FALLING INTO ME: A Novel

A Time Before Me #2

by Michael Holloway Perronne

In the sequel to A Time Before Me, Mason Hamilton starts his thirties off in what he considers a great place in life; a successful photography career in San Francisco, close friends, and a cute live-in boyfriend. Just when he thinks things can't get any better everything rapidly falls apart when his old high school friend and crush, Billy Harris, pays a surprise and turmoil filled visit.Now feeling confused and directionless, Mason travels back home to the New Orleans French Quarter to attend his Aunt Savannah's wedding. It's there in the decadent and live-and-let-live Big Easy that Mason begins to reconnect with old friends, family-and perhaps finally even himself.When Mason gets the opportunity to rekindle a romance from his teenage years with the guy he's never been able to forget, Joey, he wonders is it possible to recapture young love twelve years later?

Genres: Gay, M M Romance, Contemporary, LGBT, Gay Fiction

92 pages, Paperback

First published December 1, 2006

About the author

Michael Holloway Perronne is the author of five novels: "A Time Before Me",
"Starstruck: A Hollywood Saga", "Falling Into Me", "A Time Before Us" and
"Embrace the Rain." His debut novel, "A Time Before Me" won the Bronze
Award, Foreword Magazine's 2006 Book of the Year Award in the Gay/Lesbian
fiction category. In addition, Michael recently released his first travel guide,
"The Quickie Gay Guide to Cape Town, South Africa."

Michael was born and raised in Mississippi. He received a BA in Film from
the University of Southern Mississippi and a MFA in Drama and
Communications from the University of New Orleans.

For a few years he worked as a production assistant in television and film, in
both New Orleans and Los Angeles, on such projects as the television series
The Big Easy and the television movies Rag and Bone, Blue Moon, and
Introducing Dorothy Dandridge. Following that, he worked as the Conference
Services Coordinator for the National Association of Television Program
Executives. He has also done script reading and analysis for the Los Angeles
Independent Film Festival and the Los Angeles Film Collaborative.

He currently lives in Los Angeles. His next book, "A Time Before Us", is
scheduled to be released in April 2011.

Reviews

[Stephen · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read the first book in this series back in 2006 and immediately ordered the second in the series. Between the everyday (and two long distance moves) this second story sorta got lost in the shuffle.

While looking for something different to read I came across this and once again enjoyed the tale this author tells. It was odd in that I only vaguely recalled the first installment but the second can easily be read without having read the first.

The first volume dealt with a young guy just coming out and moving away from his family to live with an eccentric aunt in New Orleans' French Quarter. The second volume opens with a thirty year old living in San Francisco who's planning a trip back to the Big Easy to attend his aunt's wedding.

Oddly both volumes have the frame-work of a slow southern story where not too much happens but at just over 130 pages this volume felt a bit like a rushed letter back home. One does get time to grow familiar with the characters and to begin to empathize with them but there are actually very few anecdotes amid the life changes we see. I personally would have appreciated this more if there were more of it. I understand that there's a third installment in the series and I'll probably read it at some point, but I'd have enjoyed this one more if it had more meat on its bones.

Still, not a bad read and easily worth the time.

[Len · Rating 2 out of 5]

#2 in this series.
Still sweet, but way too short - I would have enjoyed a much more fully realized trip into their adulthoods, and more of Savannah as well.
Seems the author preferred to skim the surface, when these characters were, to me at least, deserving of much deeper exploring.

[Merith · Rating 3 out of 5]

I didn't like this book as much as I did the first (A Time Before Me). The characters are still great in this story and on the surface the story is good. A young love resurfacing sort of thing. But, there were some things about it that bothered me; that could have been handled better.

First, the author's way of copying scenes from the first book then plunking them down in this second book - word for word - was annoying and unnecessary. It would have served the story much better if the highlights had been revisited instead of chunks of text.

Second, Mason never resolved his issues with Colin - he just ignored him. Granted, it all happened in a short time, but I would have thought a mention of giving Colin a call to reconcile how they were going to handle shared items and when he'd be back to pick up his stuff. Pedestrian, I know.

Lastly, not one of the annoyances, because it does follow the theme of the series (and the title of the book), Joey and Mason just seem to fall into one another. Fairytale reconnection. We don't see the adjustment; we just see sparks of what might be and then one-year later after they've already been together awhile. I know the third book is set up to show us their differences and adjustment periods. So what I'm looking for might just be there.

It was a good story, despite my grumblings. And I still want my own Aunt Savannah.

[Chris · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book quite a bit because I think it's a great read for teens. I'd read more by this author.