Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: A Year In The Life: A Courtland Novel (Courtlands – The Next Generation #1)
SERIES: Courtlands – The Next Generation
AUTHOR: Cat Grant
PUBLISHER: Cat Grant Books
LENGTH: 267 Pages
BLURB:
Courtland fans, get ready – the next generation’s here! A campus flu outbreak, complicated by a freak October blizzard, brings Cornell seniors Seth Thompson and Bilal al-Mansoori together. Three days spent waiting out the storm at Seth’s snowbound apartment leads to an unexpected mutual attraction—and a hot night under the covers, which quickly deepens into a true emotional bond… Plus, a world of problems for Bilal, an Iranian Muslim. Despite his homeland’s harsh laws and even harsher punishment for homosexuality, Bilal can no longer deny who he really is: A gay man falling in love for the first time. Seth’s gentle manner and passionate lovemaking bring Bilal more joy than he ever thought possible. Yet, despite the lovers’ growing happiness, Bilal’s haunted by guilt and shame left over from his strict upbringing, and the sad realization that he’ll never see his family in Iran again. Speaking of families, it’s time for Bilal to meet Seth’s… Eric, Nick and Ally. Ten years later, this committed triad is still as deeply in love as ever, but even commitment comes with challenges… Is there room in this non-traditional family for Bilal? His future with Seth may depend on it. (Includes the novella In From the Cold 🙂
REVIEW:
Back on October 5th, when I reviewed “In From the Cold” I started with the following few sentences. “How do I start? I know….I’ll start with a direct quote from Cat Grant from the author’s Afterword. “I know what you’re all thinking right now. ‘But, but…we’ve been waiting for a new Courtland story for ages, and this is it? Twenty-three thousand words? That’s all we get?’” My response when I finished it was a shouted, “NO I WANT MORE!” Well, I’m happy to say that just over two months later I’m sitting her reviewing the FULL novel! While I very much enjoyed the Novella, the full book is WAY better!
The story begins when two university students from very different backgrounds meet at the university health center, where they both are seeking treatment for the flu. Seth Thompson and Bilal al-Mansoori couldn’t be any different, but things are about to change drastically for both of the college seniors. One of the young men, Seth, comes from a very well to do American family, the other, Bilal, is a Muslim from Iran, a country that executes gay men. Though they are both students at Cornell, their worlds are diametrically opposed. In addition, there are severe prejudices from both cultures towards the other which are highlighted by the actions of various individuals throughout the book.
A huge storm hits the campus and when Seth finds Bilal on his way home, far outside the area where Bilal’s dorm is, Seth takes Bilal “in from the cold” and they are thrown together in Seth’s apartment to ride out the storm and hopefully get past the worst of the flu. What follows is a story of discovery, as they both learn things about each other and about each other’s culture, background and families during their three days snowbound together in Seth’s apartment.
So now the storm is over, where do they go from here? Off to meet Seth’s family, of course! The famous Courtland Triad, Senator Eric Courtland, Allison Courtland and Nick Thompson. For any of you who read and loved the Courtland Chronicles as much as I did, this will be a natural progression. This time the triad takes second place to the story of their son Seth and Bilal. But that doesn’t mean we don’t have drama for both generations.
We have the danger of Bilal admitting he is gay, and risking the dangers that gay Iranians face of “disappearing” and resurfacing back in Iran for trial for their “perversion”. We have a very serious illness for one of the characters, we have a missing child, and we have suspicion from everyone, including Seth’s family, of Bilal’s intentions….is he only looking for a green card?
This book stands alone very easily. If you’ve read the Courtland Chronicles series it will give you great background, but if not, the author has included sufficient information for you to understand everything that occurs.
I loved this book. I didn’t love that the extremely mean Cat left us with a bunch of open ends! For example…I still have no idea what is going to happen with the bad Iranian, Aziz. Has he reported to his father, and by default both the Ministry of Justice and Bilal’s father? What is up with Bilal’s journal? What’s going to happen with the boys from here? Hopefully someone is writing her little fingers off as you read this, because this book has just come out and I already want MORE! I recommend you purchase this book. Trust me, you will love it.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] read A Year in the Life first for continuity and character background. My review of that book is here. […]