Title: Come Unto These Yellow Sands
Author: Josh Lanyon
Genre: Mystery, M/M Romance
Sensuality Rating: Erotic
Source: bought
Published: June 14, 2011 by Samhain Publishing
Lover of fine poetry and lousy choose-your-own-adventure novels, Professor Sebastian Swift was once the bad-boy darling of the literati. The only lines he does these days are Browning, Frost and Cummings. Even his relationship with the hot, handsome Wolfe Neck Police Chief Max Prescott is healthy.
When one of his most talented students comes to him bruised and begging for help, Swift hands over the keys to his Orson Island cabin—only to find out that the boy’s father is dead and the police are suspicious. In an instant, the stable life Swift has built for himself hangs on finding the boy and convincing him to give himself up before Max figures out Swift’s involvement in the case.
Max enjoys splitting an infinitive or two with his favorite nutty professor, but he’s not much for sonnets or Shakespeare. He likes being lied to even less. Yet his instincts—and his heart—tell him his lover is being played. Max can forgive lies and deception, but a dangerous enemy may not stop until Swift is heading up his own dead poet’s society.
Reviewed By: J9
In a Nutshell: Excellent mystery with a strong MM romance and great characters.
The Set Up: Swift was once a world famous poet but he’s now a recovering addict teaching creative writing at a small college in Maine. When one of his brightest students is accused of murder and Swift was the last to see him, Swift and his police chief lover, Max, find themselves on opposite sides of the case. Swift and Max have a sex-only-no-pressure relationship but the tension of the case will change that quickly.
Why I Read this Book: Josh Lanyon is one of my favorite authors. I’m reading his backlist now that he’s publishing them and the prices are more affordable.
What I Liked: Damn can this author tell a story! The characters of Swift and Max are very well written. Swift’s wrestling with addiction and how he copes is obviously researched and extremely compelling. Readers are privy to his coping mechanisms so he doesn’t relapse and it’s impossible not to root for Swift. Max is the stoic police chief that I wanted to kick a few times, like when he makes thoughtless remarks about addicts being criminals. Max sees the world more black and white than Swift so they have a tension between them that feels organic and how they deal with this seems natural as well. This is perfectly illustrated in the scene where Swift finally opens up to Max about his struggle with addiction and how Max responds. The men have an emotional wall between them at novel’s beginning and watching them take it down brick by brick is romance gold.
What I Also Liked: The other thing this author excels at is the mystery. Swift’s student is a suspect in a murder and runs away with a bit of help from Swift. How the student is found and how the murder unfolds kept my attention and interest—and I’m not even a mystery reader normally.
I loved the townspeople in the book who each play a role in the mystery. The university president who dislike’s Swift, the student’s friends, mother, step-mother and even the other students in Swift’s classes are all so well written and flesh out this great mystery. Swift’s teaching and love of poetry is almost another character in the novel and I so enjoyed this attention to detail.
What I Didn’t Like: To say Swift has baggage is an understatement. Part of his baggage is his parents and why he stopped writing poetry. I had such hopes that I’d get to continue this journey with Swift but the novel ended before that happened. It didn’t negatively affect my impression of the novel but it does make me want a continuation!
IMO: No MM reader needs me to tell them to read a Josh Lanyon novel but I’ll say it anyway, read this book.
J9’s Rating:
On my TBR :D
ReplyDeleteThanks for a great review ;)