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Barricades
They were raised to hate each other, but love has other plans.
When introverted bookworm Orestis escapes his homophobic parents and abusive home for a night out with friends, he meets artist Emir, and the passion between them is instant and explosive. But Orestis is a Greek Cypriot and Emir is Turkish, and neither society nor their families will accept their love. If they want a romance that lasts beyond one fiery, forbidden night, they’ll have to face the backlash.
World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.
When introverted bookworm Orestis escapes his homophobic parents and abusive home for a night out with friends, he meets artist Emir, and the passion between them is instant and explosive. But Orestis is a Greek Cypriot and Emir is Turkish, and neither society nor their families will accept their love. If they want a romance that lasts beyond one fiery, forbidden night, they’ll have to face the backlash.
World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.
85 pages, Kindle Edition
First published May 24, 2019
12 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
July 10, 2021
The blurb for "Barricades" caught my interest because I know very little about the conflict between the Greek and Turkish Cypriots. Unfortunately, after reading this book I still know very little about the conflict which "has been compared — in complexity and duration, not bloodshed — to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict." (New York Times, November 7, 2016)
Orestis and Emir meet and quickly fall into lust with one another, then have to deal with the struggle to keep their relationship secret from their families. While their love is passionate, I feel we learn little about their personalities and interests and their characters never really leap off the page. And although the story is fairly short, the story is rapidly wrapped up at the ending, and elsewhere the pace feels stalled at times with Emir constantly worrying if their love will last, what sort of future will they have, etc. As a result of his doubt,
Personally this story just did not "spark" for me, but of course, your results may vary. 3 stars for "Barricades."
I received an ARC from Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review.
Visit my blog, Sinfully Good Gay Book Reviews
Orestis and Emir meet and quickly fall into lust with one another, then have to deal with the struggle to keep their relationship secret from their families. While their love is passionate, I feel we learn little about their personalities and interests and their characters never really leap off the page. And although the story is fairly short, the story is rapidly wrapped up at the ending, and elsewhere the pace feels stalled at times with Emir constantly worrying if their love will last, what sort of future will they have, etc. As a result of his doubt,
Personally this story just did not "spark" for me, but of course, your results may vary. 3 stars for "Barricades."
I received an ARC from Dreamspinner Press in exchange for an honest review.
Visit my blog, Sinfully Good Gay Book Reviews
May 25, 2019
I’m still not sure what to think about this book. It's good and angsty but there are triggers. In those cultures, being gay is very bad. Orestis is beaten repeatedly by his father and Emir is beaten by haters. And it gets bad. So please be careful.
Orestis's friends have taken him out to the club, where they are celebrating before they move away. Orestis is sad but it's time to move on for them. He's dreading being there because he's very introverted, but he bumps into someone that changes his mind quickly. They have a magical few hours before they leave each other. Only Orestis knows Emir’s name. Both have been missing each other and thankfully, after Orestis 'stalking’ Emir on social media lol, they bump into each other again. The night is magical and they decide to try to make something out of it. But Emir's insecurities are taking over and Orestis tries to overlook it and keep going. But the nail on the coffin was when Emir was beaten by haters. And he ran. And there may be no coming back from this.
I hate the way some people act towards people who are LGBT. It's so sickening and disheartening. So this book made me sad in a lot of ways. Those two cultures don't tolerate LGBT communities and people lives are often at risk if exposed. So I understand why they are hesitant with moving forward. Especially being that they are from different cultures as well. And knowing what Orestis has to go through at home is even worse.
But what upset me more than anything was the drama between Emir and Orestis. Emir was deliberately doing things that would cost him his relationship. Amd when they finally confronted each other, or Orestis confronted Emir, Orestis was the one being slapped. And I can't blame him for what he said. Spoken in the heat of passion or not, he has every right to be upset. And then it just seemed like everything was ok after that.
Forgiveness is a great thing, but maybe my cynical side is coming out. I don't know if I'd be so quick to let go and trust again. But then again, I'm still single so lol. But anyway. It seems to have worked out for them and I'm glad they could figure it out.
http://lovebytesreviews.com/
Orestis's friends have taken him out to the club, where they are celebrating before they move away. Orestis is sad but it's time to move on for them. He's dreading being there because he's very introverted, but he bumps into someone that changes his mind quickly. They have a magical few hours before they leave each other. Only Orestis knows Emir’s name. Both have been missing each other and thankfully, after Orestis 'stalking’ Emir on social media lol, they bump into each other again. The night is magical and they decide to try to make something out of it. But Emir's insecurities are taking over and Orestis tries to overlook it and keep going. But the nail on the coffin was when Emir was beaten by haters. And he ran. And there may be no coming back from this.
