Title: Rite of Summer
Series: Treading the Boards, #1
Author: Tess Bowery
Genre: Historical
Length: Novel (304 pages)
Publisher: Samhain Publishing (2 June 2015)
Heat Level: Explicit
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥4.5Hearts
Blurb: There are terrors worse than stage fright. Like falling in love.
Violinist Stephen Ashbrook is passionate about three things—his music, the excitement of life in London, and his lover, Evander Cade. It’s too bad that Evander only loves himself. A house party at their patron’s beautiful country estate seems like a chance for Stephen to remember who he is, when he’s not trying to live up to someone else’s harsh expectations.
Joshua Beaufort, a painter whose works are very much in demand among the right sort of people, has no expectations about this party at all. Until, that is, he finds out who else is on the guest list. Joshua swore off love long ago, but has been infatuated with Stephen since seeing his brilliant performance at Vauxhall. Now he has the chance to meet the object of his lust face to face—and more.
But changing an open relationship to a triad is a lot more complicated than it seems, and while Evander’s trying to climb the social ladder, Stephen’s trying to climb Joshua. When the dust settles, only two will remain standing…when they’re not flat on their backs.
Product Warnings
Contents under pressure. Contains three men, two beds, one erotic piercing, and the hottest six weeks of summer the nineteenth century has ever seen.
ISBN: 9781619227224
Product Link: https://www.samhainpublishing.com/book/5451/rite-of-summer
Reviewer: Prime
Review: Rite of Summer is the first book in Tess Bowery’s series, Treading the Boards. As far as I can tell, not only is this the first book but the second book appears to totally unrelated to this story.
The story introduces long-term lovers, composer Evander Cade, and violinist Stephen Ashbrook. Stephen and Evander are supported by Evander’s patron, a duke, who made it clear from the start that Stephen and Evander were a package deal. That’s great for musicians in London who would otherwise be struggling.
Yet, that is not entirely true.
Stephen seems to have his own connections in London and other prospects if he weren’t exclusively only playing Evander’s music. Evander is a very controlling presence and from the start you can tell that something needs to happen between these guys because the control seems to border on abuse. While at a house party their benefactor is hosting, the couple meet Joshua Beaufort. He’s an extraordinarily talented artist and his Society benefactor is in fact a cousin.
The attraction between the men is almost instantaneous (even if some people seem a tad bit distracted at times). The best part is, I suppose, depends on how you look at it, but the blurb tell us ultimately what to expect. Only two of the men are going to remain standing, the question is which two men of the trio are going to end out together?
The plot is very simple and felt as though the characters were just let loose, letting the pieces fall where they will. Which, for the most part, is how a lot of the most enjoyable books are written or, at least, this is how it feels like they have been written. The characters are wonderfully written, though I think Evander in particular could have had more details/development.
Stephen is a great character, in many ways he is the primary of the three main characters. He goes through a bit of a roller coaster through the story and generally learns a lot of valuable lessons along the way. The same could be said for Joshua, who joins (in more ways than one) an already long-established couple. However, like Evander, there were times where he could have done with a bit more of something.
I apologise, I really can’t put my finger on what I felt was missing when it comes to these guys. But I suspect a lot of it is because a majority of the story is from Stephen’s side.
Anyone who likes a historical MM story will no doubt enjoy this, especially those of us that like the whole Georgian/Victorian eras of English history. An exact year is not specified but we are either at the start of the French Revolution, or a couple of decades later around the height of the Napoleonic Wars. I like how the author put in a bit of a dose of reality as to how homosexuality was treated at that point in history, including the laws of both England and France at the time.
* I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review through http://mmgoodbookreviews.wordpress.com *