House of Cards, A Porthkennack novel, Garrett Leigh

Review from Jeannie Zelos book reviews

Genre: LGBTQIA, Romance

Well, hurrah, a double bill. Porthkennack, love this series, and Garret Leigh as author, someone who's books I love. Porthkennack reminds me a bit of Riptide's Bluewater series, one place, but many authors giving as readers a huge choice of stories. 

This was another great read. I really liked Cal, and so felt for him, bullied and belittled by his ex, Rob. Rob's a small guy, and Cal well over 6ft, so who would believe him? Its tough the way we assume the tallest, the strongest, the cleverest are the dominant ones, when very often its the little guy with the chip about his size who's actually the most aggressive.
Cal, he's just a gentle giant, but Rob's constant criticism's have taken him from a confident, happy person into a pale shadow of himself.  Then something happens that tears them apart.
Now he's lost everything, just has what he wearing, and that's it, no phone, no cash, nowhere to go. He ends up in Porthkennack, and finds his old mate Brix there, or rather Brix finds him, drunk and distressed and in need of help. He's someone he's not seen for years. 

Brix is stunned, he always remembers Cal as a happy, sunny guy, what on earth has happened to him? He takes him home - and that sums up Brix.
He's a nurturing guy, always rescuing someone or something. His tattoo shop is staffed with people who needed a step up, or or rescuing from some dire past that hooked them until they were damaged in some way. Brix takes them in, offering food, shelter, a job while they need it on their way to independence.
He offers Cal a job, he was Brix' apprentice and one of the most talented Tattooists he knew. Cal stays the night, sleeps and eats and then says he'll stay a week maybe...he just can't think of the future yet. That week turns into more, he starts getting requests for his work, its very unique and gradually he becomes part of Brix life. 

Its a story often seen, Brix always had feelings for Cal, but as a bit older, though only a few years, and his employer he kept back and watched from afar. He was involved with someone back then, and when his life crashed he came home to Porthkennack. He set up his shop, and his collection of waifs and strays which include re-homing a lot of battery hens.
All that Garret writes about them is sadly true, they live squashed lives inside, with about an A4 size sheet of space to themselves and after a few months when they stop that first flush of egg production, its off to be killed. Those lucky enough to get re-homed by people like Brix can live for several more years, producing eggs, just not the one a day factory farming demands.
Gah, an evil trade in our quest for ever cheaper food. Buy organic or free range, use your conscience, don't be part of that awful life. 

Brix has his own demons, but hides them, keeps them secret, close to his chest. He's a very much quieter man than Cal remembers but still the same Brix he had a crush on back then, still gorgeous inside and out. Its clear that whatever Brix is hiding is something big, and there are little clues sprinkled through that Cal ( and I) began to notice, so when it does all come out its not a huge surprise. Just so sad that it happened, and that Brix has been dealing with it alone. 

The two fluff around for the first half of the book, tiptoeing round the feelings they have for the other, keeping them hidden, but of course the shop crew who see them daily start to spot it.
Even when they eventually share a kiss Cal is worried Brix was just drunk and didn't really want it and Brix just won't let himself ave a relationship so kind of passes it off, and they're still no further forward.
I got so cross with both of them, scared of upsetting the other, scared of not being good enough, scared of how their pasts have affected them, but I was still so saddened they both felt this way. Of course if they didn't it'd be a much shorter book.....and much less interesting!
I love HEA's, wanted one for them, but wondered if it was ever possible given how both of them were so strongly affected by their pasts. Do they get there? Well, read it and see ;-)

Its a great story, not just sex with a weak, thin tale to base it around, as so many "romances" are, but something much deeper. It's a novel that doesn't need propping up with sex, where a touch, a glance, a tentative kiss, hold so much more meaning than just the clothes off dicks in we get in many m/m stories. There's a place for that, but for me its story first, sex second, and if you want that then this could be a perfect read for you too. 

Stars: five, a romance with sincere feelings, genuine tenderness and realistic characters.

ARC supplied for review purposes by Netgalley and Publishers

This is the third novel I have read in this series and it is possibly the best. Four stars.

Calum is trapped in a very bad relationship, much put-upon by boyfriend, Rob. Finally, pushed to the limit, he flees London and randomly ends up on a train to Truro. There, blind drunk, he is found by Brix a fellow tattooist who had disappeared from London four years earlier. This is really pushing coincidence but it is the only unrealistic part of the book.

Brix has established a business in Porthkennack where he has befriended a number of waifs and strays as well as rehoming battery chickens. Brix appears to have a great life, with lots of friends but he is reticent about his break-up with Jordan and his reasons for starting a new life in Cornwall.

Brix is gay, Calum bi and the various friends and relations pictured so vividly here are a representative sample of trans, straight, bi, gay, and lesbian.There are some great characters.I especially liked sharp-tongued Lee and practical Lena. Rob is someone we have all met and would rather forget.

I thought that all the information about tattooing might be a bit much but it was interestingly done and at one point quite amusing.

The overall tone of the book is quite dark.Both Calum and Brix suffer depression and harbour secrets.
However the ending is upbeat and optimistic. I felt engaged with and by the characters.They felt like real people trying to deal with real problems and fears. Brix and Calum tentatively and realistically work out their relationship although their path is not smooth. The account of the sexual part of that relationship is clear-headed on the issues involved.

The story is well-crafted and easy to read, despite dealing with some very serious themes .It gives a good picture of life in small, English villages and towns.I liked the bits about smuggling and the perils faced by lifeboat crews.

Thank you to NetGalley and Riptide Publishing for the ARC.