Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Spotlight on Love
SERIES: Speak Its Name
AUTHOR: Kristian Parker
PUBLISHER: Pride Publishing
LENGTH: 89 pages
RELEASE DATE: July 26, 2022
BLURB:
If love conquers all, George Lomax has its biggest challenge yet…
It’s 1923 and George Lomax is on the run. Not from the law but from his boss, the predatory stage company manager Waldo Waddington. George came to London from the States in a Harlem-style musical, but Waldo demands more than just a good performance on the stage from the males in his cast.
Fleeing, George arrives at Safe Haven Boarding House in Brighton and immerses himself in the loving, accepting world of Tanner, Charlie, Frank and Michael. A stroll in the local park brings him to Stanley Butterworth, a war veteran who’s experienced his own horrors, and it’s love at first sight for the two very different men.
But Waldo is hot on George’s heels, using George’s employment contract and visa to drag him back into his clutches. Can George find a way to not only be free but be free to love Stanley…if Stanley can overcome his own demons to love him back?
Reader advisory: This book contains homophobia and racism.
REVIEW:
Note: This is the third book in this series. As such, it does contain spoilers for the previous books, but it does work as a standalone.
George Lomax is part of a imported London production of a Broadway review, Blake Beauties of Broadway. Unfortunately he finds that the he doesn’t even have as much freedom in London as he had in New York where at least when he wasn’t working, he had time to himself. Here, his overbearing, overstepping and predatory director, Waldo, has him and the rest of the case basically as prisoners in the boarding house he has them set up in. The only time they aren’t there are when they spend their nights servicing him. But Georgie has a plan. He’s discovered a place in Brighton where men like him can go to relax. It’s a boarding house called Safe Haven and he’s booked himself in there for the time the show is shutdown. But he has to sneak away as Waldo has the whole cast watched by his goons in London.
George arrives in Brighton and he’s exhausted. He needs a break after working for months without one. When he’s relaxing in the local park, he comes across a gardener, Stanley Butterworth. When he’s hassled, the gardener comes to his aid. Thus begins a beautiful friendship 😉
George agrees to go out with the proprietors of Safe Haven to the local entertainment house and he’s cajoled into performing. When the proprietress hears him, she can’t get enough and wants him to do a full-on show come the weekend. Reluctantly George agrees. He also pursues Stanley, who has shared his past in the war and after. The show is a resounding success. But of course it causes other problems. The solution to these problems is ingenious and leads to happy endings for all 🙂
This was a lovely little gem and addition to this series. There are so many aspects to this story and I thought the author handled them well, especially within the page count. Racism is alive and well in 1920s Britain and George’s restricted movements and the control exerted by his employer were well described. It was good to see the couples from the previous two books here happy and thriving. Stanley is a new addition to the Brighton group and he’s got his own issues and history that affect his situation both with George and the larger society. I loved that he was able to power through and provide a measure of safety and security for George. Annie and her business proved to be just the right place at the right time for George and I absolutely loved that these folks came up with a way to thwart Waldo and his machinations. George and Stanley deserve to be happy just like everyone else and I can’t wait to see what happens next with this little found family. If you’re a fan of historicals and happily ever afters, then I think you’ll enjoy this shorter story that delivers two men from very different backgrounds their HEA.
RATING: 
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