Shayno by Marten Weber

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Don’t get fooled by the cover, this is not at all your typical decapitated naked torso M/M gay romance; this is not a romance at all but more the self-discovery journey of two men, the narrator and Kevin. Already from this little detail, the fact that the narrator has no name since basically you read most of the novel living in his mind, you can understand that this story has not an ordinary development, and even when it’s not told in first point of view from the narrator, the punctuation is not “ordinary”, there are no quotation marks, and basically what is on people mind is mixed with what those same people is saying. Sincerely after one sentence or two you fall into the swing, and the reading flow becomes normal again.

As I said both men are on a self-discovery journey and their journey moves around the same man, Shayne/Shayno. Kevin was raped; yes, he was raped and that is even the reason why the reader immediately understand this is not a romance, since the rape happens on chapter 1. Despite the traumatic experience, or probably due to that, Kevin runs away from Australia to America, following the quest to find the same man who raped him. Is he searching vengeance? Not at all, he is searching love. Kevin was young and innocent and he was disowned by his own family; in his traumatized mind the only one who “cared” for him was Shayno, even if Shayno raped him. Kevin is searching for Shayno since he is his only mainstay in this world, and even if during the search he will find other men who can better love him, he will always have unfinished “business” until he will not be able to find that man.

The narrator instead has lived and loved and now he wants something more from life; when he meets Shayne, his mind tells him he is not the right man, but his heart doesn’t agree. The narrator consciously falls into an abusive relationship since he doesn’t realize that he can have more from life. People around him are leaving or dying, he sees his life crushing around and Shayne represents a “normal” life; being gay did not good to him, maybe falling in love for a straight man, trying to play the “straight” relationship will be good for once. Of course the narrator is totally wrong, of course he is leading head down towards disaster, but he has to realize that on his own.

Kevin and the narrator don’t meet for almost all the story, but their lives are strictly intertwined. The reader is waiting for the moment when the knot will tight them together, what will happen then? Will they be able to re-conquer their independence? Will they be able to kill their deadly bond to Shayne/Shayno? In a way Shayno represents the evil force dragging you down and they must realize that in order to survive.

Amazon: Shayno
Amazon Kindle: Shayno
Paperback: 296 pages
Publisher: CreateSpace (December 24, 2010)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1456497170
ISBN-13: 978-1456497170

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