Review: Get Up by Reece Pine

Title: Get Up

Author: Reece Pine

Length: 193 Pages

Category: Contemporary

At a Glance: This one took me a while to really get into, but by about the halfway mark, things picked up. In the end, I’m glad I pushed through.

Reviewed By: Lindsey

Blurb: Recently dumped (again) for being cold, Guy gladly accepts his publisher friend’s request to go to a remote hut in wintry Nunavut to find out whether aspiring novelist Cam Campbell is a plagiarist. By agreeing also to help the eccentric ecologist survey wildlife for a month, Guy buys time to assess Cam’s innocence and hear stories about Cam’s late father–Guy’s favorite fantasy writer and the man whose book Cam is accused of stealing.

Guy’s investigation is soon biased by his attraction to Cam and the growing concern about Cam’s odd behavior. At times, Cam dissociates and is icier than Guy could ever be, yet he’s the only one who’s ever recognized, at a glance, the emotions burning beneath Guy’s surface. Guy knows he’s the best person to help Cam abandon the dangerous wilds outside and address those in Cam’s head, but he also knows that he’ll lose the chance if he comes clean about his ulterior motives for getting close to Cam. How can he convince Cam to come in from the cold… and why are they both really out there anyway?

Review: I won’t lie; it took me nearly halfway through this story to really get invested. I kept starting and stopping, and my attention was easily swayed. It wasn’t that the writing was poor, but the beginning is slow, and the dialogue was sort of odd and at times a little confusing, as it was disjointed—it didn’t make sense to me, like the flow was off or something. I also didn’t feel like there was a connection to either character, to hold my interest in what was happening—other than maybe my irritation with them both. There were a lot of beautiful words and picturesque descriptions, but beyond that, I had a hard time staying focused. I really was wondering what I had gotten myself into.

Then, something happened, just short of the halfway mark, that changed the trajectory of the story and pulled me in, and I really started paying attention. I won’t go into detail, but a nice little curveball was tossed into the mix, and had me wondering what else may be in store. The last half the book was pretty dang amazing and full of a lot of surprises and twists that I had totally not expected, giving the story some depth and, finally, giving me that connection I desire in my stories. After that, I had my eyes glued to the page.

Cam ended up being a really complex character. His emotions and odd mood swings and behavior towards Guy was off-putting at times, especially in the beginning. When the truth starts wiggling free, and Guy starts really paying attention and connecting dots, it all started to make more sense, as did the disjointed conversations the two had that originally had irritated me.

Guy, coming off a recent break-up, is known for his lack of expressing emotions, but for some reason, Cam can read him easily. He is both fascinated by Cam and frustrated. He waffles back and forth on what he thinks, during his time with Cam, because Cam is so inconsistent. There is attraction but also concern for the state of Cam’s mental health, as he uncovers what makes Cam… Cam, and figures out the best way to reach him without pushing him and possibly losing him. At the same time, Guy becomes more expressive and outwardly emotional because of how Cam is making him feel; he isn’t able to keep everything locked tight and view the world through an impartial face, like he had before. It was nice to see him grow as a character, because I wasn’t his biggest fan in the beginning.

The romance takes a while to blossom, and the buildup between the two is slow going. Their intimate times are peppered with a lot of back and forth. There is a psychological thriller sort of feel to this story that I hadn’t completely expected, but more than anything else, it’s what made me enjoy the last half as much as I did.

Trigger/Spoiler Warning

This surprised me, especially when I had such difficulty getting through a good portion of the first half. In the end, I am glad I kept on going, though, because the second half grabbed my attention and pulled me in. It’s recommended, but be patient at the beginning while the author sets the foundation; it may be slow, and even a little hard to keep with it, but, eventually, everything from the beginning makes sense.

You can buy Get Up here:
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