Monday, November 9, 2015

5 Star Review: Blueberry Boys by Vanessa North


Title: Blueberry Boys

Author: Vanessa North

Publisher/GR Link: Riptide, GR

Genre: Contemporary

Vice: Stuttering, Rural life

Rating: 5 juicy stars!

Lock this book up: 4 keys…This is a hot, romantic read.

Length: Novel

Satisfaction:  HEA

Cover Impressions: I love it!  Feels like an Indian Summer day

Best Line: “I want you. I want you so much, I shake with it.”

Synopsis: Connor Graham is a city boy—a celebrated fashion photographer in New York. When his uncle’s death drags him back to the family blueberry farm, all he wants to do is sell it as quickly as he can. Until he meets his uncle’s tenant farmer.

Jed Jones, shy and stammering, devout and dedicated, has always yearned for land of his own and a man to share it with. Kept in the closet by his church, family, and disastrous first love, he longs to be accepted for who he is. But now, with his farm and his future in Connor’s careless hands, he stands to lose even the little he has.

Neither man expects the connection between them. Jed sees Connor—appreciates his art and passion like no one else in this godforsaken town ever has. Connor hears Jed—looks past his stutter to listen to the man inside. The time they share is idyllic, but with the farm sale pending, even their sanctuary is a source of tension. As work, family, and their town’s old-fashioned attitudes pull them apart, they must find a way to reconcile commitments to their careers and to each other.

Impressions: This was a pure delight.  The setting and characters were just perfect, but the love between these two men set the pages ablaze.  I could not put this book, and it swept me away on to Connor’s farm and Jed’s blueberries.

Jed captured my heart.  I felt his pain and his eagerness to be accepted and loved for who he is.  I liked the complexities of his family dynamics and the reality of rural life in Massachusetts.  As a native Bostonian who was visiting Western MA as I read this, I found it so believable.  In Boston we tend to assume that Massachusetts is an evolved place for LGBT people, and this was a reminder that laws and protections only go so far when it comes to actually feeling comfortable and accepted.  They don’t stop religious struggles and familial worries.

When Jed meets Connor it is a clash between cultures as well as identities.  I loved watching Connor believe that he was as desirable as Jed sees him, and together these men were just perfect.

This isn’t a story with crazy plot twists, exacting exes or friendly ghosts, but it IS a story about love, acceptance and family.  It was exactly what I wanted and I didn’t even know it until I opened to page one.  North doesn’t need tricks and twists- what she has is a well paced plot, a developed setting, and two amazing MC’s who will sweep you into their love story until you never want to leave.

I received a copy of this story through netgalley for my honest review.

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