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Asylum
Nobody sang happy birthday to me when I turned eighteen. Instead, I was gifted a bargain-outlet suitcase to pack my belongings. They said that they needed the bed for another boy in need. I guess once you turn eighteen you're suddenly not considered a boy anymore. If only my shaking hands and panicked heart would get the message. But I would survive, as I had always done, despite my best efforts to the contrary. Having a home was overrated anyway. That's why couches and park benches existed, right? All things considered, summer wasn't such a bad time to be homeless in Boston. And, hey, without parental oversight, I could go anywhere I wanted. I could even go looking for that something that had always niggled in the back of my brain ... that fine line between pleasure and pain. Nobody would yell at me for being out beyond curfew, and nobody would call me a freak if I found someone to show me the ropes, literally. And if that creepy old codger, Vern, continued to follow me in the shadows everywhere I went, well ... that was his problem.
- GenresM M RomanceBDSM
322 pages, Kindle Edition
Published January 2, 2020
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
March 24, 2020
A Joyfully Jay review.
4 stars
Before I begin my review, I would like to remind future readers that the warning labels on this novel should be heeded if things like suicide, sexual abuse, and drug addiction are triggering. All are elements you will find in this novel and while I feel they are handled as best as they can be, the scenes depicting some of these situations are graphic. I will say that they are also necessary to the plot and moving the story forward, as well as giving real insight into what has formed Gabriel’s character.
With incredible detail and an intriguing main character, Julian Burnes delivers a twisted and elaborate story in the novel, Asylum. While the paranormal aspect is more new age and psychic in nature, this story still thrusts the reader into a world where ghosts are real, able to communicate with Gabriel, and need some form of closure that he can facilitate in order to move on. Besides being able to see and communicate with ghosts, Gabby is also a very lost soul himself. Reeling from years in a system that saw him in four different foster homes and almost as many group homes, Gabby is now eighteen and on his own. His mother has always been unable or unwilling to take care of him and his twin, Justin, whose death leaves Gabby completely alone with no real friend to call his own.
Read Sammy’s review in its entirety here.
4 stars
Before I begin my review, I would like to remind future readers that the warning labels on this novel should be heeded if things like suicide, sexual abuse, and drug addiction are triggering. All are elements you will find in this novel and while I feel they are handled as best as they can be, the scenes depicting some of these situations are graphic. I will say that they are also necessary to the plot and moving the story forward, as well as giving real insight into what has formed Gabriel’s character.
With incredible detail and an intriguing main character, Julian Burnes delivers a twisted and elaborate story in the novel, Asylum. While the paranormal aspect is more new age and psychic in nature, this story still thrusts the reader into a world where ghosts are real, able to communicate with Gabriel, and need some form of closure that he can facilitate in order to move on. Besides being able to see and communicate with ghosts, Gabby is also a very lost soul himself. Reeling from years in a system that saw him in four different foster homes and almost as many group homes, Gabby is now eighteen and on his own. His mother has always been unable or unwilling to take care of him and his twin, Justin, whose death leaves Gabby completely alone with no real friend to call his own.
Read Sammy’s review in its entirety here.
April 1, 2020
A very different kind of M/M read for me--different but kept me interested to the end.
Basically this is a story of a young man who sees ghosts. Mostly ghosts following a loved one that he/she wants to get a message to that the young man happens to be with. Not just human ghosts but a doggie ghost as well who was a beloved pet.
The story goes back and forth in time, usually something I intensely dislike, but in this instance I think it was necessary to set up the story. And, what a story it was about a dysfunctional family and the young man slowing putting all the clues together to sort it out and "fix" what was fixable, which unfortunately wasn't much. A great mystery/suspense.
There was a D/s, BDSM element (the M/M romance) which really was just a back drop to the story as a whole so there was not a lot of hot, sexy steam on page.
My only regret was I was looking forward to the final moment between the twins in the story having a final conversation and getting to say goodbye. It didn't happen but I was so ready for a big cry after everything that went on I wished it had.
Basically this is a story of a young man who sees ghosts. Mostly ghosts following a loved one that he/she wants to get a message to that the young man happens to be with. Not just human ghosts but a doggie ghost as well who was a beloved pet.
The story goes back and forth in time, usually something I intensely dislike, but in this instance I think it was necessary to set up the story. And, what a story it was about a dysfunctional family and the young man slowing putting all the clues together to sort it out and "fix" what was fixable, which unfortunately wasn't much. A great mystery/suspense.
There was a D/s, BDSM element (the M/M romance) which really was just a back drop to the story as a whole so there was not a lot of hot, sexy steam on page.
My only regret was I was looking forward to the final moment between the twins in the story having a final conversation and getting to say goodbye. It didn't happen but I was so ready for a big cry after everything that went on I wished it had.
April 2, 2020
3.5 stars. So, for a first book I’d say this is above average. The BDSM is on the light side and not really the core of the story. The paranormal stuff was well done but somehow the final scene was just a tad overdone for me. I also felt the cover was misleading, the meaning of “asylum” on the cover was not the meaning assigned by the story.
PS. Thanks to “Joyfully Jay” for a review that convinced me to read it despite the cover.
PS. Thanks to “Joyfully Jay” for a review that convinced me to read it despite the cover.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews