Review: Chrysalis (The Formicary #1) by S.E. Harmon
A gunshot to the head is bad enough. Waking up with amnesia is far worse. I learn that the hard way when I wake up in the hospital, my memory practically wiped. I don’t know why someone wants me dead. Hell, I don’t even know my name. They say my name is Christian Cross. Too bad that name means nothing to me.
I haven’t forgotten everything, though. Grayson Laurie has always been my kryptonite, and it would take more than a bullet to the brain to forget him. He assures me that I’m imagining the distance between us, but I know better. I just don’t know how to fix it. I console myself that at least I’ve reached rock bottom and things can’t get worse…until they do.
My life is a tangled mess of lies and deceit. The more I learn about myself, the less I want to know. I want nothing more than an honest future with Gray, but the past isn’t about to let me go without a fight.
Fortunately, I’m starting to realize that fighting is my specialty.
Review:
Dear S.E. Harmon,
I have read several of your books and by now I have learned to recognize your style. I really appreciate that the narrator in your stories is usually a wise ass and often cracks jokes. I also like that you usually do amusing banter between the main couple really well and I think this book really delivered on that front. For the most part that is, because at times Christian’s jokes felt out of place for me. I however understand that if this is part of the character’s personality, in his head he will always be like that, regardless of whether the reader finds his humor appropriate for the occasion or not.
I also really, really appreciated that the suspense storyline was a significant part of the story. As I said many times, I like the men in m/m romance books I am reading to be occupied with something else besides the romance and, man, occupied they were.
If we were to go back to what I have come to expect from this writer, this would be a second chance romance trope. And besides being a suspense story this book sure has a second chance romance. I did enjoy Christian and Gray together, the romance mostly worked well for me, or should I say the clear showing that they will get back together after all the danger they would have to go through worked well.
Christian, as the blurb tells you, wakes up in the hospital, after being shot in the head, with amnesia and tries to figure out what happened. And here comes the big warning CHECK YOUR BRAIN AT THE DOOR. Trust me it will help you enjoy this story, because plot holes kept mounting in the suspense storyline one on top of the each other. I cannot really talk about it because I try not to do spoilers, but go read some critical reviews on good reads, some do mention it.
Not only there are technical plot holes, but some characters’ motivations and reactions just did not make sense. I was still entertained quite a lot though and thought guys had nice chemistry.
Hence the grade is B-. Remember though don’t use your brain. We shall see what the second book brings.
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This does sound intriguing, Sirius, so thank you for the review. I was wondering why the character names sounded so familiar… Christian, Gray… and then realized that one of the lead characters in Fifty Shades of Grey is Christian Grey.
Christian + Gray? *sigh*
Another m/m amnesia romantic-suspense that I enjoyed was Elyse Springer’s WHITEOUT (not to be confused with the Adriana Anders’s m/f romance with the same title). I thought the first half of WHITEOUT—where a man wakes up in an isolated snowbound cabin with his memory gone and another other man (who claims to be his boyfriend) acting very oddly was very good. The second half of the book (after the guy’s memory comes back) wasn’t quite as good, but I’d still recommend the book if m/m amnesia is your jam.
@Kareni: @Jennifer: HAHAHA. Believe it or not, did not register with me.@DiscoDollyDeb: Yes, agreed, I liked that one.
It’s interesting how the whole world has changed and everyone is questioning the validity of cultural appropriation with regard to all of the arts. In other words, to make it simple for you, is it right for non-Jewish actors to play Jewish roles in films and TV shows? Is it right for non-Asian actors to play Asian roles in yellowface? It begs the question about whether or not it’s right for a woman to write fiction about gay men? Should non-black authors be writing about the black experience? Gay Men do have their own distinct culture and this kind of cultural appropriation is being questioned more and more lately. Whether you like it, or not, and I really don’t care. This doesn’t include readers. Readers can read whatever they want. This only includes the women writers who are appropriating gay culture in the most shameful ways. And you can twist it, spin it, and turn it upside down till Wednesday. This is cultural appropriation. But keep up the good work. You’re the one who has to go down on the wrong or right side of history.