Title: Love Over Gold
Author: Glyn Soitino
Publisher: Torquere Press
Amazon: Buy Link Love Over Gold
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Short story / 49 pages / 14100 words
Rating: 4 stars out of 5
A Guest Review by ZenHarley
Review Summary: A pleasant “love conquers all” tale
Blurb:
Chris is trying to work up the courage to introduce his lover Paul to his family, but he’s having a rough time. He’s superstitious because the last few men who met his parents left him immediately afterward. He knows Paul is the one, though, so he plucks up the nerve to get them all together. Will Paul cut and run like all the others, or is Paul the one man who can survive the showdown?
Review:
As a rule, I prefer longer works over short stories, but I was quite engaged by a previous novella from this author (Euphorbia) and thus was eager to give this short story a spin.
The story revolves around Chris and Paul, a happy, committed couple getting ready to tie the knot (civil partnership – it’s set in England.) However, as the blurb says, all of Chris’s previous boyfriends have mysteriously taken a quick hike after meeting his parents, so Chris is just a wee bit gun-shy about letting Paul near them. The reason behind Chris’s unfortunate history would spoil the plot, so you’ll have to read the story to find out :grin:.
These are nice guys: they obviously love each other very much, and overall, there’s never any doubt that they’ll overcome whatever obstacles the author throws at them. So there’s not a lot of relationship tension, which was both a positive and a negative. I never had any doubts as to their ability to deal with the issues that came up, which made it a low-stress read — but on the other hand, it lowered the overall tension level of the story, which may be a letdown to some readers.
That’s not to say there’s no tension at all – one of the characters in the story is NOT happy about Chris and Paul’s relationship, and has no problem making this clear. The resolution to the story is caused in part by a plot element that some may consider too deux ex machina, but was just plausible enough that I could give it a pass.
The writing is clear, clean, and never gets in the way of the story. I intend to check out some more of this author’s work; there’s some real storytelling talent here. My only niggles were the plausibility of the plot element mentioned above, and the fact that it felt in some ways like an extended epilogue to a novel – perhaps Chris and Paul have appeared in another work I haven’t read yet? If so, it wasn’t mentioned, so I’ll have to assume this is a stand-alone. Also, it would have been nice to have included the “big event” at the end, rather than skipping straight to the after-party.
Overall, though, Love Over Gold is a pleasant read, especially if you’re in the mood for a strong couple who’s not pulled apart in the face of external threats to their relationship.
Recommended.
Peace,
Zen
Sounds like a fun read. Thanks for the review.