Bread Crumbs

by Kim Fielding

With their band on the brink of stardom, Johnny Gehrings is cast out by his stepmother and half brothers because he’s not pretty enough for social media. He takes some solace when Zimri Hayes quits the band too—beautiful Zimri, who is Johnny’s secret heart’s desire.

A job at a grocery store and a part-time music gig at a drag club pay the bills, but Johnny is still emotionally adrift, a wanderer abandoned in the forest. And when Zimri is offered a chance to make it big, Johnny fears that a devious manager will eat Zimri alive.

Finding his way out of the woods is hard enough, but Johnny would also like to save Zimri—if Zimri even wants to be saved.

***

Bread Crumbs is a dark M/M romance between a rejected drummer and a rising star, and is part of the Fallen Fairytale series.

Fallen Fairytales is a dark M/M romance, multi-author series. Each book may be read as a standalone, but why not load up your Kindle, kick back, and enjoy sexy men, shenanigans, and deliciously dark fairytale retellings.

Genres: M M Romance, LGBT, Contemporary, Dark

188 pages, Kindle Edition

First published February 6, 2024

About the author

Kim Fielding lives in Oregon and travels as often as she can manage. A professor by day, at night she rushes into a phone booth to change into her author costume (which involves comfy clothes instead of Spandex and is, sadly, lacking a cape). Her superpowers include the ability to write nearly anywhere, often while simultaneously doling out assistance to her family. Her favorite word to describe herself is "eclectic" and she finally got that seventh tattoo.

Reviews

[Moony Eliver · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm taken aback to be here with a DNF from Kim Fielding, who always seems to surprise me, but up til now it's been in the good way. I didn't get any of the characterization or emotional connection in this one that I have from hers before. At 37%, I didn't have a sense of who either of the MCs were or why they were drawn to each other. I didn't feel any chemistry. Tragic backstories felt as if they were standing in for actual character development.

Side note that didn't affect my rating: I'll leave this on my retellings shelf because it's intended to be one, but up to my quitting time I didn't see it. Creative band and club names aside, either I'm not smart enough to get the overlay of Hansel & Gretel, it's still to come, or it isn't there.

I'm scrubbing this one from the record because I still have a lot that I'm excited to read from this author.

[QuietlyKat · Rating 4 out of 5]

Not really sure what to say about this one… Kim Fielding is a strong writer and consistently crafts powerful and poignant stories. This one is no exception. That said, it’s an aching, slow, painful story with two emotionally wrecked main characters struggling through life apart from each other physically while bound by emotional ties stretched to their limits. I’ve mentioned in most of my reviews of Fielding stories lately that they’re lovely but insta. There’s nothing about Bread Crumbs that’s insta, it’s a story that spans years, with an unwavering friendship/love that persists over distance, trauma and time.

When Fielding’s books are available on KU, I typically KU borrow, then buy, but I’m not sure I’ll buy this one. It’s good but kind of heavy and depressing… I know I used to be a glutton for emotional wreckage, but I think I’ve outgrown that somewhat. Bread Crumbs has a happy, fulfilling ending and I think the heavy tone was portrayed very well, but I’m not sure I need or want to revisit it.

[Kim]

I love fairytales. This isn't much of a secret if you look at my backlist: several of my previous stories are fairytale adaptations. This time I've turned Hansel and Gretel into an angsty contemporary gay romance. We've got musicians, drag queens, and an evil stepmother (of course!), and it's set in Portland, Oregon.

I've included lots of little details from the original Grimm tale. You might enjoy reading the original first, and then seeing whether you can spot the ways I've adapted it into my story. You can read the Grimm version for free here: https://gutenberg.org/cache/epub/2591...

[Smutty Sully]

DNF - no rating

I don't have time for books I'm not interested in. This doesn't feel like the same calibre writing as other Fielding books.

[Terri · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. For awhile there in the middle, I did skip some paragraphs about Johnny's work experiences rather than just stop reading, and I'm glad I did. I really liked how this resolved, particularly how long it takes for two such different personalities to figure out how to mesh. Not my favorite Fielding, but satisfying nevertheless.

[PaperMoon · Rating 4 out of 5]

Despite not finding much correlation with the Hansel & Gretel story from my childhood, Johnny's character was lovable and I was thoroughly invested in his finding his path to happiness (with or without Zimri). Staff and friends from the Gingerbread House were fun and supportive secondaries as well.

[J · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 stars. Very different, enjoyable M/M romance. It certainly diverted from my usual formula type, steamy reads.

It starts out with a small band performing at a Drag Queen bar, has them splitting up for various reasons and then each of them going their separate ways. The two main band members, who have always been attracted to each other, proceed to spend years apart, one becoming a huge star, the other a successful grocery store manager (definitely not a norm with my M/M books). We follow the main MC's over many years as they are off and on in contact with each other until fairly a dynamic ending.

The only reason I didn't give this book a full 5 stars is that I really wanted more of a backstory about the one who became a big star. We never got much about his past. Maybe another book?

[Kathleen]

Oh I’m so sad. I usually adore Fielding’s stories… some of them are among my all-time favorites. Unfortunately, this one was terribly boring and I just gave up at 30%.

And I must mention that the cover model was a very poor choice for this book.

[Lidia · Rating 4 out of 5]

Next tuesday is Valentine's day and this book was very much appropriate for the time. I like Kim Fielding' s books, her writing, her prose, her story. That about Johnny was so sweet and real. Johnny is a simple guy that searches a way , one direction in his life. To the end his ambitions and aspectations maybe aren't like most people but are his and he is content with it. I liked that the author made him a main character and also added a bit of fairytale in the mix: the prince charming! Years and struggling before the happy end for the two...but hey, this is life for you. So thanks Kim for this story so sweet and ispiring.

[Ami · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars

Still struggle to see how this is a retelling of Hansel and Gretel 😅. I mean, Johnny and Zimri are NOT brothers!!

In any case, I thought it was sweet enough... however, the story was leaning too heavily to Johnny's perspective with it being the only character's voice. And sometimes Johnny frustrated the heck out of me because he kept thinking that he wasn't good enough. Johnny was solid and I wish he would believe that about himself a lot sooner.

I still thought Zimri was an enigma. I would love to know more about him - not from Johnny's tinted glasses. Plus because it was only from Johnny's perspective... LOTS of times were "missing" from this book when Zimri was away.

[Kobie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Here's the thing: it is so fabulous to read an author who knows how to tell a good story well. Loved this with all my heart

[the.argumentative.bong · Rating 4 out of 5]

A poignant love story, loosely based on Hansel and Gretel (more in symbolism than the actual fairytale).

[Melyna · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5