I hate the way some people act towards people who are LGBT. It's so sickening and disheartening. So this book made me sad in a lot of ways. Those two cultures don't tolerate LGBT communities and people lives are often at risk if exposed. So I understand why they are hesitant with moving forward. Especially being that they are from different cultures as well. And knowing what Orestis has to go through at home is even worse.
But what upset me more than anything was the drama between Emir and Orestis. Emir was deliberately doing things that would cost him his relationship. Amd when they finally confronted each other, or Orestis confronted Emir, Orestis was the one being slapped. And I can't blame him for what he said. Spoken in the heat of passion or not, he has every right to be upset. And then it just seemed like everything was ok after that.
Forgiveness is a great thing, but maybe my cynical side is coming out. I don't know if I'd be so quick to let go and trust again. But then again, I'm still single so lol. But anyway. It seems to have worked out for them and I'm glad they could figure it out.
http://lovebytesreviews.com/
May 24, 2019
A Joyfully Jay review.
3.25 stars
From the blurb I thought this would be a story about two men kept apart by religion, geography, and prejudice. Instead, the only thing keeping them apart is Emir’s selfish and childish behavior. There are a few mentions, here and there, of how dangerous it is for a Greek to love a Turk, but it never actually gets really shown in the story. In the one scene where prejudice is supposed to rear its ugly head, it’s all off-page and over in seconds.
As a love story, it didn’t work for me. I never felt any real passion between them save the passion of convenience. Orestes seems to fall in love with the idea of Emir, a free-spirited, passionate artist who gave him mind-blowing sex and Emir felt so constrained he went off to have random sex with strangers. The relationship just didn’t work for me on any level, and the epilogue felt very pat and contrived, more like it was the ending Orestes wanted rather than the ending I think these two might have had on their own. It was an interesting idea that, unfortunately, never came together.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
3.25 stars
From the blurb I thought this would be a story about two men kept apart by religion, geography, and prejudice. Instead, the only thing keeping them apart is Emir’s selfish and childish behavior. There are a few mentions, here and there, of how dangerous it is for a Greek to love a Turk, but it never actually gets really shown in the story. In the one scene where prejudice is supposed to rear its ugly head, it’s all off-page and over in seconds.
As a love story, it didn’t work for me. I never felt any real passion between them save the passion of convenience. Orestes seems to fall in love with the idea of Emir, a free-spirited, passionate artist who gave him mind-blowing sex and Emir felt so constrained he went off to have random sex with strangers. The relationship just didn’t work for me on any level, and the epilogue felt very pat and contrived, more like it was the ending Orestes wanted rather than the ending I think these two might have had on their own. It was an interesting idea that, unfortunately, never came together.
Read Elizabeth’s review in its entirety here.
June 26, 2019
A romance with obstacles of the social, political, and homophobic varieties, this cross-cultural love story is set in modern-day Cyprus. This is not a place I am familiar with other than reading about it, so this novella was a great introduction to what it looks and sounds and feels like to live there. But I got more than a sampler of what a tourist might see – Orestis and Emir are two young men from opposite sides of this Mediterranean island that has been divided into a Greek and a Turkish part since 1974. They should hate each other on principle, instead they fall for each other on sight.
Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
Please find my full review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
May 24, 2019
A Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words Review
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
For the full review visit https://wp.me/p220KL-gNq on 5/4
From that review:Let me say immediately that Dem Had has a wonderful story here, with a location, situation, and main couple I really hadn't seen before. If the full promise indicated by the blurb isn't fulfilled, mark that up to the shortness of the story. Given the writing, the gritty details, the research, and many of the facts and emotional layers to Barricades, had it just been extended further, this would have been a remarkable novel.
For all our reviews, check out http://scatteredthougthsandroguewords...
Rating: 3.5 stars out of 5
For the full review visit https://wp.me/p220KL-gNq on 5/4
From that review:Let me say immediately that Dem Had has a wonderful story here, with a location, situation, and main couple I really hadn't seen before. If the full promise indicated by the blurb isn't fulfilled, mark that up to the shortness of the story. Given the writing, the gritty details, the research, and many of the facts and emotional layers to Barricades, had it just been extended further, this would have been a remarkable novel.
For all our reviews, check out http://scatteredthougthsandroguewords...
March 14, 2019
Amazing book and easily read!
August 11, 2019
** 4.5 Stars **
Romantic, dramatic, poignant!
Romantic, dramatic, poignant!
May 5, 2019
I had high hopes for this story. I was really intrigued by the description. From the very beginning I had a hard time with this one. I get that this is a novella so the pace is faster than a full length novel but honestly this took me forever to finish. I didn’t like the writing style and couldn’t connect with either of the characters. The main thing I disliked about this book was ***spoiler***one of the characters repeated cheats on the other. Cheating is a big turn off for me.
I’ve enjoyed other books in this series but this one just wasn’t for me.
I’ve enjoyed other books in this series but this one just wasn’t for me.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews