Just Stu A Leicester Trilogy Book #2
Romance, LGBTQ Fiction,
Independent
Sepembe 25, 2023
Kindle
249
Amazon
Review By Ulysses Dietz
Member of the Paranormal Romance Guild Review Team
This is a tender, gentle novel about new beginnings and being surprised by love. The MLM (men loving men) designation given by the author was a new one on me—having been introduced to the M/M and gay romance world over a decade ago. In this case, the designation comes from the fact that John, the central protagonist, has lived a straight life up to the age of 40, and then stumbles onto a friendship with another man which—somewhat to his surprise—becomes true love. This is not a spoiler: it’s the point of the whole book. In the MLM world it’s about any kind of man loving other men. I’m not quite sure why this specific label is necessary, since Merlina Garance’s lovely story is pretty self-explanatory.
John, a graphic designer on the edge of 40, has never imagined himself to be other than straight. There are reasons that this is true, not the least of which is a recently-ended fifteen-year- marriage to Lisa.
As the story begins, John is relocating from London to Leicester, looking for a different (and more affordable, more accessible) community in a new place. If there’s any theme in this book more important than finding love, it’s finding a community of friends who accept you and enjoy you for exactly who you are. Therein lies one of the sweetest parts of this tale, when John meets Stu and in him finds the kind of friend he’s never had before—someone who is interested in him, not as part of a married couple, but as a fellow music enthusiast and gamer.
Stu (whose name matters, but for reasons we don’t find out until later) is a gay man who has his own baggage—and all baggage has to do with family, ultimately (true for me, true for my husband of 48 years). Stu is painfully shy, but also a talented bassist in a modestly popular local band, “Caught in Silence.” A secret pleasure was in seeing right away that John was going to fall for Stu, but wasn’t yet able to see past his socially-imposed emotional limits. Right from the start this doesn’t feel like “just” a friendship. Something important happens and the author makes sure we know that from the get-go.
John and Stu are both appealing characters. The author hides John’s appeal under a man-bun and a beard (attributes I like, but which apparently, in the UK as well as in the USA, signal jerks). He sees himself as having a prickly demeanor that I suspect comes not from within, but from the traumas of his family experience. Stu is the result of much harsher and more difficult trauma, and we watch as John—who is way more sensitive than he thinks he is—works his way into Stu’s trust.
John and Stu are not the only crucial figures in this book; we learn a lot about John through his interaction with his neighbor Andy (a policewoman) and her girlfriend Thalia. John’s tentative approach to his new life comes from a place of sadness and pain, but it’s clear he’s a good guy from the start, and only sees himself as a bad guy for reasons we begin to understand as his life in Leicester takes shape.
One distinctive characteristic of a man discovering his bisexuality seems to be a return to the emotional awkwardness of adolescence, and there’s a lot of that here (which is either adorable or frustrating, depending on your mood). What I appreciated most is John’s openness to the world. He is non-judgmental and curious, yearning for human connection without imposing barriers. He knows friends will make him happy, and he asks nothing of them but friendship and a mutual openness to him and his foibles.
Emotionally very satisfying, “Just Stu” is a worthy read.