Mirrigold: Mutterings & Musings

HOME by Kade Boehme

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Getting a new book from Kade Boehme is such a joy, he’s a beautiful narrator of romance and in HOME he’s crafted a truly gorgeous story about two men who feel real.

The narrative itself isn’t complicated, two men meet by chance, they have connection, they stay in touch and meet up again before a third surprise encounter leads them to discover they’ve got more in common than they thought.

It’s a story which takes the reader into the journey they make in coming to terms not only with their own individual situations but with the additional baggage that comes with having a social group that’s been brought together through marriage.

Throughout the realness of their relationship makes you feel like you’re reading about two people you know, there’s a solid grounding which adds depth and makes the story stay with you.

Jase is older than Cody, but because of his lateness in coming out, his time in the Forces, he’s not much more advanced in the ways of being a gay man, he’s not really had relationships, he’s avoided rocking the boat with his mother.

Cody is a sweetheart who’s gone through some rough stuff, he’s forever trying to live up to unrealistic expectations and he feels a mound of guilt over how he let things get on top of him when he was away at college.

I felt Kade dealt both sensitively and honestly with Cody’s ADHD, something that had gone undiagnosed throughout his childhood and which his father still refuses to accept. All the tensions between Cody and his family felt believable and there are no easy solutions offered up here.

The dynamic between Jase and Cody is also well represented, they switch between being the strong one and needing support equally, there’s no magic dick here and I did have to chuckle when Kade uses Cody’s honest dialogue to express to Jase his frustrations that he won’t ever be cured even though he has the stability of their relationship.

There’s some wonderful secondary characters present throughout and a very strong sense of place. The community the men live in is brought to life through snippets and visits to events which draw all the disparate threads together.

It’s so wonderful to see Kade writing again and I really hope this is the first of many to come!

#ARC kindly received from the author in return for an honest and unbiased review

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