WL's Mainstream Gay Book Reviews - 46. Of Sunlight and Stardust by Riley Hart and Christina Lee

https://www.goodreads.com/en/book/show/41949295-of-sunlight-and-stardust

After a long month of Halloween reviews, I think I’m still not finished with paranormal stories. Riley Hart has slowly become one of the gay romance authors that I’ve followed more recently from The Atlanta Lightning series to her older series Broken Pieces. I enjoy unique writers, who take on challenging subjects and concepts. Riley Hart is one of those writers, she can channel her imagination very well. This is the first semi-paranormal story of hers that I’ve read. On the other hand, Christina Lee is someone I have not read much, but I am interested in her book Touch the Sky. Both women collaborate to write this strangely beautiful paranormal, though not supernatural story hinting at something far more beautiful. This book earned both Riley Hart and Christina Lee a joint nomination as 2019 Lambda Award finalist, so I was interested in what they created together. It’s not perfect by any means, but it’s worthwhile for a gay audience.

Length-wise, it is 269 pages long and 7 hours 4 minutes on audible. This is not a long read for most readers, but I will warn you the story will unsettle you, especially near the ending. I hate what happened in the past, but it’s sadly how the world used to be.

Story: Tanner Rowe has recently moved into a farm that he bought in memory of his late wife, Emma, who was attracted to the burnt-out farm and its odd burnt-out barn. Before she died, she asked Tanner to buy the farm. He is a college professor, who is lonely and has no clue as to how to run a farm or live his life without Emma. Cole Lachlan has recently been released from prison. During his time in prison, his leg was severely injured, so he now walks with a noticeable limp. He’s got no family left after his grandfather’s death, who only left him his Korean War dog tags. In the small town, Tanner meets Cole, they strike up a conversation. Cole is very prideful and does not want charity from others, but Tanner offers him a job to help him put the farm in proper working order. While Cole is working on the burnt-out barn, he uncovers a metal box that contains a journal detailing the love story of Tom and Charlie, who were secret gay lovers during the early 20^th century. Two tales parallel one another, the modern day slowly developing story of Tanner unexpectedly falling in love with Cole, while in the Tom and Charlie are trying to find love in a very homophobic environment, making plans for their future. Cole faces prejudices for being an ex-convict, when he is accused by the police for a theft that he did not commit. Tom and Charlie are faced with mortal danger as the page of the journal reveals what can only be described as one of the most heinous hate crimes imaginable. The story doesn’t have a perfect ending for everyone, but one can hope that the future will be better than the past.

Review: This story is beautiful, but I do have to note, it’s not for everyone. The book seems to generate very divided reviews, just as the narrative appears to split the past and present-day love stories. On one hand, I really liked the concept of exploring the past through a journal found in a metal box. However, there’s very little connection or character development for Tanner and Cole in the story; their romance is almost like a series of plot device.

Tanner is a decent human being and a good character overall. His connection with his dead wife is charming and grounds him as someone readers can connect with. However, his change from seemingly heterosexual to bisexual wasn’t handled as well as other authors. Character progression is important and I see one of the major problems readers found in this story.

Cole has a fascinating backstory and he’s a character that people can understand the plight of and even empathize. He’s a good character and probably is the most realistic anchor to the entire relationship. I like the concept of a good person, who made some bad decisions that resulted in his imprisonment. He made a morally dubious call in accepting stolen goods at his job, knowing what they were. Society judges him for merely being a convict, rather than see him as a human being worth far more than his label. Being openly gay as well, Cole is a character that has layers of depth embedded in his history.

In terms of the supporting narrative, I enjoy Tom and Charlie’s love story from the past being paralleled with Tanner and Cole’s in the present. The fun twist of making the two pairs potentially reincarnated lovers is a great concept that I personally enjoy. However, I think Leta Blake’s Any Given Lifetime handled reincarnated lovers better with more novelty as she also drew on science fiction as well; Riley and Christina did not disappoint with their take on the genre.

As noted above, I think the critical problem in this novel that many reviewers/readers found was Tanner’s shift from heterosexual to being bisexual with the presence of Cole. There are better ways to develop a relationship and show a person slowly discovering they are not heterosexual than by introducing another hot man into the mix, along with the fact that you are his destined mate. That concept has been overused in the Shifter genre, so some readers may be fatigued by seeing it here.

My Review: 4.00 out of 5, it’s a really good story and worth reading. I can see why it made it all the way to the final stages of the Lambda Literary Awards in 2019, but critically, I think it failed to complete the high concept by executing on one of its main characters. It was very close to becoming one of those rare masterpieces if they could have conveyed a bisexual awakening better. However, the story of the two boys from the past was remarkable and beautiful, it alone is worth reading this novel. The modern tale was also worth reading just for the love and comfort brought by the characters.