Reviewed by Chris
TITLE: Unnatural 
AUTHOR: Joanna Chambers
PUBLISHER: Samhain Publishing
LENGTH: 230 pages
BLURB:
The heart breaks but does not change.
An Enlightenment Story
Captain Iain Sinclair. Perfect son, perfect soldier, hero of Waterloo. A man living a lie. The only person who really knows him is his childhood friend, scientist James Hart. But they’ve been estranged since Iain brutally destroyed their friendship following a passionate encounter.
Iain is poised to leave the King’s service to become an undercover agent in India. Before he leaves his old life behind, he’s determined to reconcile with James. An invitation to a country house party from James’s sister provides the perfect opportunity to pin the man down.
James has loved Iain all his life, but his years of accepting crumbs from Iain’s table are over. Forgiving Iain is one thing—restoring their friendship is quite another.
In the face of James’s determined resistance, Iain is forced to confront his reasons for mending the wounds between them. And accept the possibility that James holds the key to his heart’s desire—if only he has the courage to reach for it.
Warning: Contains a dashing military hero with one weakness—a scientist who feels their chemistry in every cell of his body. Kissing in the rain, skinny dipping, and emotional flashbacks. Huzzah!
REVIEW:
Falling in love with your best friend should be the easiest thing in the world. In early 19th century England, though, there are no end to the complications of falling in love with your boyhood friend. Revealing your affections could cost you much more than rejection…but it might also grant you your greatest wish.
Finding out that Ian shared his his secret desires should have been one of the happiest times of James’ life. But no matter how hard he tries he cannot convince the man to give their love a chance. Ian, struggling with pleasing a father who will never be satisfied, cannot see a relationship with any man, even James, working out well for anyone. Desperate to cling to one last shred of hope, James offers himself one last time–and desperate to not be the cause of both their downfalls, Ian rejects him.
Now, years later, Ian is looking at an assignment to India–one likely to mean never returning to England–with only one regret. Losing the friendship of James. With only weeks to departure, Ian will have to decide how much he can risk in search of the most important man in his life.
No matter how much time passes, 19th century England is always going to be my favorite setting for historical fiction. So it was when I first started reading novels, and so shall it be till the end of time itself. I just really love the whole universe that is created there. From balls and teas to poverty and the more criminal elements, there are countless stories to be read. And even if I don’t always have the chance to read/review them, every time a historical romance comes across my path I am more than tempted to read it.
What drew me to this story was the whole reunited friends/lovers aspect. But while this may be the end result of the book, the story was more focused on how things all fell apart. It was a bit depressing to read of how there friendship grew only to know that it was going to go to hell.
Yet that is one of the things I really liked about this novel. You genuinely feel for both Ian and James. I get why each of them did what they did, and in the end I didn’t feel like only one of them had to shoulder the blame. Yes Ian should have just stopped trying to get his father’s approval, but it isn’t easy to walk away from family no matter how toxic they might be–trust me, I know from experience. Alternately, James never stopped to think of why exactly Ian kept saying no. There was a lot that Ian was saying that James just never heard. This failure on both parts actually made the story better for me. It seemed more real, more like something I could get behind…once they finally figure their shit out.
One of the things I disliked, originally, was the way almost every other chapter was a flashback. This is near the top of my pet peeve list–probably just below books that have multiple MC pairings/storylines happening in the same novel. And it took me a couple days to decide if I should even bring it up. I am well aware that this is just a personal preference, and to someone else it might not be a big deal at all. But the reason I dislike it is that–like with ensemble casts–there are inevitably certain story lines that are just not as interesting and they become something you have to endure to get back to the good stuff. I dislike that. Quite a bit. It also creates a kinda chaotic flow to the story, sometimes.
The thing is…after a couple days, sitting around and thinking about what I wanted to say about this book, I kinda like the back forth now. Which is odd. Generally I don’t change my feelings about a book too much after reading it and setting it aside. But because I needed to write this review I was kinda forced to consider the book again. And in the end, the whole back/forth actually worked. Even though we know the relationship was going to fall apart, there was something about seeing it, in juxtaposition with Ian’s desperate attempts to bridge the rift, that made the story more. Just more. More painful. More sad. More hopeful. More interesting to read all ’round.
So it is probably a good thing it took me so long to write this, or else this could have been a different review. It was always a good book. It had two great MCs, and some interesting secondary characters. But I think I sometimes let my personal preferences get in the way of a really great story being told. Which is sad.
Now though, I think I have no problem recommending this story.
RATING:
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