Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Call it Love 
SERIES: Speak Its Name
AUTHOR: Kristian Parker
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 98 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 1, 2022
BLURB:
Charlie didn’t believe in love…until he set himself free.
It’s 1922 and after his house guest Frank Harris ran away with the under-butler, Charlie Fitzwilliam has been summoned to face the music. With the vindictive butler Bennett now watching his every move and his father planning out his life for him, Charlie finally faces up to who he is and makes a bid for freedom.
Alone for the first time in his life, he meets Michael Leonard, a kind, caring bookseller. Convinced that sex with men is only for fun, Charlie experiences a summer of self-discovery that takes him to the English seaside, the doorstep of old friends and the arms of a lover who shakes his whole belief system.
But disowned by his parents and cut off from the life he knew, can Charlie make a future for himself…and will Michael be a part of it? Is this affair something that can be called love?
Reader advisory: This book contains instances of period-typical homophobia.
REVIEW:
NOTE: This is the second in the series and while technically it can be read as a standalone, I feel like without the context of the first story, the full extent of Charlie’s life-altering events.
In the previous installment of this series, Charlie Fitzwilliam, member of the aristocracy has finished his university studies. He’s gone home and taken his college friend Frank Harris with him for the week. Frank has been pining for Charlie, but once his interest in the new under-butler trainee has been discovered, they both have to leave the manor house. This story begins post that kerfuffle.
Charlie has to travel to Portugal where his family is visiting a local family with a Port business. While there, Charlie is called on the carpet by his father, largely because of the butler Bennett tattling on him about the goings on back at the estate. Charlie’s father backs him into a corner at dinner and the only option for Charlie is to live a miserable life under this father’s thumb or run.
While making his escape, he meets bookseller Michael Leonard. He’s on his own, having lost his parents a decade before. They enjoy a nice time together in Portugal before setting sail back to England. While on the voyage home, things move to the next level with them. But Charlie’s never experienced real intimacy with another man. It’s more been about filling a need that any sort of real relationship. Things do not end well.
When Charlie gets back to England, he’s really run out of options. The only friend he feels like he can even hope to connect with is Frank, his friend who has told him the truth and for that Charlie had thrown him out. He’s gotten word of Frank living in Brighton and goes to seek him out. He finds Frank with Tanner, the under-butler and they are making a go of it, discreetly. Charlie is quite envious and he manages to screw it up again with his only friends.
Seeing that he has nothing to lose, he goes to seek out Michael in the nearby town. Michael is not sure he’s ready to accept Charlie’s apology for how things ended on the trip home. He’s also got a protector who sees Charlie for the spoiled man-child that he is. Charlie is able to wheedle his way back into Michael’s good graces, but he’s pretty cavalier about the future and money and even how this would work between them in a small and nosey town. Things go off the rails a bit and Charlie has some time to really think about things. He eventually comes up with the plan that might just work for all of them 🙂
I enjoyed both this and the previous story in this series, To Light a Fire, which Steven reviewed last year. I particularly enjoyed the period details around the class interaction, the travel and local settings, the economic context and the mores of the times. Charlie really does come from a different world to all the other characters. And despite that “charmed” life, all four of these men are held hostage to the judgements of the time. Charlie is trapped by his heritage and he’s not really naive about this. With the death of his older brother in the war, he’s the one who will need to produce the heir and a spare. But he knows that path will lead to misery – I mean he has his own parents as the perfect illustration to that. They are a business venture between two people who don’t even seem to like each other. He has no desire to repeat that pattern. But the alternative is not something he’s really considered until confronted with the reality. He cleverly is able to turn the situation to his advantage and salvage his relationships with his friends. Michael has a lot to lose should the town decide not to patronize his business. He’s been able to make a go of it, but if Charlie isn’t more careful as he found out, things could turn on him and without a safety net, well it wouldn’t go well for him. Thankfully Charlie realizes he’s going to have to really figure out a way to fight for what he wants in a way that will provide for his friends as well. I liked the way things turned out and how he evolved over the course of the two stories to see the possibilities rather than the constraints and worked hard to make it happen 🙂 Recommended particularly for those who like a realistic historical tale with a happy ending that is earned.
RATING: 
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