Title: Sweet Thing
Series: Pretty Boy: Book Two
Author: Isobel Starling
Publisher: Amazon/Kindle Unlimited
Length: 244 Pages
Category: Contemporary
At a Glance: I do like this author and have read many fine stories by her, but this one was not among my favorites, I’m afraid.
Reviewed By: Sammy
Blurb: French male model Simeon Duchamp has a lot of explaining to do
Two years after a breakdown fueled by unrequited love, drugs, and booze, Simeon is clean and wants to stay that way. On his road to reclaiming his life and modeling career, Sim first needs to apologize to the man he hurt the most -his ex-best friend Pieter Bayer.
Pieter now has a long-term partner, artist Emily Raven with whom he shares a baby son, and so Simeon is amazed when Pieter accepts his apology and invites him into his life again.
Closeness to the object of his obsession sees’s Simeon’s longing for his friend rekindled, but then Simeon meets a troubled older man who turns his world upside down. Simeon has to decide whether to allow himself to fall for the man who wants him or pine for the man he can never have.
**Sequel to Fall Together ~ This can be read as a standalone novel**
Review: I must admit that I was hard-pressed to review this novel, for author Isobel Starling is a favorite of mine and I have enjoyed her work immensely. However, this novel, Sweet Thing, had some definite issues that left me both confused and let down. The story revolves around a young male model, Simeon Duchamp, who has spiraled out of control due to an addictive personality disorder that means he has struggled with both drug and alcohol addiction as well as an unhealthy preoccupation with the internet. Essentially, Simeon grapples with the need for instant gratification—sexually, in particular—but when his addictions threatened to destroy the man he loved, Simeon spiraled so far out of control that his father and that same friend, Pieter, intervened and had him committed. Now, healthy and in recovery, Simeon has returned to make amends to Pieter and get on with putting his life back together.
After realizing that he can only be friends with Pieter—who has both a wife and baby—Simeon turns to an equally broken man, Bastien. Bastien lost the love of his life two years previous and has not been able to be with another man due to grief and survivor guilt, which has reared its ugly head in the form of sexual impotence. He is tortured with nightmares of his dead lover and is unable to feel much of anything for another person beyond the numbing grief that holds him captive. When he and Simeon meet at the gallery showing for Pieter’s wife’s work, sparks fly. But a violent coupling leaves Simeon fearful of Bastien, and the two men seemed destined to fail. The question now is, can Simeon forgive Bastien for his unwelcome domineering behavior in the bedroom and somehow help him to find peace from the grief that holds him prisoner?
Sweet Thing starts with a bang and doesn’t let up. I was a bit shocked by the opening scene, particularly, since we were to assume that Simeon had begun on a road to recovery. From there things got even more strange, as there was essentially an abuse situation with Bastien that was in some ways akin to rape, and it happened within a few hours of the two men meeting. All this is to say that we were to believe that Simeon was in recovery, and while he refrained from alcohol and drugs, the sexual addiction was certainly still in full swing. I was so confused by this. You see, after the first chapter, the story picks up a year later. Simeon has had a year’s sobriety, and yet he still behaves dangerously when it comes to his sexual behavior—and is fairly proud of himself. He may have left his stimulant addiction behind, but he certainly was still a self-proclaimed slut, seeking sexual gratification whenever and however he could get it.
Then there was Bastien. You get the impression that he’s a dominant, he most certainly was with his deceased lover, and that he knew what he was doing in terms of consensual Dominant/submissive sex play. So, his loss of control and his behavior toward Simeon was absolutely unforgivable—yet Simeon not only forgives him but acts as though the beating he withstood was in some way forgivable because Bastien was grieving. At this point, I was really confused and a bit alarmed at the trajectory of the novel. On top of these disturbing issues, there was definitely some translation problems that pulled one out of the story again and again. For instance, whenever Simeon spoke French, the full translation into English was posted in parentheses after the French dialogue. I could have handled that once or twice for short phrases, but the author chose to keep it up and then include Bastien speaking in German as well. After a while, it just got so disruptive it made me gnash my teeth and wish that we could have just abandoned the alternate languages altogether. Being constantly pulled from the story due to having to read a translation was frustrating to say the least.
In the end, Sweet Thing tried its best to be a story of healing and a second chance at love. However, despite the final chapters revealing a changed Simeon, the bulk of the story left me quite unsettled and unsure if Simeon and Bastien were ever really going to become a successful couple. There was a lot to take in with this story, and I am not sure I was convinced that Simeon could ever really be stable enough to thrive in a relationship with someone as damaged as Bastien. I do like this author and have read many fine stories by her, but this one was not among my favorites, I’m afraid.
You can buy Sweet Thing here:
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