To Mend a Broken Wing Rossingley Book #4
Multi Cultural, Inter Racial Gay romance
Nine Star Press
Feb 7, 2023
Kindle
274
Amazon
Review by Ulysses Dietz
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
The only thing that disappointed me about this book was the discovery that it is the last of a four-part series set at Anestate in the English country side called Rossingley.
The estate itself, described with loving vagueness, is a complex thing: it is a place of great sadness and great happiness. It is proof that great wealth does not guarantee happiness; but also that great wealth well used can be a source of enormous happiness.
In this fourth installment, Rossingley is both a haven for Toby and a threat for Noah, the young protagonists introduced in this book. Toby, who is a local villager whose family has been associated with Rossingley for generations, sees the estate as his workplace, his home, and a place where he is surrounded by acceptance and love.
Noah, who is a “northern boy” (this is very British and it means a lot in this context) and mixed race, is brought to Rossingley by his newly-discovered birth father. Noah, who has never known either acceptance or love, sees Rossingley and its denizens as too good to be true, and therefore something not to be trusted.
As is true with most good romances, the reader sees where the story is supposed to go from early on. The pleasure in reading these books is in the author’s skill at making us care about the characters, and also surprising us with details along the way.
Toby’s life is contrasted with Noah’s life, drawing a vivid picture of how different these young men are and why. But, as it happens, they’re not all that different in some ways. In spite of a loving family and a solid footing in the town, Toby is not fully happy, having been denied the sort of personal connection that he sees in his employers, Lucien and Jay, and their children.
Noah is clearly the worse off of the two; but his misery is self-imposed in a way that is hard for Toby to understand. What’s so very interesting, and heartbreaking, is that Noah understands himself. Ultimately, Noah’s fight to break his own cycle of shame and anger is the greatest hurdle of all.
Fearne Hill drafts her interwoven stories with gentle persistence and affection. She reminds us about the stories from the other books in just enough detail to render the big picture of Rossingley and the emotional ties that bind all these people together.
The book is filled with humor, I should point out. That humor infuses each of the stories woven into the book’s narrative, drawing us closer and making us care all the more.
Of course, I bought book one (To Hold A Hidden Pearl) right away.