Genre: Contemporary, Romance
LGBTQ+ Category: Gay
Reviewer: Tony
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About The Book
Adrian Green’s new next-door neighbor isn’t really a dragon, but he does snarl an awful lot.
The first time Adrian saw Lorcan Walsh, he knew he needed Adrian’s help. Lorcan has a fractured leg and an empty apartment. Luckily, Adrian doesn’t mind helping him fill his lair with gems, and Doris’s second-hand shop has everything a dragon could possibly want.
The problem is, Lorcan doesn’t seem to want his apartment decorated, and sneaking presents past a grumpy dragon isn’t easy.
All Adrian wants is to cheer Lorcan up, but when Lorcan’s ex appears at the door, Adrian fears not even vintage coffee cups will get them their fairy-tale ending. What if the way to a dragon’s heart isn’t lined with treasures?
The Review
Adrian Green has a new neighbour who may be a dragon, or maybe just a bad tempered guy with a fractured leg in a cast.
What do you need to know about Adrian? Well, he’s a good person, a good friend and someone who likes to look after people. He works from home, likes to cook and nurture his plants. He loves pretty things, particularly old things others may have been discarded or grown out of. He dreams of a better life with someone to share it with, but does not think it’s about to happen any time soon.
Lorcan Walsh is the neighbour, and he has very little to be happy about. Life is tough when you are honest and you discover the rest of the world may not be. Lorcan has virtually nothing, only a mattress to sleep on. He trusts no one – that way he can’t get hurt again. When he moved into his tiny apartment, he had no idea how his world was about to expand. He learns that there are others out there with good hearts, and no one has a better heart than Adrian. If he can just get over his own personal disappointments in life and see it.
This is a great read. It is small and jewel-like, and like most jewels it has a few flaws.
I wanted to know who the guy with the radio voice was. He helped move Lorcan in and then vanished. I’m thinking he could be Lorcan’s brother, as he looked to be in his forties and also had the same blue eyes.
I also wanted to know what happened to Adrian’s best friend Jesse. He just seemed to fall out of the story after being a constant in Adrian’s daily routines.
Finally, I wondered if Lorcan might not just be a dragon or something that does not need to eat very often, as he seems to survive on nothing in an empty flat.
None of this spoilt it for me. The interaction between the protagonists and what goes on in Adrian’s head are what counted in the stor..
The dragon thing is an amusing conceit on Adrian’s part. I take it he is a fan of the paranormal, as dragons, werewolves, shifters, ogres, etc. feature a lot in his thoughts. Not that he ever seems to pick up a book. Maybe that’s where movie / pizza night at Jesse’s comes in.
The fact that no one actually shifts into a fantastical creature does not take away from the story, as it has a villain who is monstrous enough to satisfy most readers.
The story will make you smile, laugh, sigh and want to celebrate the better things in life. Better things like Doris and her shop of used treasures. Better things like Adrian, who can see potential in life’s rejects. Better things like Lorcan, with his big beard and deep growl.
That last one may just be mine. 🙂
I just wish this story would grow a few more chapters to answer my questions, and so I could spend a little more time in Day’s world.
The Reviewer
Tony is an Englishman living amongst the Welsh and the Other Folk in the mountains of Wales. He lives with his partner of thirty-six years, four dogs, two ponies, various birds, and his bees. He is a retired lecturer and a writer of no renown but that doesn’t stop him enjoying what he used to think of as ‘sensible’ fantasy and sf. He’s surprised to find that if the story is well written and has likeable characters undergoing the trails of life, i.e. falling in love, falling out of love, having a bit of nooky (but not all the time), fending off foes, aliens and monsters, etc., he’ll be happy as a sandperson who has just offloaded a wagon of sand at the going market price. As long as there’s a story, he’s in. He aims to write fair and honest reviews. If he finds he is not the target reader he’ll move on.
