reviews_and_ramblings | Falling by D.W. Marchwell

At the second book by D.W. Marchwell I have to say that I like the style: very romantic stories, high emotional level, extraordinary characters in their ordinariness, and a bit of light mood to relieve the whole mix.

When the story starts, Hank, one of the two men, is not gay, or at least he believes not to be. If we need to force him into a definition, Hank is probably bisexual: he had an homosexual experience when he was still a teenager with one same age friend; then all his following experiences were with women, and, more or less, he has no trouble with that. Hank has not a problem with sex, he has a problem with life: he has not steadiness, no family and no weights to anchor him to the ground, and for a man who tip of trees for work, it’s not a good thing. Hank is unstable, and this is causing trouble both in his private than professional life.

When Hank’s boss, Brian, is injured when he is working with Hank, he has the chance to meet Brian’s brother, Scott. Younger than Brian and living in the city, at first Scott appears like a classy man who is not comfortable with their country life. But Scotty is also the only one to understand that Hank needs very little to be happy in life, a schedule, someone who tells him what to do, sleep, eat… and if, with that, it arrives also a lover, Hank is not the one to question if that lover is a man.

I like the “easy” feeling of the story: first Scotty who doesn’t put up a drama when he arrives at Brian’s hospital bed, and instead, he is the one who is willing to listen to Hank and to alleviate his remorse; then when it’s clear that something between Scotty and Hank is ready to blossom, they give it time to grew without blindly jumping in something to big for them. This lead to having sex more or less when 1/3 of the book is passed, but since the book is not short, the reader has plenty of time to enjoy it: waiting for sex is right, since it’s only believable that Hank needs time to accept his feelings for Scotty, and Scotty needs time to understand that he is not only an easy lay for Hank.

If the reader thinks that Hank is gaining everything from this relationship, and instead Scotty is renouncing to his city life and career, I think that is not exactly true. I had the feeling that Scotty was regretting his decision to leave the small town for the big city, and indeed Scotty is still a country boy; he is enjoying making music (Scott is a jazz composer), but not performing. Even if Scotty has a sparkling personality, it’s not on the stage that he is able to express it, he is more a behind the scene guy. So, I think that, where he is offering the stability and family that Hank lacks in his life, at the same time he is also “using” Hank to regain the life he has lost when he moved to the big city. In the end Scotty and Hank are perfect together since both of them found in each other what they were missing and desired from a partner.

Both characters are really nice, Scotty with his friendly behaviour and joy of life, I have always the feeling that he has a smile on his face, even in the most dramatic situation, and Hank with his old fashioned behaviour, like he is courting Scotty, even when he has still not realized that is love what he wants from him.

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Amazon: Falling

Amazon Kindle: Falling

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Cover Art by Anne Cain