Brent, the Heart Reader by Wynn Wagner

[reviews_and_ramblings]

A strange, and oddly, funny book about a young Tarot reader and his discovery of true love. While reading this book, a sometime even complex book, mostly played inside the mind of Brent, I had this idea of the author, a retired archbishop who writes explicit gay romance novels, in a committed relationship since the 1990s: I was imagining a good-tempered, kind man, in body and mind, and then I turned the last page and saw the picture of a long-haired blond Viking, better suited for a novel about pillaging than a new-age story like this one. But even if it sounds strange, that gave me a new perspective on the novel, making it a little more biography than pure fiction.

At first Brent seemed too odd to be true; now it’s true that I know people who are 100% in communication with their inner soul and living according to the same rules Brent is, but to my very grounded persona, it’s always difficult to admit they are real people. Not true, and I think Brent is a little bit a fictionalization of the same author.

Brent’s love interest is hunk Native American Takoda; perfect in everything, inside and outside, Takoda is a wet dream comes true, and he really loves Brent, from day one. Again, until last page, this sudden bond seemed rushed, and indeed I was thinking that Takoda was replacing his lost lover, another man with Swedish origin like Brent, with him, but again I was wrong, and everything was in the plan of God, the tarots, or the Sioux’s spiritual guides (it depends from whom is reading the signs). Sometime I wondered if some event had some deeper meaning, like the tale of the dollar bill and Brent's adopted ancestor, and the only explanation I could find was that everything was in a complex thread, nothing was superfluous.

I wanted to highlight the funny core of this story since I think it’s deliberate; sincerely, when I start this book I was not expecting it; on the contrary, from the blurb, I was ready for a little dark mood, a mourning hero, maybe even some tragedy. Nothing of that in this story, and while there is emotional involvement, everything is seen through the eyes of Brent, who manages to turn all of that in positive signs, and the outcome as well is more than positive.

Amazon: Brent: the Heart Reader
Amazon Kindle: Brent: the Heart Reader
Paperback: 254 pages
Publisher: Mystic Ways Books (July 14, 2012)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0985598174
ISBN-13: 978-0985598174

Reading List: http://www.librarything.com/catalog_bottom.php?tag=reading list&view=elisa.rolle

Comments

[engarian.livejournal.com]

I read this one based on your review and enjoyed it. I agree that the relationship seemed quite rushed, in fact everything seemed to run instead of walk, but it did work and most of the loose ends were tied up at the end.

There were typographical and copy editor errors, especially in the first two chapters, that almost caused me to put the book down in disgust. But, I closed my eyes to them and continued with the story. I'm glad I did, but if he ever puts out another edition of this, I hope he edits it better. There were some serious problems.

All in all, I give it 3-1/2 stars.

- Erulisse (one L)

[elisa-rolle.livejournal.com]

This author is published also by Dreamspinner Press, but he indeed self-published this one. I haven't read the other ones, maybe you can notice the difference of an editor? I will have to give it a try.

[engarian.livejournal.com]

The errors were pretty basic - know for no, and suddenly Brent speaks the name of Rule two pages before Takoda actually tells him what the name of his dead lover was. Minor things like that, along with some copy editing and tightening that I would have been all over. It dropped the story down in my estimation, but I liked the characters, so I rode the storm.

- Erulisse (one L)