Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: Twin Firs
AUTHOR: Paul Bright
PUBLISHER: Cascadian Western Press
LENGTH: 368 pages
RELEASE DATE: August 30, 2024
BLURB:
Train station agent Ethan Tremblay believed he’d never find the perfect man to love. Elementary school teacher Leo Grabowski believed no one would love him if they found out who he really was. When they met at the isolated Twin Firs train depot in an idyllic mountain resort in the Pacific Northwest everything conspired to keep them apart, especially their own insecurities, until they finally learned how to become themselves.
REVIEW:
Ethan Tremblay is a failed medical student turned veterinarian turned station agent at a gay resort in the Cascades between Portland and Seattle. He needed to get away from his previous life and relationship which flamed out when his partner broke up with him. Then his mother follows him – leaving her medical practice and coming to work at the same resort – as the restaurant manager and chief mother hen of all the other employees. He’s got a couple of “friends” (although that definition is a bit debatable) and his neighbor Kip and his three-legged dog Tricos for company. He pretty much just eats, sleeps and works though. He’s not interested in hookups at this point in his life, but his ex did a real number on him and he doesn’t think that a) he’ll find anyone and b) that he’s worthy of anyone anyway. He’s been through depression and he’s found it difficult to cope with a lot of things.
Leo is a 2nd grade teacher who is at the resort for a getaway just before the 4th of July – at the behest of some friends who then cancel on him so he’s on his own. He’s camping out near to Ethan’s station. On the last night, his camp has been overrun by a bear looking for food. Luckily Leo escaped without injury – but he’s missed the train back to the resort. Ethan ends up sharing his lunch with him while he’s waiting for the next train. There is an attraction there but the whole interaction is a bit odd.
Leo gets back to the resort, but he then misses the train back to Portland and has nowhere to stay. Ethan lives in employee housing where guests aren’t allowed. Ethan’s friend Kelsey who is in the show company at the resort helps them out by getting them tickets to the show. A new guy has just joined the show. There seems to be some sort of recognition between this Anders guy and Leo. Hmmmm.
Leo and Ethan go back and forth and eventually Leo stays at Ethan’s place. Things get hot and heavy, but not without some interruptions and drama. There is a lot of drama between Leo getting back to Portland, Ethan and his mother going to Portland because of an injured coworker, determining if Ethan and Leo are ever going to see each other again, job stresses and changes, etc. Leo also has some things he needs to share with Ethan – like the reason for his PTSD with the fireworks at the resort. Leo has a lot of insecurities as well, despite being the guy everyone tries to hook up with. He’s looking for a relationship too, but he’s always been seen as the good time guy, not the forever guy. Then Ethan ends up thinking he’s going to be fired. Turns out there are a lot of thing these two don’t know about each other or themselves really.
Oh my. Where to begin. Firstly I read the blurb, saw the cover and thought ” oh, this looks cute.” However, simply said, there is just too much going on in this book. Too many POVs and too much head-hopping. Too many story lines and characters who aren’t important to the story. This book really needed a good strong editor to tighten it up. The thing is, 90% of the book literally takes place over a few weeks and yet, it kind of takes forever. Also, most of the characters are not very likable. Besides Ethan and Leo, Ethan’s neighbor Kip and Leo’s friend Ryan, Honestly the funniest bit of the whole book is a hilarious cat POV chapter when an injured employee’s cat is retrieved from his cabin and travels to Portland to be with him during his post surgery recovery. Overall though, this didn’t really give me Rom Com vibes. Yes, there were funny bits, but not enough to be billed as a such.
About a third of the way through I had been through so many POVs, I thought this isn’t a book, it’s a script. It was then that I discovered that the author has not written a novel before and in fact comes from the world of film and screenplay writing. Unfortunately what might work in a script doesn’t not necessarily translate to an engaging and entertaining novel. The shift to a different POV – not even from chapter to chapter but within chapters – gave my whiplash. Ethan, to his mother, to the man she’s having an affair with, to Leo (Ethan’s potential lover), to Jorge (another employee at the resort), back to Ethan, to Caleb, to Ethan’s ex, to another train engineer, to the female squirrel that Ethan feeds, to Ethan’s neighbor’s dog, to a cat. And yes, it was confusing. I understand that this is apparently the start of a series, so I’m guessing that introducing all of these characters is the vehicle for setting them up for future stories. That being said, it’s too disjoined and all over the place to do that effective.
There are nuggets of a good story here. Eventually though, I tired of trying to ferret them out from what ultimately ended up being a a bit of a mess of a book. It’s set in my favorite part of the country too! I really wanted these guys to find their HEA, but the path to it was unnecessarily littered with too many distractions and too many pages of extraneous characters and events. I’m guessing that Mark and Jorge and Caleb and perhaps Ryan will show up in future books? Maybe Anders and Ed will even get redemption arcs? If future books focus on the primary couple and avoid some of the pitfalls of this story, I’d be willing to take a chance on them. Again, not bad writing, but too much for one story. As usual, YMMV.
RATING: 
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