never read - hope someone enjoys!

on Bookrelay.com
"Gay & Lesbian Bookrelay"

The Lord Won't Mind arrived safely in today's mail; many thanks! [I actually read this a few years ago; I think it was one of my first introductions to gay fiction - and more specifically to gay erotic fiction - which may amuse some and make others wince, depending on their opinions of Mr. Merrick {wry grin}. As I recall it was the cover art by Beau that first caught my eye... I'm always a sucker for a steamy cover-pic. In any case, I'm looking forward to reading this one again!]

[Many apologies for taking so long to journal this book - I read it some time last year but managed to get behind in my reviews, but I couldn't bear to release books without saying what I thought of them so I've been sitting on the books all this time!]

This was maybe my first "gay-lit" novel, and is a wildly over-the-top pot-boiler, romantic and hyper-emotional and more than a bit twisted. I simply loved it! It's the tale of Charlie, a full-of-himself young man who prefers having sex with other young men but insists to himself that it's just recreational, he isn't really "that way". And then there's Peter, young and handsome and very innocent, and ever-so-easily seduced into a little game of you-show-me-yours with Charlie that leads to much, much more. Peter promptly falls in love, and Charlie's enraptured with his new companion - but Charlie won't admit that this is anything more than recreation, and...

[Spoiler warning - the rest of this does give away plot elements; if you want to see it, select the blank area.]

...eventually he throws Peter over for a young woman. [The scene in which Charlie tells Peter to move out is one of the most wrenching I've ever read - that hollow feeling when you realize the one you love doesn't want you anymore, the shock, it was all conveyed very clearly. And even though Charlie's a bastard and Peter's too good to be true, I happily believed in both of them and wanted it to work out!]

Charlie is most definitely a bastard, BTW. His relations with women prior to meeting Peter included incidents bordering on rape, and he's casually cruel to any man who wants more from him than some simple fooling around. He's simply brutal to Peter, though some of that is due to his own panic at realizing that he wanted to be with a man and in that case he really must be gay, but he just couldn't admit to it... He was savage to the woman he tried to settle down with as well, and certainly deserved what he got there. Things definitely get a bit Grand Guignol, but eventually our heroes work it out - at least until the next book! Not exactly a model of healthy relationships, this book, but a very entertaining read...

RELEASE NOTES:

I'm sending this book to BCer Jare in New Mexico, to fulfill a wish - hope you enjoy it!

[I don't usually make release notes for controlled releases, but I like the cover of this book so much that I wanted it to have a shot at a few seconds of fame in the "recently" sidebar {grin}.]

This came in the mail today.... thank you SO MUCH for the RABCK, Gorydetails! I read about half of this book shortly after coming out in high school, then my father found the book and shredded it to pieces! So I'm very thrilled to have a chance to read this again!

This story and I have quite the history. After coming out during my high school years in the 90's, I visited a lovely LGBT bookstore in Albuquerque, NM by the name of Sisters and Brothers (years later, I cried rivers the day that store went out of business), and purchased this, my first ever gay book! It sounded like an exciting romance novel, plus the historical aspect of the story and its publishing history got the geek in me super psyched! I had the book hiding at home with some magazines and newsletters, and they were found by my father who shredded them to bits and put them back in place. I had only managed to get a few chapters in to the book, and was devastated!

Years later, this copy came my way via GoryDetails, and well, it took me a while to get around to reading it. Funny enough, it originated in Tampa, I acquired it while living in New Mexico, but now am living in Tampa. Full circle for this book! Boy, am I glad I finally did so! The racist and misogynist aspects of the story were hard to take in, even though it takes place in the early stages of WWII. Once I was able to look at those ills in context to the characters and time period, I was really able to enjoy the story! What a lovely glimpse into gay life in New York City in the 1940's, and the kinds of things gay men had to go through to try and be true to themselves. Amazing how some things have changed so very much, yet others have not changed a bit. Aside from the fantastic historical aspect, this is a very moving love story. Peter and Charlie have what, on the surface, is a very passionate yet highly dysfunctional relationship. Given the circumstances of society and time, one has to wonder how "normal" the relationship would have been for gays. This story had me cheering, laughing, angry, crying, happy, and turned on, all at different times! If you like a good historical love story that will stick with you for life, and can handle some quite graphic sex, this book is a MUST READ!

Left this awesome gem of a queer little book in the gazebo at Ricky Lake! I sure hope its enjoyed.