reviews_and_ramblings | 2016 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention: What Remains by Garrett Leigh (120-06-03-2016)

1) This was good, solid work, although so firmly grounded in the genre that at times it seemed formulaic.The plot was the best aspect.The unexpected twist of selective amnesia was clever. Jodi loses recollection of the time when he first explored homosexuality. This lapse was an ingenious way to introduce the theme of sexual awakening that is a staple of so many m/m romance novels. It also allowed the protagonists to have two first sexual encounters rather than one, and we all know that the tension of the first encounter drives most books in the genre. Setting was well handled; the reader gets a sense of modern-day London without clumsy exposition. As readers, we simply are in London as we move along its streets with the characters. Garret Leigh doesn't fall into the trap of description for description's sake. Characterization was good; we know who Jodi, Rupert, Sophie, and Indie are, and they speak in individual voices and have individual habits of mind. Jen, Rupert's ex, is, by contrast, a stick figure villain.

2) This was a beautiful story of love and hope, of the value of friends and of what's really important in life. Full of heartbreaking moments, both the sad and happy kind, and so well-written some parts of it read almost like prose.

What Remains by Garrett Leigh
Bisexual Contemporary Romance
Paperback: 246 pages
Publisher: Riptide Publishing (July 4, 2016)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1626493987
ISBN-13: 978-1626493988
Amazon: What Remains

Web designer Jodi Peters is a solitary creature. Lunch twice a week with his ex-girlfriend-turned-BFF and the occasional messy venture to a dodgy gay bar is all the company he needs, right?

Then one night he stumbles across newly divorced firefighter Rupert O'Neil. Rupert is lost and lonely, but just about the sweetest bloke Jodi has ever known. Add in the heady current between them, and Jodi can't help falling hard in love. He offers Rupert a home within the walls of his cosy Tottenham flat-a sanctuary to nurture their own brand of family-and for four blissful years, life is never sweeter.

Until a cruel twist of fate snatches it all away. A moment of distraction leaves Jodi fighting for a life he can't remember and shatters Rupert's heart. Jodi doesn't know him-or want to. With little left of the man he adores, Rupert must cling to what remains of his shaky faith and pray that Jodi can learn to love him again.

Rainbow Awards Guidelines: http://www.elisarolle.com/rainbowawards/rainbow_awards_2016.html