Birds of a Feather

Title: Birds of a Feather
Author: G.R. Richards
Publisher: Amber Allure
Cover Artist: Trace Edward Zaber
Buy Link: n/a
Genre:  Gay/ Contemporary/ BDSM/ Interracial
Length: Novella (25k words)
Rating:  3 out of 5 stars

A Guest Review by Feliz

Summary Review:  This was a nice enough pastime even though it took a lot out of my ability to suspend disbelief.

The Blurb:  For nearly ten years, Tim and Ramon have lived together as platonic research associates studying bird cognition. Until the morning Tim storms into Ramon’s bedroom to alert him that their parrot and research subject has flown the coop, they’ve never even seen each other naked.

When they fly to Brazil on the off-chance they’ll find their precious hyacinth macaw in the beautiful Pantanal region, Tim finds out more about the black sheep of Ramon’s Brazilian family than his tight-lipped research partner would even have disclosed. In the presence of Ramon’s off-beat but encouraging aunts, Tim rediscovers the comforts of family even as he finally realizes the depth of his attraction to Ramon.

As the love Tim and Ramon denied and feared and pushed aside for so many years bubbles up in them, their concerns are overthrown by sheer lust. Whether they find their bird or not on this trip, they’ve already found each other…

The Review:  Ramon and Tim are ornithologists, working together on a research project to find out if a bird can be taught to actually communicate with humans. Their object of research is one single bird, a hyacinth macaw named Mrs. Bucket, who they not only work with but love dearly. Even though they’re aware that fellow researchers consider their efforts “to teach a parrot words” ridiculous, they’ve lived quite happy together in their ivory tower for nearly ten years, sharing a house and a lab while being kept flush with cash through research funds. Happy until Mrs. Bucket clears off on them, that is, and all their efforts to retrieve her remain fruitless.

Suddenly without purpose, what are they going to do? A fellow bird specialist convinces them that even lifelong cage birds like Mrs. Bucket instinctively find their way back to their native lands. Which in Mrs. Bucket’s case is Pantanal, Brazil, which happens to be Ramon’s home country, too. For lack of a better idea,  our jobless ornithologists jump on the next plane to Pantanal in order to retrieve their precious bird.

Once there, they are welcomed by Ramon’s Aunt Miranda, who works “in the show business” and lives in an opulent villa in Sao Paolo, close to the Pantanal. She takes them to a holiday lodge in the center of their destination area which is run by another relative of Ramon’s, his grand-aunt Yaritza and her two “husbands”. From there, they set out on horseback and on boat to scour the jungle for their missing bird.

A lot of things happen on that journey between Tim, the narrator, and dark-and-mysterious Ramon. For one, Tim learns a lot about the man he’s been living with for so long. Apparently, Ramon is at odds with most of his family because he’s considered a “black sheep” like his two eccentric aunts – who turn out to be warm, welcoming persons despite their unusual lifestyles.  For another, Ramon and Tim finally act on the attraction that apparently has been simmering between them during the last ten years. They learn quickly that what they feel for each other is far more than  lust – always was, for that matter, they only had been too focused on Mrs.  Bucket to figure this out earlier.  When they return from their trip, their relationship has changed forever – and so has their look at what family really means and at life in general, too.

This book consisted mostly of  “Wait, WHAT? ” moments for me, beginning with the whole premise of two serious scientists working  exclusively with one single bird for ten years. Their reactions to the loss of their research object, the way they seemed to have no other purpose in life than this bird, their conversation with the other bird specialist – it was all so far and beyond reality, I was sure this was meant to be a comedy, with the real kicker of our heroes literally going on a wild goose chase (or wild parrot chase, as it is) to Brazil. However, once I had settled for reading a persiflage, the story took a sharp turn to a road-movie adventure, complete with a blue convertible, dusty roads, rodeos, seedy motels and hot sexual encounters in a luxurious pool and under tropical waterfalls. Another turn, and two supposedly reasonable, adult scientists are traipsing through the jungle calling for their pet bird like a pair of old ladies looking for their lost kitty. Another turn, and the story becomes a hearts and flowers and exchange-of-vows romance. If this was meant to be a “serious” romance novel, it missed its mark by miles for me. On the other hand, if this was meant as a comedy,  the humor was mostly lost on me.

I liked various things about this book, though, which kept it from being a total loss for me. The writing, for one, is smooth and keeps the story flowing easily. As twisted and convoluted as the plot is, it remains mostly inherently consistent. The author takes great efforts in explaining all the incredulities; even though this didn’t quite work for me, it might for others. There were several beautifully vivid descriptions of setting and environment. I liked the fable of the hyacinth macaw’s creation,  and I really liked those quirky aunts of Ramon’s.

My biggest niggle, though, was the main romantic pairing. I found myself unable to connect to them, and consequently, unable to really care for them. I found both Ramon and Tim a bit pale and flat throughout the book. Despite their – technically well done – sex scenes, I found that they had no more of an emotional connection between them by the end than they’d had in the very beginning when they were painted as mere friends and co-workers.  This may have been intentional since they were supposed to have loved each other unconsciously for years, but again, it didn’t work for me.

As it is mostly the case, if the main characters fail to engage me, the whole book falls flat for me. I found this an okay, easy read, interesting enough for an afternoon at the beach or a train ride, but nothing more. Once more, this is but my opinion, others may think differently.