Review: Mended with Gold by Lee Welch

Title: Mended with Gold

Author: Lee Welch

Publisher: Self-Published

Length: 126 Pages

Category: Contemporary Romance

Rating: 4.5 Stars

At a Glance: Mended with Gold is a love story, pure and simple, with two characters whose presence on the page is steeped in yearning, reticence, and emotional scars, and their story is a perfect example of love striking fast, when it was least expected but needed most.

Reviewed By: Lisa

Blurb: Imperfect heroes, true love, and wild New Zealand beaches.

Forty-five-year-old Alex lived a glamorous life as an international photographer until a deadly explosion left him with post-traumatic stress disorder. Desperate for sanctuary, he’s run all the way to remote Kahawai Bay, New Zealand.

Under the worst possible circumstances, Alex meets Joe, a shy young comics artist. Joe’s gentle, playful presence is a balm to Alex’s wounded psyche, and soon Alex is falling for Joe, hard. Joe is charming, yet reticent. But is it shyness? Does Joe not want an older lover with ‘issues’? Or is something else keeping them apart?

A tender and uplifting story about creativity, adversity, true love, and comics.

Review: I’m sure I’ve said this before, but it bears repeating: I love the payoff of a beautifully written novella. I love when an author works so hard to engage my emotions in so few words and then succeeds at doing so. Sometimes I simply need a journey of feet rather than miles. Sometimes I want to get to the happy ending faster, with less time anticipating the final destination. Lee Welch’s Mended with Gold is a love story, pure and simple, with two characters whose presence on the page is steeped in yearning, reticence, and emotional scars, and their story is a perfect example of love striking fast, when it was least expected but needed most.

Surely one of the loveliest characteristics of this book is Joe and the shyness that, at first blush, read like something other than the mere inability to speak to strangers, let alone make eye contact with them, though that’s truly all it is. He’s an introvert who mostly keeps to himself, and to say that his first several encounters with Alex were less than successful is a bit of an understatement. The most pivotal meeting, however, comes at the expense of Alex’s mental well-being. Through no fault of Joe’s, he unintentionally triggers an episode in Alex that in turn allows Joe to speak more eloquently through his art than he might have done with words.

When Alex made the move to New Zealand, he did so to leave his old life behind. Little did he know he was moving toward something that would impact and change his life once again so drastically. This change is not easy for either of the men, but it was well worth the effort. They both have scars, Joe’s just happen to be of the physical sort while Alex’s are psychological, and I loved watching them both be vulnerable, unravel, and then mend again in the shelter of each other’s company.

Mended with Gold is a re-release with an added Epilogue, Out Loud, that made me glad I waited for this version of the book. It leaves Joe and Alex at the start of their lives together, and it is, romantically speaking, a perfect beginning.

You can buy Mended with Gold here:
[zilla_button url=”https://books2read.com/Mended-with-Gold” style=”black” size=”large” type=”round” target=”_blank”] Amazon & Other eTailers [/zilla_button]