Ice Cream on the Side by Wren Boudreau

[reviews_and_ramblings]

Without doubt, from the cover and from the initial scenes, this novel appears to be light and pretty. Dylan is a 32 years old successful architect living in a liberal small town; he is well welcomed and with a lot of friends. Apparently is life is perfect; but suddenly strange coincidences start to happen: his former college boyfriend Ian, the one who broke his heart but despite that remained one of his best friends, call to invite Dylan to the opening of his exhibition and at the same time to ask if Dylan is willing to spend some days together, obviously with the intention to refreshing more than an old friendship. During a work meeting Dylan meets Michael, a young artist who happens to be in the same exhibition as Ian; Michael is young and cute and new in town, and willing to share more than a simple work relationship with Dylan. If being in the middle of an old lover and a new one was not enough, another past relationship comes back again in Dylan’s life to bite him.

From being a funny and light novel, the story suddenly shift almost in a stalking horror; Dylan doesn’t know who to trust, are all coincidences or there is a crazy lover out there who wants to have exclusively access to Dylan? Is it Ian who wants Dylan’s back? Or is it Michael who is unwilling to share Dylan’s love? Or maybe is it Quentin, who Dylan has always rebuffed in the past and who maybe is tired of it? Is it Jeff, the young architect who obviously comes to work for Dylan only since the boss was gay?

There is a clear shift in the story, almost a Red Sea separation: first part is basically a light and pretty romance, with two new lovers who have to know each other and test their possible love relationship; both of them were burnt in the past, and have to be careful with their hearts, but when they realize that it’s not a dream, and that maybe they have really found the perfect soul mate in each other, the step to happiness is easy and fast. Then the second part of the novel, the love story goes in background and one by one horrible events happen in Dylan’s life, and he is no more sure of anything or anyone around him. I have to say that the author was good enough to present more than one possible culprit, and in this way it was not easy to find the one, but she didn’t push too much on the mystery button: as the relationship between Dylan and Michael started fast and developed even faster, also the presentation and resolution of the mystery had the same fast approach.

Ice Cream on the Side is a good debut novel for this author, I think both side of the story, the light and the dark one, were well built and balanced.

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Amazon Kindle: Ice Cream on the Side

Reading List:

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Cover Art by P.L. Nunn