. When reviews complain about “showing not telling”, to be honest I don’t usually notice stuff like that. Everybody reviews differently and I’ve always focused more on how much I enjoy a story and how it makes me feel rather than the more technical aspects. But this book kind of took the whole “telling” aspect to the extreme, to the point where even speech between the characters was told rather than actually spoken. Did that just make sense? For example “He told Lance he wanted to suck him and Lance obligingly removed his fingers.” Instead of David saying the words, we’re just told what he says. And I’m not being nitpicky about this. It happens through the whole book. A lot. Trust me, I’m extremely unobservant about these things usually.
What this story desperately needs is to be re-edited. And I apologize, I don’t mean to insult whoever edited because for a self-published book this one has surprisingly few grammatical errors. Actually, I can’t recall noticing any. Ideally, I think this book could do with going back to some beta readers because what it reminds me of is a first draft that needs some cutting and some padding added.
And I guess this is just my random quirk, but I think the cover just added to my disenchantment (I tried to think of a nice word) with this story. If a book has one of Reese Dante’s gorgeous covers, I make assumptions that the quality of the inside will match the outside. But the writing fell short this time.
Those are my thoughts. I’m actually keen to read the next book in this series. I really, really want to see the “baddie” get hit by a train or maybe mauled by a rabid dog. Hmmm, maybe dropped into the middle of a sharknado, that could be done realistically, right?
So, 3 stars, despite what I thought were issues with the story telling. The premise was well thought through and like I said, I totally adored the characters. The characters are always the most important part of the story for me, especially in these books with multiple storylines. Good luck to the author with the sequel.
RATING: 
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