Reviewed by Valerie
TITLE: Rebel
SERIES: Outlawed #.5
AUTHOR: Sally Malcolm
PUBLISHER: Self-Published
LENGTH: 36 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 11, 2021
BLURB:
Samuel Hutchinson has lived his whole life in Rosemont, Rhode Island. And as far as he’s concerned, his future is fixed: complete his legal training, marry a respectable woman, and settle down to raise a family.
But Sam never counted on meeting Nathaniel Tanner.
Clever, urbane, and dazzling, Nate has been banished to Rosemont by a father determined to remove him from the rising political tension in Boston. The last thing Nate expects to find in the sleepy Rhode Island town is a man who’s not only interested in Nate’s radical ideas, but who interests Nate in return.
In every conceivable way.
Over books and conversation, their friendship deepens. But when Nate dares to confess his true feelings, Sam faces a stark choice—reject his friend and continue to live a lie, or rebel against everything he’s been taught and embrace his heart’s desire…
REVIEW:
Rebel is an enjoyable, historical romance set in Rhode Island a couple of years before the Revolutionary War. This short story serves as a prequel in Sally Malcolm’s new Outlawed series. It follows Sam Hutchinson, son of a now deceased preacher. Sam knows his thoughts about other men are wrong – his father’s sermons told him that loving another man is the worst kind of sin. But now he’s faced with Nate Tanner, a new employee at the law firm where Sam clerks. He’s a handsome, tempting man that makes Sam feel dangerous things.
Nate Tanner is new to town, having been brandished from his home in Boston by his father who found him troublesome. Among other things, he didn’t like the company Nate kept. Nate is a free thinker with a brilliant mind. Books nourish his soul and soon he’s sharing his love of books with Sam. They regularly meet in the evenings and talk long into the night about poetry, philosophy, history, and current day affairs. Sam’s open mind is eager to learn all he can, and moreover, just listen to Nate’s voice. He focuses on every movement of Nate’s fingers and hands, his knees, his eyes, the way his body leans as he talks. Their shared looks betray their feelings. Soon these evenings serve as a pretense for what Sam can’t acknowledge to Nate or himself.
It’s difficult to imagine the pain and turmoil men faced having to hide their true selves for fear of being punished to death simply for loving.
Although Rebel has a lovely happy ending, it feels like a prequel and not quite a complete story. With the way Nate philosophizes, there’s a portent of something more to come, and indeed there is in the upcoming full-length novel, King’s Man. I haven’t yet read King’s Man but it’s clear from the blurb that Sam and Nate’s story is far from over.
RATING: 
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