Finding Chandler (The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay 1) by Claire Thompson

[reviews_and_ramblings]

A group of not so young friends meet in a pub once a week to mourn the loss of true love and to convince who is still hoping to find it that it’s a useless search. Then the bartender let it drop the bomb: are they sure that the one that got away is not there somewhere for them to find again?

One of them is sure that he did that mistake. Eric, 44 years old, has embraced the life of single for years, always saying that he has never found the right man, but he knew that he is a liar. True love he found, he was Chandler, the sweet guy three years younger than him that was his boyfriend in college. But Eric as a young boy was selfish and still unscathed by life, and when college ended, he didn’t look back twice after leaving Chandler. Not only that, he also behaved in a very cold way with him, surely breaking his heart. So now Eric is sure that trying to re-conquer Chandler’s heart will be an hard fight, but one that Eric is ready to face.

I like both men’s perspective: Eric for sure is trying to recapture his lost youth, but no more in the selfish way he had before; now it’s more a bittersweet hunt, I think he has really understood how fool it was. Anyway, he has not yet lost all his selfishness, since he is still ready to turn up Chandler’s life. Chandler on the other hand, was really in love with Eric, and probably he still is, but he is no more the trusting boy for whom Eric was the world. He is ready to loose Eric’s forever, he has already lost him, the most important thing is not losing his heart again, since this time he has no more all the life to mend the wound.

These two are not two young men with the star in the eyes, and I like also that they are not even desperate middle ages men; this is not their last chance at love, but for sure it’s their last chance to mend a more than 20 years old wound. Another thing that I noticed is that they are neither perfect beautiful gay hero: Eric’s strength is in his attitude, at least it was when they were young; to Chandler’s eyes he is beautiful, but from what I gathered, he is a slightly above the average handsome man, not model material. Chandler then is for sure not pretty, not in the face and not in the body, his strength is in his gentle soul. Probably 20 years before Eric noticed him since Chandler was so star struck that he pleased Eric’s ego; but this gave to Chandler the chance to show to Eric who he really was, behind the physical exterior.

The author didn’t either play the sometime easy sex card here: I was so heartwarmed by the story that I would have been glad to arrive to the end without sex. In the end there is also the sex, and it’s nice, but it’s not the main event of the story.

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Amazon Kindle: Finding Chandler (The Solitary Knights of Pelham Bay)

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