Author: B.G. Thomas
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages/Word Count: 266 Pages
At a Glance: I can’t recommend this newest offering in the series highly enough.
Reviewed By: Janet
Blurb: Asher Eisenberg is a brilliant actor, destined for fame and fortune. But a traumatic incident in his past has caused him to reject his Jewish heritage and hide from everyone behind walls of arrogance and selfishness, and he blurs his loneliness with a lot of sex and alcohol. When he meets Peniamina Faamausili, however, he strangely can’t stop thinking about the young man.
Peni is struggling with his sexuality, the Mormonism he was raised in, and the Samoan heritage that calls to him. He longs to receive the pe’a—the traditional Samoan tattoos– and learn more of his people’s ways. He has no interest in a man like Asher, who appears to use men and put them aside and whose drinking can’t help but remind him of the drunk driver who killed his father. But he can’t deny his attraction to Asher and finally agrees to a date if Asher can go thirty days without a drink.
Asher is about to go on a journey that will awaken him to his friends, his past, his future, and even to love. But that awakening could well demand the sacrifice of the dream he holds most dear.
Review: I was so looking forward to this book. How could B.G. Thomas create a situation or a series of events that would transform Asher into a worthy man? Could he possibly be more than the ass I thought he was? At the same time, I wasn’t sure if I wanted to read a book about him if he wasn’t redeemable in my eyes. This author had his work cut out for him with Autumn Changes, and I am thrilled to report that he aced it! Wow!
The novel begins with the refreshing of the characters in this four book set of stories, but through Asher’s eyes, which are pretty disparaging to start off with, we get to see just how low Asher has fallen, and how much the tunnel vision of his life has affected his outlook on life in general. He is a sad character, and although I didn’t love him, I did feel for him, and I started to have hope for him. One of the things that B.G. Thomas does so very well is create characters with incredible depth, with many facets that catch our attention and draw us into the stories he writes. Peni is a man who would be unfamiliar to most of us simply due to his race and religion, but the author inundates us with cultural and family history about him in such a manner that he is relatable almost immediately, and we, the reader, are never overwhelmed by this. The information we need to identify with the characters is delivered in a fun and eager way that builds the story and the characters at the same time.
I must admit to loving B.G. Thomas’s writing style. I am being spoken to by the book in an inclusive way that invites me into the story rather than simply observing it, but the descriptive phases he employs create graphic images nonetheless, and color the pages well enough to visualize the characters’ surroundings throughout the book. He has written a very rich tale that is filling for the senses, and that lingers in the mind long after the pages are read, and engaged all of my emotions along the way. I laughed and cried with this book, and I am just dying to see the next one in the series arrive. Wyatt is a little bear who is so deserving of happiness, and I can’t wait to be a part of it all.
This is the key element of a successful series; deliver a great third book and create interest in the next book in line, and let us visit with the favorite characters we have already met. Thomas has done all of this in a fabulous fashion, and I can’t recommend this newest offering in the series highly enough. Autumn Changes was a joy to read, and I sincerely believe that it is some of this author’s best work ever.
You can buy Autumn Changes here:
Janet, you had me going for a bit. I started reading, “I can’t recommend” and internally gasped an ‘oh no’, until I finished reading at “highly enough.” I haven’t started this series, but I’ve really enjoyed BG Thomas before, so I look forward to when I can get a chance at it. Thank you for the review!