Reviewed by Cinnamon

TITLE: The Dusk Parlor

SERIES: World of Love (Japan)

AUTHOR: S.A. Stovall

PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press

LENGTH: 86 pages

RELEASE DATE:  May 3, 2017

BLURB:

Former soldier Hugh Harris is a “hāfu”—half-Japanese, half-American—and, after his father’s death, he returns to Kobe, Japan, in order to connect with his mother and her family. Confused and feeling out of place, Hugh finds work as a waiter at an upscale nightclub. The other employees, an odd and eclectic bunch, quickly make him feel at home, especially the bartender, Ren, and the club host, Kaito.

But the tranquility doesn’t last forever. As Hugh gets deeper into his relationships with both men, he finds they may have dubious connections with the yakuza in town… and when the local street leaders send their enforcers to the Dusk Parlor, Hugh, Ren, and Kaito may be in for a storm of trouble.

REVIEW:

If you are looking for something different, something unique and gripping, The Dusk Parlor is a perfect choice for you.

This book is part of the World of Love series and the reader is taken to Japan, to the magical world of Japanese culture. I’m sorry if you are Japanese, living in Japan, this will probably be an ordinary story for you, but all the rest of us who just see pictures and documentaries of this wonderful world will get an extraordinary, entertaining story set in a Japanese city, telling a tale of three very different men who discover that they might be just perfectly fit for each other.

I personally love Asian movies and mangas, so I was very excited to read this short story.

I was drawn into the story right away and although it took a while for the plot to show its real purpose, we got there and I enjoyed every page of it.

The characters are unique and truly lovable. Hugh, Ren and Kaito share a very special kind of chemistry. They are all drawn together and their building connection is very well written. Even the secondary characters had so much personality that they contributed greatly to the story-line.

The writing is solid and has a special style, a bit slower and more literature like than your everyday MM romance story. It also has some great one-liners that make just the perfect quote and will stay with you long after you finish reading.

The story is well-built, exciting and the style allows the reader to add their own thoughts as not everything is spelled out but leaves a lot to our imagination.

This is a great read and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

RATING: 

BUY LINKS: 

Dreamspinner Press

Amazon