Title: Paper Kisses
Author Name & Publisher: R. M. Grace
Publication Date & Length: February 13, 2016 – 357 Pages
“So you want to hear a story?”
“Depends. It isn’t a love story is it? I don’t want to hear a love story—they’re all diluted by cliches.”
“It’s not a love story. It’s about two people coming together under complicated circumstances to find they can care for one another.”
“Sounds like a love story.”
“Well, it’s not. It’s more a tale of survival. Do you want to hear it?”
Dark Winters, an eight year-old from Coventry, is set to go on holiday with his parents. In a rush, they pack their bags and head into the storm in search of The Jurassic Coast’s warm beaches.
They have only been driving for twenty minutes when they hit something in the road that changes their lives forever.
Dark finds himself in a strange building with no idea how he got there and, to his growing horror, his parents are no longer with him. But when he hears movement above his head, it dawns on him he is not alone . . .
This novel is intended for a mature audience with scenes of kidnap and M/M themes.
Wow. I have such mixed emotions about this book. In some ways I hated it but in other ways I can almost understand where the characters are coming from. Then I also found myself feeling grief for these characters and myself in tears because of this grief.
Travis is a deeply troubled individual who goes about it the wrong way to try and rid himself of the pain and anger that he feels dues to his parents horrific abuse of him. But at the same time I think that somewhere in there is a deeply caring man who feels as if he does not deserve to be live because of the abuse he sustained as a child.
Dark is such a victim of circumstance. When Dark came to be with Travis, he does not realize that in a very big way it is to protect him from people who are more horrible then Travis could ever be. The longer that Dark is with Travis the more they come to care about one another even though I think Travis does not know how to show it. Once Dark becomes an adult and realizes he has feelings for Travis I believe that Travis does start to change for the better. That is until he gives in once again to his dark side and sets into motion a storm that neither will ever recover from.
This book is definitely not for everyone. But for those of you who like a dark read with somewhat of a love story mixed into it and an ending that will leave you shocked and wondering if it is a good thing or a bad thing, then this is he book for you.
Tosha
R. M. Grace was born in Australia in 1986 and grew up in Coventry, England where she still lives with her partner, two children and dog.