Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: In Strange Woods
AUTHOR: Claire Cray
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 204 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 28, 2020
BLURB:
Steamy, tender, mysterious m/m romance in the stormy coastal woods of the Pacific Northwest.
Reeling with grief after the mysterious massacre of his wealthy family, moody New York photographer James Worthington Crane decides to take his downward spiral somewhere far away: to the rural Oregon Coast, where he’s just inherited a random piece of property hidden somewhere in the woods upriver.
But when James pulls into the decaying seaside town of Brooks, everyone thinks he’s someone else—an elusive local outlaw named Beau. Now James must fight through his grief to unravel a tangled web of family secrets and forgotten history…with help from a soft-spoken local hunk named Hunter Quaid.
Hunter’s been on his own since he left his fundamentalist family at the age of fifteen. It’s taken years of hard work to build the steady life he has now, fixing up seaside houses while living alone in a trailer by the river. Then James blows in like a winter storm, disturbing the peace and stirring up a hunger like nothing he’s ever felt.
As Hunter helps James search for the truth, their lives intertwine in unexpected ways—and they begin to discover what it means to find out where you really belong.
From the author of Merrick and Hidden Talents comes a sensual romance mystery inspired by the rugged beauty and offbeat history of Pacific Northwest timber country. In Strange Woods moves through ancient old-growth forests, abandoned logging roads, ramshackle seaside towns, decaying homesteads, coastal highways, and the stories hidden in the trees.
Content Warnings
Grief, mental illness, alcohol abuse, suicidal ideation; references to suicide, and murder. For a detailed list of content warnings, visit the book page on clairecraybooks.com.
REVIEW:
James Worthington Crane has lost his family in the most horrific way – robbery and gruesome murder. He’s discovered he’s inherited some land in trust in Oregon, and he really needs to get out of the city, so he takes off for Portland and to see this land he now owns. He’s pretty despondent and has been drinking himself stupid on the regular at this point. After landing in a small coastal town, he’s back on his path of self-destruction getting blackout drunk. He has a near miss with disaster a couple of times, but thankfully a good Samaritan in the form of Hunter Quaid gets him somewhat back on his feet.
When James starts to investigate the land that he’s been left, strange things begin to happen. For one thing, everyone seems to think that he’s somebody named Beau – who happens to share his mother’s maiden name. And things get weirder from there. When Hunter rescues him again, they end up spending the evening together at Hunter’s trailer and James is shocked with how comfortable he feels there. He gets some much needed rest before he gets back to his quest.
While searching for the truth about this mother’s past he discovers some pretty amazing coincidences. People continue to stare at him thinking he’s Beau, but he’s still trying to figure out what the heck is going on. Then people from his New York life show up – and not with good news. As things start to unravel on that front, James also gets some answers that he’s been searching for about his family. And this new information is more than a little jarring. He continues to lean on Hunter for support and they grown closer – in every way 😉
As James continues his search, he’s completely surprised by what he finds. When he finally meets Beau, it’s a watershed moment for both. But some hard truths bring James’s grief to the breaking point. While good things get set into motion with knowing who killed his family, he’s still left with the devastation. But finally he’s got the support he needs to deal with it and hopefully begin to heal and move forward with his life.
Well this was such a cool surprise! This is the first book I’ve read by this author and I thoroughly enjoyed it 🙂 In the spirit of transparency, the Pacific Northwest is my absolute favorite part of the country, and Portland is my favorite city. I’ve spent a lot of time in Oregon and I completely love it, so this ended up being right in my wheelhouse from a setting perspective. James is absolutely reeling from the shocking deaths of his family and his desire to escape is completely understandable. His grief and despair are palpable and it’s not unusual for someone in that state to self-medicate with alcohol – which he seems to be doing a fine job of. Thankfully Hunter is a really good guy since he’s the one who keeps rescuing him – mostly from himself 😉 I liked their interaction and the way Hunter’s past also provided insight into how he reacted to James and the possibility of more. The setting was so vividly described and I enjoyed all the little details – about the town and the coast, Hunter’s trailer, the beautiful forests and rivers – Oregon truly is a spectacular place. The mystery of James’s family’s murders was not that much of a mystery (I knew who it had to be very early on), but that’s OK. It was more about the journey of James discovering where he belonged and who he should be with. I really loved the unravelling of the family secrets and although some things are not totally tied up in a pretty bow, that was completely OK. The supporting characters were really well written and added so much to the story – particularly Deenie and Beau. Hunter and James are a bit tentative with each other at first which I really appreciated since James was in a pretty bad place. But once they start being honest, it’s obvious that they really are a perfect fit. When both of them got out of their own way, they were able to move things to the next level 🙂 All in all, this is a really well-written hurt/comfort mystery story that provides a well-deserved happy ending.
RATING: 
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