Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Scenes From Adelaide Road
AUTHOR: Helena Stone
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 188 Pages
BLURB:
Can a young man find the courage he never knew he had when faced with losing everything he holds dear?
A few months before his final exams in secondary school, nineteen-year-old Lennart Kelly discovers he’s inherited a house on Adelaide Road in Dublin from a grandfather he never knew. Having been ignored, bullied and abused for as long as he can remember, Lennart can’t wait to leave behind his father and the small town he grew up in. Moving away as soon as he finishes his exams doesn’t cure his deep-rooted insecurities though.
Meeting twenty-three-year-old Aidan Cassidy in a gay club on his second night in Dublin, scares Lennart. Used to being ignored and ridiculed, he doesn’t trust the attention he receives and can’t believe a man like Aidan could possibly be interested in him. It takes infinite patience and understanding from Aidan to slowly coax Lennart out of his shell.
But the past refuses to stay where it belongs and Lennart’s father is determined to take the house in Dublin off his son by whatever means necessary. Just when Lennart is learning to trust and embrace life, a violent attack threatens everything he holds dear. Suddenly Lennart is in danger of losing his house, the man he’s grown to love and maybe even his life. If Lennart wants to protect Aidan and safeguard his future, he’ll have to find the courage he never knew he had.
REVIEW:
I had eyed this book on the Pride Publishing website a few times, but I’m always a little wary of authors I’ve never read before so I figured I’d wait for other people to review it first. But then we received a review request from the author so I decided to take that as a sign to take the chance…and I’m very glad that I did.
Nineteen-year-old Lennart has just relocated to Dublin after escaping from the homophobic small town he grew up in. For as far back as he can remember he has been bullied and even physically assaulted by those around him. Escaping to Dublin is his chance to begin a new life, a life where he hopes to blend in and avoid any more traumatic bullying, but blending in is not what he manages to do at all the first time he ventures in to a gay club.
Aidan spots Lennart the moment he enters the bar and sets out in gentle, yet unmistakable pursuit of the scared teen. He wants to get to know the younger man and won’t take no for an answer once he recognizes that it’s only fear holding Lennart back.
There was a lot about this book that I really liked. Firstly, the story is told from Lennart’s first person point of view but I was instead immediately drawn to the other main character, Aidan. Aidan was kind of hard to pin down and get a read on. At first he comes across as über confident and self assured. He appears to have his shit together and he’s assertive without steamrolling the easy to push around Lennart. I was actually surprised and appreciative when the author suddenly presented us with a bullied, nervous and unsure Aidan to contrast with that. Often in romance novels there’s a hero who comes along to save the “less dominant” character, and to be honest, that stereotype works fine for me. But the fact that this author didn’t make her hero some perfect alpha, but instead someone who is flawed but strong enough to be who Lennart needs him to be, was great writing in my opinion. It really gave the character some added depth, and I felt I knew him just as well, for all that the story was told from Lennart’s perspective. In fact, whenever Lennart began to get on my nerves with his (completely justified) fears, Aidan’s character would be used to point out how resilient Lennart actually was, and I would have no choice but to concede that point.
The sex scenes were well written and skillfully used to further the story. There was nothing gratuitous about them and at no point did they slow down the progression of the plot, and that’s coming from me, who often can’t wait to get through the sex to find out what happens next. The first sex scene especially, was written perfectly to capture the nerves and excitement of first time sex, but at the same time there was still sexiness about it. It takes a lot to impress me with a sex scene, but like I said, I think that this author found a perfect balance.
As for the conflict, that was another thing that impressed me. There is little to no conflict between these characters. There’s no fight/breakup scene at around eighty percent, and I always appreciate when an author avoids that. Honestly, I’m so sick of the old mandatory breakup. Instead the author kept me feeling anxious and on edge throughout the whole story just waiting for Lennart’s villainous father to strike. I much preferred this type of conflict than any fighting between the main characters.
If I had any complaint with this book it would be the pacing. The story would sometimes start a new chapter several weeks later and it happened often enough that it began to bother me. I felt as though I was missing out on seeing the MCs relationship develop, although to be fair, there was still plenty of that to witness. Also, I would have liked to know what happened to Lennart’s Grandfather’s friend. I assume he must be dead but unless I missed it somehow that was never confirmed.
I’m happy to recommend this book to readers who enjoy a slightly broken main character. And the author definitely gets bonus points for making up dirty Harry Potter spells that actually sound legit.
RATING: 
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