Reviewed by Mal
TITLE: Rhymes with Metaphor
AUTHOR: Alden B. Atmore
PUBLISHER: Self Published
LENGTH: 363 Pages
RELEASE DATE: September 1, 2025
BLURB:
Twenty-four-year-old Welsh Canadian poet Reg is struggling to finish his MFA while in the grips of writer’s block. His best friend, Martin, attempting to get him out of his head and needing a wingman, convinces him to come to his crush’s party. What Reg doesn’t anticipate is meeting the crush’s eighteen-year-old brother, Joel, a first-year premed student whose perfect self-possession gets right up Reg’s nose.
But, like sand in an oyster, Joel’s irritating presence has a productive effect on Reg, and suddenly, he’s writing poetry again (still irritated, but writing). Joel’s self-assurance, however, is an act; the pressure of school and family expectation have rendered him so tightly wound he’s about to snap, and when Joel finally comes apart, there’s no one to help put him back together. Except Reg.
If Reg were any further up himself, he’d disappear, but he finds that he can’t stand by and watch his muse suffer. And he discovers that this more vulnerable Joel opens his heart.
But this new relationship threatens Reg’s friendship with Martin, as Martin’s crush (now girlfriend) believes Reg is taking advantage of her baby brother.
Reg must choose: Give up Joel or lose Martin, his best and only friend.
REVIEW:
I feel lucky to have read this story! The author writes with such an unbelievably skilful hand, crafting a tale that held my hand through a myriad of emotions I felt alongside Reg. The prose is sublime, telling a tale in 3rd person but loosing none of the intimacy or the wholeness I would expect of a true love story.
The first few chapters had me laughing out loud with how cheeky and witty Reg’s internal dialogue was, I liked how flexible, how almost indolent as a character he is. The author writes with a light touch, no heavy foreshadowing so when the tone shifts into hedonistic delight from the initial friction between him and Joel it’s seamless. The story is explicit without being graphic so the romance is suoerceeding everything at this stage of the story. It allows for the reader to just flow with the swooning crush of the runaway unbridled lust and love and discovery of the connection they are exploring. Travelling offshore gives it this surreal quality for some reason that lends itself so well. The moments are organic and natural and just absolutely lovely.
There is also loneliness threaded through when the parting between Martin and Reg comes without any closure but honestly o am so glad the author took this where they did – I can’t stand Martin, and I’m not a huge fan of Juliet either.
I loved the journey Joel goes on discovering himself and what he wants and I loved the role Reg plays here just giving him space and resources.
I loved the romance of it all, even beyond the relationship between Reg and Joel. The setting the situations the life being lived. The story has this richness and comforting quality even when I had a lump in my throat, honestly couldn’t tell how it was going to end.
This is a book I recommend you take your time with, live with the characters for a while, take a pause with it, it’s highly transportive. I would gladly read anything this author chooses to put out. I loved reading this book and I’m so sad it ended.
RATING: 
(I would give this infinity stars if I could)
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