WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 5. Galaxies and Oceans by N.R. Walker

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40627465-galaxies-and-oceans

A romance novel that warms the heart and provides loads of emotions between two very different characters crossing paths by chance, must be N.R Walker. Australia wasn’t my idea of a romantic locale until I began reading her novels, while I appreciate dunes and kangaroos, it just never had that scenic quality that you would find in novels about Paris’ Eiffel Tower, London or Los Angeles’ club scene, New York’s bigger than life drama, or the subdued charm of rural America. I read this story back in 2019 during the Australian Wildfires, so my imagination caught fire with the story itself.

The Storyline: Ethan, who later went by Aubrey, was the partner of Anton, a very powerful openly gay Australian politician. However, unbeknownst to everyone, he was abused constantly to his partner, mentally and physically. Ethan became nothing more than a prop for him, a highly paid trophy to be used to garner political points. During a wildfire outbreak in the woods, he chose to fake his own death and runaway from his life of being a kept boy. The fake death and chaotic wildfire had left very little evidence of Ethan’s survival, but Ethan out of fear had to run far away from his ex-partner’s reach, to the most remote area of Australia.

Personally, I love this premise of the story, Ethan/Aubrey is someone you want to protect and feel awful that he was getting treated like that. The abusive openly gay politician was also refreshing change of pace; outside conservative narratives, very few authors in the genre portray gay characters as being abusive or evil. However, being gay doesn’t make us saints, it just means we are sexually attracted to members of our gender identity. Despite this being set in Australia, it can easily work as a premise in any country with openly gay politicians and same sex spouses. Some people believe equality as a right to property, influence, or marriage bonds, but I think equality means that we should be treated based on our actions without bias towards one another. Sometimes a gay villain is needed to remind folks, we’re human just like you.

Ethan/Aubrey ran off to a secluded island town of Hadley Cove, where he lives under very harsh conditions, until a series of event lead him to meet the other main character Patrick, the lighthouse keeper and resident do-guider. Patrick has his own backstory, he had lost his boyfriend four years prior to the story, so he’s dealing with a lot of pain and loneliness as a result. The relationship evolves over a slow pace, but there’s always a constant air of tension with Collin, a local cop, digging into Aubrey’s past. Collin is overprotective of his friend and his town, but he is not malicious or a villain by any means. The story peaks, when men hired by Anton to find and secure Ethan/Aubrey appear in town, but overall, the story was a very slow burn leading up to those events.

Patrick is a fascinating character, he’s a lighthouse keeper, who appreciates the steadiness of the Ocean, but is haunted by it for his lost lover Scott. I find his tragic backstory very provocative and his psychological anguish over being the lighthouse keeper to be a very nice touch. Readers, who enjoy subtlety of psychology on character development will find Patrick to be a great case study in how gay character deals with loss.

I enjoyed the story and romance elements, but I must admit that I couldn’t accept Ethan/Aubrey’s reluctance in confiding with Patrick. He could have gone to the police immediately with his abuse allegations, he could have confided in his lover, or he could have done so much more as a modern human being. There was also another trope that dragged a bit, Collin’s investigation of Aubrey was always going to blow up in everyone’s faces.

The “mysterious damsel in distress” trope is classic amongst mystery and romance novels with characters showing up in some remote town seeking to start new lives and hide from their past. The investigator, Collin in this case, who uncovers the truth with dangerous consequences is another old trope from Pulp Romance classics and noir films. I understand the concept, but there is a line to be drawn between executing old tropes and sacrificing believable characters. This is not the 20^th century in either information knowledge or mindsets. It felt off to have a modern character like Ethan being written as a throwback “damsel” to an earlier genre within fiction, along with Collin being written as a noir era investigator who doesn’t know when to evaluate privacy. Yes, a rural setting and a stripped-down locale without modern amenities may afford some suspension of disbelief, but the problem here was the character should not be thrown back with the setting. Walker is a good gay fiction and gay romance author, she knows how to handle love stories very well and slowly acclimate her characters for a powerful payoff, but I just feel like her handling of Ethan and Collin were a bit off.

Beyond that though, I like the slow burn and the steady relationship between Ethan/Aubrey and Patrick. The rest of the supporting characters were fine and allowed for a decent story to develop.

My Rating: 4 out of 5, it’s a good story, a perfect examinations of human grief and imperfect in character tropes. Be wary of using 20^th century tropes in 21^st century stories, while older readers may not mind it, younger readers will notice something is off and unless they have seen or read a lot of 20^th century media, won’t be able to understand why these characters are so stilted. My issue with these old tropes are minor and probably personal stylistic views, if readers enjoy these classic tropes, I won’t discount it either.

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I will post 5 new reviews starting Monday-Friday 7/12-7/16, next week, then probably set myself to a once per week schedule unless I am reviewing a full series. I've read about 201 gay fiction books according to my audible library count, which is growing every day. In the past I read large print, then kindle, before switching to Audible.

I am not an expert in writing, most of you can see my amateur attempts, nor am I saying I've read the most books, there are many who probably outclass me in terms of the books they read. I just like sharing opinions on books and stories, you guys can too and should publish your own thoughts about gay fiction. We're a gay writer and reader community, it's about time we talk about the medium and the vast collection of gay fiction books that are published mainstream. I hope others will enjoy these book reviews from an amateur writer.