Mercury in Retrograde

Title: Mercury in Retrograde
Author: CJane Elliot
Cover Art: Justin James
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Buy Link
Genre: Contemporary M/M Romance
Length: 112 pages
Rating: 2.5 out 5 rating stars

A Guest Review by Raine

Summary Review: Astrology led romantic silliness which made me blush that I’ve ever admitted to being a Gemini.

Blurb: Almost-thirty-year-old Alex Harrison is a well-known actor with good friends. Sure, he’s a bit emotional at times, but he’s also rich, gorgeous, successful—and, yeah, lonely. When his astrologer tells him to be on the lookout for his soul mate, he’s convinced she means his ex-boyfriend, Jeff, despite the plethora of evidence to the contrary. But he’s not so blind that he doesn’t notice quiet, handsome Ben Anderson.

Ben’s just twenty-five and something of a free spirit. He left his home in Virginia on a whim to be a rafting guide for a wilderness lodge in Oregon, and he’s glad he did, or he’d never have met Alex. Despite the heat flashing between them, somehow their signals keep getting intercepted. Can these star-crossed lovers find their way to the love destiny has planned?

Review:

I know that the astrology motif is clearly mentioned in the blurb, so I have no excuse for not knowing this was a significant part of the novella. However, I think I expected some self deprecating humour, a sense of the ridiculous or even better, irony to be involved. No such luck, instead we have an incredibly self involved, self indulgent, but not self aware hero Alex who is seriously trying to building his relationships around what his astrologer has said to him. Moreover Jeff -who Alex is trying to convince himself is his soul mate- is shallow, manipulative, selfish and just generally unpleasant.

Allowing for the fact that Alex is a successful actor, he is still outrageously insecure, and has fixated on the fact that he is within spitting distance of his thirtieth birthday but still has no firm relationship. He takes a group of friends including Jeff away for a holiday in a wilderness lodge in Oregon. He is hoping to make his off and on again relationship with Jeff into something more serious. Jeff acts the sulky spoilt man he is and leaves Alex to go on a rafting and camping excursion where he starts getting to know Ben who works at the lodge as a guide. Ben is a pleasant enough character, calm, gentle and kind. However even he comes up with some flaky wince worthy lines about being led by God or a higher being to work in Oregon.

This was a very slight, silly romance; the characters were unrealistic – well I hope so- superficially acting within a minimal plot. The frequent simplistic dream sequences became quite irritating, while the imagery involving star gazing and shooting stars combined with the astrology was actually less than stellar. I found it virtually impossible to take this book seriously, especially when Alex and Ben thought it somehow charming and original to keep calling each other ‘babe’.

The cover looked good and even the title was interesting, but no- not even on a cold winter day- was this book one for me.