Our next theme week will be centered around Food
So every day this week you will see a review that involves food in any way 🙂
Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Heart
AUTHOR: Garrett Leigh
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 196 Pages
BLURB:
Cornish pastry chef Seb Wright dreads the summer tourist season. The cash injection to his artisan fudge pantry is more than welcome, the extra work, less so. Then one summer, a shadowy Good Samaritan catches his eye. Irish Traveller Dex is bewitching, a beautiful sullen enigma who turns Seb’s world upside down until he disappears in the night, vanishing like a mystical summer rain.
Twelve months later Dex is in the midst of a dark storm. A slave to his master, ‘Uncle’ Braden, he spends his days cleaning caravans and his nights working in Braden’s other businesses. His short summer with Seb seems a lifetime ago. Lost in the savage violence of the murky underworld, he doesn’t dare dream he’ll ever find his way back, until one night, a brutal crime opens the door for a chance escape. A new life beckons, old faces emerge, and immersed in the heady vibe of London’s East End, new love begins to heal his fractured heart.
REVIEW:
When we meet Seb, he is running the family fudge pantry in Padstow in Cornwall. I instantly got nostalgic to the days when I was stationed in nearby Newquay and it drew me instantly into the story. Seb is working tons of hours, struggling to keep the business afloat during the non-tourist season in Cornwall.
When Seb drops his wallet late one night, a young man appears from the shadows to hand it back to him. Seb notices the young man is one of the Travelers, a Gypsy. He appears very malnourished and dirty, and very skittish. Over the next few weeks, Seb develops a friendship with the youth, who he now knows is called Dex. After one night of sex, Dex disappears from Padstow.
Dex is dragged back to his “Uncle” Braden where he is thrust back into a world of BDSM prostitution. Fed little if at all, hired out to violent BDSM sex parties and johns, Dex struggles to survive. Finally he escapes and makes his way to London. Will he survive? How will he get by? Who will he meet? Will we ever learn the story behind “Uncle” Braden? What will happen when his “Uncle” finds him? What about Seb, will he come back into the story? All thoughts that kept me eagerly turning the pages.
Heart is a very well written book, with interesting characters and a good plot. I very much enjoyed the interplay between characters and the way the author wrote Dex’s extremely damaged psyche and his lack of self worth. The book was a fictional account, but could have been pulled from headlines around the world as we learn more and more of the extent of youth slavery in First World countries.
I very much liked this book and highly recommend it. It is rather dark in spots, but there is light in the end. I look forward to reading more of the author’s books in the future.
RATING: 
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