Urban Soul Series
Misfits (Book #1)
Strays (Book #2) Out March 27
Length: 70,200 words
Publisher: Riptide Publishing
Cover Design: Garrett Leigh at Black Jazz Design
Blurb
Restaurant owner Tom Fearnes has loved his partner Cass for as long as he can remember, but their work often keeps them apart. When he meets a striking young man named Jake on the vibrant streets of Camden Town, their heady first encounter takes an unexpected turn.
Jake Thompson can hardly believe his luck when he wakes up in Tom’s bed. Tom is gorgeous, kind, and . . . taken. Tom’s explanation of his open relationship leaves Jake cold, but Tom is too tempting, and when hard times force Jake to accept Tom’s helping hand, he finds himself between two men who’ve lost their way.
Cass Pearson is a troubled soul. He loves Tom with all he has, but some days it feels like he hasn’t much to give. Jake seems like the perfect solution. Cass risks everything to push Jake and Tom together, but Jake resists, wary, until the darkness of Cass’s past comes to call. Then Jake finds himself the last man standing, and it’s time to dig deep and shine a light for the men he’s grown to love.
Winner: GLBT Menage in the 2015 Romance Reviews Reader's Choice Awards!
Finalist: Best Gay Romance in the 28th Annual Lambda Literary Awards!
March 10 - Just Love, The Geekery Book Review, Slashsessed, United Indie Book Blog, Love Bites & Silk Ties
March 17 - Bella's Blog, Making It Happen, Unquietly Me, Wicked Faerie's Tales & Reviews, Bayou Book Junkie
My thoughts
“Anger is just a hole where your life could be.” – Jake
I’ve started and deleted this review four times
now. I can’t seem to find the words to convey how deeply this book touched me,
so I guess we’ll all just have to live with one of the crappiest reviews I’ve
ever written.
I fell for Tom, Cass, and Jake so hard it took
my breath away. It would be hard to imagine three more different men, and yet
they’re so perfect for each other. Tom’s big heart and need to fix the other
two, or at least their lives, was as stunning as Jake’s strength in the face of
an enormous obstacle. And while Cass’s inability to believe that he is worthy
of the life he is living broke my heart, the fact that he still finds it in him
to reach out and connect to Jake made my heart sing.
“He’d tried over and over to get his head around Cass’s
continual belief that he didn’t deserve all that he’d worked so hard for, and
still didn’t get it.” –
Tom
This is a story about connecting, taking
apparently contrasting parts and uniting them into a glorious whole. It is also
a book about trust. Trusting yourself to be good enough and trusting others to
love you exactly for who and what you are. It tells a tale about discovering
that needing others and their help is nothing to be ashamed about but rather
something that enriches your life. And about recognising that for everything
you receive you have probably given at least as much, even if you don’t think so
yourself.
I love that this book dealt with big issues
without it ever feeling as if any of them was a major drama. Jake has to get
his head around the idea that a triage might be not only a workable option but
maybe even the perfect answer to a question he’s never asked. Tom slowly comes
to the realisation that no matter how much he might want to fix other people’s
lives he sometimes has to stand back and allow them to grow for themselves. But
I have to admit that Cass’s tortuous journey towards believing that his past
doesn’t disqualify him from a happy ending, was the most beautiful part of this
story for me.
Garrett Leigh has a very special talent for
storytelling. She brings characters to life like few other authors can and her
stories always leave me with issues to think about long after I’ve finished the
book in question. It’s also very obvious that she goes out of her way to
research the issues she’s dealing with in her stories. I know very little about
Tourette’s Syndrome but Jake sounded so real and convincing that I wasn’t
surprised when the author’s note indicated Leigh had collaborated with someone
just like Jake to ensure she would get it right.
In the end my whole review boils down to the
fact that Cass, Tom, and Jake and their combined stories, worked their way into
my heart and will be with me for a long time yet.
“Tom and Cass had their past, and Jake was their future: the
link they’d never known was missing.”
Garrett Leigh is an award-winning British writer and book designer, currently working for Dreamspinner Press, Loose Id, Riptide Publishing, and Fox Love Press.
Garrett's debut novel, Slide, won Best Bisexual Debut at the 2014 Rainbow Book Awards, and her polyamorous novel, Misfits was a finalist in the 2016 LAMBDA awards.
When not writing, Garrett can generally be found procrastinating on Twitter, cooking up a storm, or sitting on her behind doing as little as possible, all the while shouting at her menagerie of children and animals and attempting to tame her unruly and wonderful FOX.
Garrett is also an award winning cover artist, taking the silver medal at the Benjamin Franklin Book Awards in 2016. She designs for various publishing houses and independent authors at blackjazzdesign.com, and co-owns the specialist stock site moonstockphotography.com with renowned LGBTQA+ photographer Dan Burgess.
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