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Standish

By Erastes

(5)

| Paperback | 9781933720098

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Book Description

A great house. A family dispossessed. A sensitive young man. A powerful landowner. An epic love that springs up between two men. Set in the post-Napoleonic years of the 1820's, Standish is a tale of two men - one man discovering his sexuality and the other struggling to overcome his traumatic past. Continue

2 Reviews

1 person find this helpful

Abandoned at page 79

I abandoned the book at page 79, when Ambrose (one of the main characters) is beaten ad raped: I'm sorry but I don't like this kind of things.
Plus, I totally disagree with this line from Ambrose at the end of the book (I start reading books from the end: I like being spoilt): "Love without pain, so ... (continue)

I abandoned the book at page 79, when Ambrose (one of the main characters) is beaten ad raped: I'm sorry but I don't like this kind of things.
Plus, I totally disagree with this line from Ambrose at the end of the book (I start reading books from the end: I like being spoilt): "Love without pain, sorrow and jealousy is a false love, a sickly idolisation". Well, in my opinion this is totally untrue. True love doesn't require pain and sorrow, and jealousy is such a base emotion that ir can't be in any way attached to true love.
As for the 79 pages I read, I found quite unlikely (and also a bit ridiculous) the way Ambrose falls in love with Rafe. At the beginning Ambrose hates Rafe, and thinks he's one of the worst men on earth. Besides, Ambrose had never been in love before, never had sex with anyone and so obviously he's unaware of preferring men.. In spite of all this, it is sufficient for him seeing Rafe naked in a moment he's unconscious to fall madly in love with him, and when later Rafe kisses him, Ambrose is all happy and thrilled. I think this was too hasty, considering we are in the 1820's.
Another thing I didn't like is that one of the characters is portraied as the "woman" and the other as the "man". Ambrose is the woman. He's blond-haired, blue-eyed, pale, thin, in poor health, prone to fainting, mad with jealousy, he's a virgin and as I said he's also raped. Rafe is the man. He's dark-haired, with "wolfish eyes", strong and well-built and hed many sexual experiences.
Now, I don't think this happens in actual homosexual couples. Maybe in some of them there can be one preferring being "the woman" and the other who prefers being "the man", but in my opinion what's fascinating in homosexual couples is that there are no roles. So I don't see why re-enacting them in a novel.
Last but not least, Erastes should ckeck better the spelling of foreign names. It's "Siena" and not "Sienna", and it's "Place de la Concorde", and not "Place de Concorde".

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Ginger said on Jun 7, 2011 | Add your feedback

What can I say... I love it. And hate it.
Love because Erastes makes me feel the emotions of Rafe, the main characters, and the joy of Ambrose, his lover.
Hate cause he describes the real world, where the true love is never simple, and where an happily ever after is not so common.
... (continue)

What can I say... I love it. And hate it.
Love because Erastes makes me feel the emotions of Rafe, the main characters, and the joy of Ambrose, his lover.
Hate cause he describes the real world, where the true love is never simple, and where an happily ever after is not so common.
You want the perfect hero, dark, tortured but always right? Then don't read Standish. Rafe is everything but perfect. Is a man led by the passion, and sometimes the passion guide him to the wrong path. And Ambrose, the other hero, is sometimes fragile, sometimes strong, but also human. And like every human he want love.
Ambrose and Rafe see each other like Ganymede and Zeus. Ganymede, the guy that with his beauty who stole the role of God's cupbearer to Ebe. Ganymede served ambrosia to Zeus. So also the name of Ambrose recall this legend. He is the object and nourishment of the love of Rafe.
In a fairy world Rafe must save Ambrose from every trouble and perilious... in the real world we have the tragedy, but also the love that forgive anything.
When I'm happy I want the laugh, when I'm sad I want to cry... Standish stay between
And let me say: it's not a romance, if we consider the normal level of the romance. But it's a beautiful romance, when we consider that in this category we can put some very lost pearl.
So thanks to Erastes for this book, I will put it in my bookshelf, but think I will take it often

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Elisa Rolle said on Feb 17, 2008 | Add your feedback