Genre: Contemporary, Family Drama
LGBTQ+ Category: MM gay
Reviewer: Ulysses, Paranormal Romance Guild
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About The Book
At last, the long-awaited sequel to The Troll Whisperer!
Noah and Oscar have been married for five years, and now they’ve become parents to an adorable baby girl. Life seems just about perfect, but a sudden illness puts Noah’s sister Rebecca into a coma, which brings Noah’s mother and father back into his life. As they battle for control over the care of Rebecca, Noah must also defend his little family against his bigoted parents. Oscar and the Lozada clan have his back, but only Noah can truly stand up to his parents, once and for all—if he can find the courage to do it.
The Review
I had the chance to read both Settle Down and to re-read The Troll Whisperer, the book for which it is the sequel. That was published five years ago, and I liked it, so it was great to reacquaint myself with the set-up for Noel Henderson and Oscar Lozada’s story.
The striking thing about Settle Down is that it’s really Noah’s story, while The Troll Whisperer was Oscar’s. Oscar was an angry man, trolling the internet to find validation that made up for the complete lack of self-worth he felt. In that book, Noah is the magical being, having walked away from his life as a Jehovah’s Witness, who saves Oscar’s heart and soul. What the first book didn’t do was deal with Noah’s loss, the damage Noah’s past has caused him. Come to think of it, Noah seems weirdly solid in the first book. Well, that’s all taken care of in Settle Down.
The story begins five years into Noah’s career as a nurse, with the birth of their daughter, Bette. The author really sets up the new book well, giving us the backstory almost to the point of being a stand-alone; but, honestly, it is a richer experience having read the first book. Here, Oscar is the rock, having benefited hugely from Noah’s love and encouragement. Oscar’s family, his best friend Jeremy, and Jeremy’s family are all there for backup, and Trevor makes this an ensemble cast, where everybody matters to the plot and the emotional potency of the story arc.
Finally, faced with a potential tragedy, Noah’s family enters the picture, and everything this young man has bottled up and ignored since he left home comes barreling to the front of the stage. Finally, Noah must face his truth, and this time it is Oscar who has to heal the damage.
Settle Down is an unexpectedly powerful and emotional book, surprising and gratifying by turns. If you didn’t catch The Troll Whisperer five years ago, I recommend you get it and read them together as I did.
The Reviewer
Ulysses Grant Dietz grew up in Syracuse, New York, where his Leave It to Beaver life was enlivened by his fascination with vampires, from Bela Lugosi to Barnabas Collins. He studied French at Yale, and was trained to be a museum curator at the University of Delaware. A curator since 1980, Ulysses has never stopped writing fiction for the sheer pleasure of it. He created the character of Desmond Beckwith in 1988 as his personal response to Anne Rice’s landmark novels. Alyson Books released his first novel, Desmond, in 1998. Vampire in Suburbia, the sequel to Desmond, is his second novel.
Ulysses lives in suburban New Jersey with his husband of over 41 years and their two almost-grown children.
By the way, the name Ulysses was not his parents’ idea of a joke: he is a great-great grandson of Ulysses S. Grant, and his mother was the President’s last living great-grandchild. Every year on April 27 he gives a speech at Grant’s Tomb in New York City.
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