Reviewed by Carissa

This is a Series Review of the Trowchester Blues Series (Books 1 -2 )

AUTHOR: Alex Beecroft

PUBLISHER: Riptide Publishing

SERIES REVIEW:

I have found this to be a very enjoyable series so far, and I’m looking forward to reading the next book. The character were all  interesting and well written. And I got to read about some topics that don’t come up all that often. My anglophile heart was very satisfied by these two books, and I had a lot of fun watching some very English parts of life come to life here. I am totally recommending this series.

SERIES RATING:

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TITLE:  Trowchester Blues

LENGTH:  290 pages

BLURB:  

Michael May is losing it. Long ago, he joined the Metropolitan Police to escape his father’s tyranny and protect people like himself. Now his father is dead, and he’s been fired for punching a suspect. Afraid of his own rage, he returns to Trowchester—and to his childhood home, with all its old fears and memories. When he meets a charming, bohemian bookshop owner who seems to like him, he clings tight.

Fintan Hulme is an honest man now. Five years ago, he retired from his work as a high class London fence and opened a bookshop. Then an old client brings him a stolen book too precious to turn away, and suddenly he’s dealing with arson and kidnapping, to say nothing of all the lies he has to tell his friends. Falling in love with an ex-cop with anger management issues is the last thing he should be doing.

Finn thinks Michael is incredibly sexy. Michael knows Finn is the only thing that still makes him smile. But in a relationship where cops and robbers are natural enemies, that might not be enough to save them.

NOTE: The Trowchester Blues series features stand-alone titles that can be read in any order.

REVIEW:  

I had originally picked up the second book in this series to read, not realizing that it was a second book. So when it was pointed out to me, I decided to read the first one as well, even though it looked like they could be read as stand-alone. I really wasn’t in the mood for cop stories, originally, so I didn’t know how I would feel going into this book, but I found that I really did like Michael and Finn.

The book starts out a bit sqwicky, what with Michael discovering the corpse of a young girl–and pretty much losing he shit over it–but once Micheal is out of London and his job as a cop, it became a lot less angsty. Which was a very good thing. And when he walks into Finn’s book shop (which I would sell my brother to have) the chemistry between these characters made the story so enjoyable that I had a hard time putting down my kindle.

There were also some very good characters running around Trowchester, including the homeless kid that is squatting on Micheal’s dad’s land. And Michael’s neighbors were pretty great as well. All of these characters made Trowchester such an interesting place, and I can’t wait to learn more about them, and the town where they live.

I mostly enjoyed the whole Finn subplot. His dodgy background coupled with Michael’s copper sensibilities made for some great scenes. I did want to smack Michael, though, for not telling Finn what he was planning sooner. Gah! I would have totally smacked him if he did that to me. I get why he did it. Hell, I even agree with him that it needed to be done. But to put Finn through that… I guess I just wanted him to be less cop and more lover.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable story and I’m looking forward to the rest of the series.

RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

Riptide

Amazon

ARe

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TITLE:  Blue Eyed Stranger

LENGTH:  230 pages

BLURB:  

Billy Wright has a problem: he’s only visible when he’s wearing a mask. That’s fine when he’s performing at country fairs with the rest of his morris dancing troupe. But when he takes the paint off, his life is lonely and empty, and he struggles with crippling depression.

Martin Deng stands out from the crowd. After all, there aren’t that many black Vikings on the living history circuit. But as the founder of a fledgling historical re-enactment society, he’s lonely and harried. His boss doesn’t like his weekend activities, his warriors seem to expect him to run everything single-handedly, and it’s stressful enough being one minority without telling the hard men of his group he’s also gay.

When Billy’s and Martin’s societies are double-booked at a packed county show, they know at once they are kindred spirits, united by a deep feeling of connectedness to their history and culture. But they’re also both hiding in their different ways, and they need each other to be brave enough to take their masks off and still be seen.

REVIEW:  

This was the second book this week that I read that deals with depression, though I certainly didn’t plan it that way. At times it was a bit, well, depressing, but I really did love how it was written. I felt for Billy as he struggled with not only his issues with Martin (and his issues) but with this constant presence inside him that undermined almost all the good in his life.

The book wasn’t always sad, though. I really liked the ‘historical’ aspects of this book. And by that I mean the historical re-enactments–both Martin’s Vikings and Billy’s Morris dancers. I don’t know a lot about Morris dancing, and to be honest I don’t really understand it, but this book made it sound really interesting. Well, all the historical stuff was interesting, but then again I’m a bit of a history buff. I love learning about these type of things and I totally would be someone who goes to these types of shows if I had the money (and time) to do so.

There were certainly times when I thought someone needed to smack Martin upsides the head for the way he was treating Billy, but I could also understand his reticence to coming out. Especially after the fiasco with his job. His love for not only teaching, but for re-enactments, was pretty obvious and I think it would have hit him pretty hard if he lost both. But I do think he comes to realize just how important Billy (and Billy’s needs) are.

I wish there had been a bit more Trowchester in this book. We get a few quick cameos by some of the characters in the previous book, but there really wasn’t much connecting the first book to this one. Which is good if you were just looking to read this book as a stand-alone, but I hoping to get more out of those characters in this book. Hopefully I’ll get to see more of them in the next one.

Over a very nice reading experience. The way depression was handled here was interesting and very well done, and I loved the way Martin and Billy combine their lives to bring out the best in themselves as well as in their performances.

RATING:  

BUY LINKS:

Riptide

Amazon  

ARe