Reviewed by Sadonna

TITLE:  Florian

SERIES:  Augarten

AUTHOR:  Charlie Godwyne

PUBLISHER:  Self-published

LENGTH:  125 pages

RELEASE DATE:  July 29, 2020

BLURB:

A precious life traded for a glorious love…

In the aftermath of the Paris attacks of 2015, Florian’s PTSD began rewriting his memories. Acting on the advice of his counselor, who told him to write down what he wished to keep, Florian recorded both the happy memories of his marriage and the terrible death of his husband Michel, a catastrophic event that laid the foundation for the beautiful union he shares ten years later with two very different men.

During the events of Hiraeth, as Vienna shuts down around them, Florian gives the dusty old notebook to his partners and asks them to read it. Through its pages, Gabriel and Solomon are taken back to the wonderful and content beginnings of a decade-long marriage, even as they live with knowing how its violent ending reshaped the man who holds a part of each of their hearts.

Florian is a 30,000-word MM novella and the fourth book in the Augarten series, which is best read in order. It contains a nerdy archivist, a grumpy middle-aged Viennese man who complains about baguettes, an appearance by a very sweet grandmother, and as always with Florian, lots of espresso.

The reader should be warned that this story contains violence and PTSD, but ultimately ends in hope.

The Augarten series is now complete and is best read in order: Equinox, Syzygy, Hiraeth, Florian, and Newyddian. An epilogue, Eviternity, will be released in 2022.

REVIEW:

In this novella, we get the backstory of Florian and Michel’s love story.  After the events of Hiraeth, Florian asks his lovers Solomon and Gabriel, to read the notebooks that his therapist had him write down his experiences and past so he doesn’t forget.  The first half of the story is the love story between Florian and Michel with some insight into Michel’s life before Florian as well as how they met and quickly fell in love.  We also see glimpses of Michel’s magic which is so important to the current day story with Gabriel and Augarten and Florian’s amulet and protection.

The second part of the story is the death of Michel and it’s aftermath.  Of course Florian is devastated.  The actual event is detailed as is what happens after.  There may be some spirits and angels involved.  The progression of this story with Florian dealing with Michel’s death and his return from Paris to Vienna after 10 years provides more insight into what is happening in the rest of the series – with Gabriel sharing a soul, with Ian and with Michael the archangel as well.

This was a super fast read for me.  I really wanted to know what had happened with Michel.  I wanted to know how much and what Florian knew of Michel’s magic.  I needed to understand how Michael is involved in the story and the things that tied Michi to Gabriel and Florian and even Augarten.  While this is shorter than the other books in the series, I found it to be fast-paced.  While there is death and loss, I really valued getting to know a lot more about Michel and the life Florian had with him.  Very well written and I am looking forward to the next book to see what will happen back in Vienna!

RATING: 

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