The Angel of Thirteenth Street by Eden Winters

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Eden Winters always surprises me because, despite the delicate matters she deals with, there is always an undertone of romance that wins over everything. And the nice original touch (original considering the ordinary gay romances you can find around) is that basically the sex is almost an afterthought, after the romance, after the love, after the story has developed.

Noah is a former street hustler who is now trying to help other young men to not making his same mistakes; even if apparently Noah’s story is an happily ever after, I think he has never really considered his accomplishment a success because he didn’t manage to save his lover Billy. Every young man he takes from the street is another Billy whom he is trying to save, but he will be never satisfied, not until his heart is still bonded to his former lover. Jeremy is yet another young boy, barely 18 years old, he finds on the street, but him, even more than the other kids, he wants so badly to save because Jeremy reminds him so much the young Billy.

Actually when Noah manages to have Jeremy cleaned, clothed and fed, he realizes that the young man is completely different from Billy and more similar to Noah himself other than for the fact that Billy is more clever than Noah: Noah succumbed to Billy’s insistences for him to become an hustler, while Jeremy ran away from his former lover when he did the same proposal.

That is probably the main point allowing Noah to considering having a relationship with Jeremy: he actually didn’t save him, he only offered him a safe place where to stay until he had the time to do the saving by himself. I also like that the author gave to Noah the time to have a full closure with his former lover Billy and only after that she allowed Noah to being involved with Jeremy; Jeremy is not a replacement for the lover Noah has lost, he is a completely different man, as I said, he is probably stronger and more clever not only of Billy, but probably also of Noah’s himself.

This is a medium length novel, but if you are expecting a nice impromptu to then having a sex scene after sex scene, that is not the case. There are only 2 sex scenes, and only 1 regarding Noah and Jeremy, even if there is plenty of teasing; as I said, the sex apparently is not the main course of the story, even if, when you arrive to it, is nice and good.

http://www.torquerebooks.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=3075

Amazon Kindle: Angel of Thirteenth Street
Torquere Press, Inc.; 1 edition (May 12, 2010)

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Comments

[edenwinters.livejournal.com]

Thanks so much for your kind words. This was hard to write at times, because I actually came to care for Billy and, well, you know how that turned out. It's strange how characters become so real and take on their own personalities outside of what an author may intend.

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

Yes, I noticed that you cared for Billy and that was the reason why his character was as much important as Noah and Jeremy.