September by Robert Winder: A story that made everyone cry but me

September September by Robert Winter
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I finished this a few days ago but, oh man, you have no idea how difficult has been to decide what kind of rating I’ll give it to this book so I’ve been avoiding this moment. I can’t keep hiding though, so I’ll try to be objective in here, but let’s face it. There is nothing objective about reading and reviewing a book, is there?

The blurb tells you almost everything that you need to know: there’s an age gap of 22 years (that you know I’m a sucker for), there’s loss, grieving, love, and 'angst'.

The story begins with David James is in his late 40s and is a successful attorney who’s grieving the loss of his lover. After he injures himself he’s sent to do some PT and there’s when he meets Brandon Smith, a 27 years-old guy that speaks with a sexy Texan drawl and loves calling David ‘cow-boy’ (not my fav nickname, but whatever.) When these two meet, there’s insta-lust (I can deal with insta-lust, it is more realistic than insta-love.) And their relationship develops smoothly, almost too perfect. If they would have lived in a bubble, things would have worked out differently for them. But sadly, they had to interact with the real world.

And within their interactions with RL, their problems begin. David is concerned with the age gap and Brandon is afraid that he’ll be David’s rent boy. They fall into this circle of ‘what people would think’.

Everyone claim this story to be ‘angsty’ but I just didn’t feel it. I couldn’t connect with the characters and I don’t know where people started to grab their box of tissues. I don’t like finishing a book and feel empty afterward and that’s exactly what happened to me in here. I felt empty.

There were some plot issues to me in here. Let’s start with when Brandon finds out that David’s lover died and he implies that he died due to HVI. He did it like every gay man dies because of it and I think that was very rude.

Grieving. David was supposed to be grieving but I just didn’t feel like it. I didn’t feel his pain. He mostly felt guilty but that quickly evaporated when he was with Brandon. Oh, and he might have some early dementia because he talked to Kyle in his head…

Plot. The beginning was slow and the ending was quite rush. On the last 25%, there’s a *thing* as my friend Ky calls it (Ky’s review), that changes the mood of the book. I think it was a last minute add up because it was a heavy thing that shouldn’t have been treated at the last 50 pages of the book. It needed a more insight and because Winter didn’t develop it better, the way they solved it didn’t feel real to me.

I won’t say I didn’t have fun with this book because I laugh a lot with some of the characters’ behaviors that were utterly ridiculous. For example David and Brandon’s friends (if you can call them friends.) Ethan. He was cool at the beginning but then he was an asshole. I don’t get why he was being that way. Was he jealous? And David’s rich “friends”. What the fuck dude? It was like watching a soap opera when they were bullying David and Brandon.

Ok, these type of behavior can't be a first for either so I don’t know how these two manage to be so blind with their friends. They were complete assholes but somehow they're actions were an important part of the plot in here. It wasn't the best approach but I guess it's ok.

The title. When I read a book I like finding out the reason of the title but after I finish I’m just confused. I don’t know why ‘September’. It’s not like the whole books develop in September or something… I think not even *the thing* happens in September.

Overall, it’s an ok story. Sometimes was kinda of cheesy, especially when they were having sex but it was a good debut, but you know, after reading a book with a similar premise (Archer Through Arrows )
this one just didn’t wow me.

Copy received from author via Indigo Marketing and Design in exchange for an honest review.

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