Glitterland (Spires, #1) in Riptide Publishing

Jun 19, 2013 Debra ~~ seriously slacking on her reviews ~~ rated it it was amazing

Shelves: m-m, lgbtq, arcs-and-for-review, artists-dancers-actors-writers, mental-health-brain-disorders

4.5 stars
Glitterland is a fantastic first book from author Alexis Hall. This character driven romance is both laugh out loud funny and break your heart sad, but ultimately a story of hope.

The story is told from the POV of Ash, a well-educated, successful writer, who suffers from severe anxiety and bipolar disorder. Sticking to a routine is a must to keep the anxiety at bay and he needs to carefully plan out any departure from that routine. While out at a stag night with friends from his universi 4.5 stars
Glitterland is a fantastic first book from author Alexis Hall. This character driven romance is both laugh out loud funny and break your heart sad, but ultimately a story of hope.

The story is told from the POV of Ash, a well-educated, successful writer, who suffers from severe anxiety and bipolar disorder. Sticking to a routine is a must to keep the anxiety at bay and he needs to carefully plan out any departure from that routine. While out at a stag night with friends from his university days he sees Darian on the dance floor and cannot take his eyes off him. Outwardly, Darian is absolutely not Ash’s type. An aspiring model from Essex, with a ridiculous fake tan, perfect grooming, sparkling clothes and nail polish, Ash dubs him a “glitter pirate”. After spending the night together, Ash makes a run for it and never expects to see Darian again. What follows is an anxiety attack and a bout of depression, and another meeting with Darian, who shows up at Ash’s book signing to tell him off. Darian is an honest breath of fresh air who seems to have a calming effect on Ash who is shocked by his need to not disappoint Darian.

While Darian is an easy going, sweetheart with an optimistic, almost innocent, outlook on life, Ash is misanthropic, abrasive and arrogant. He has pushed away most of his friends and would rather have people hate him than pity him for his mental illness. The one friendship we get a real insight to is with Niall, Ash’s ex who was with him through his diagnosis and hospitalization (and has issues of his own). There are times in the story where Ash treats Darian like complete garbage, yet Darian seems to be able to call him on it and see through it to the man Ash is underneath the grip of his illness. Darian is able to pull Ash out of his routine and takes great joy in seeing Ash have those happy moments while Ash derives a glimmer of hope.

What set this story apart for me was the character development and the way Ash is written. By all outward accounts, Ash is rather unlikable. There were times where I wanted to just hate him, but Alexis Hall wrote the character in such a way that I really felt what was going on inside his head. The fear of the next bout of depression, the reminders of what he suffered through and lost due to his illness and the fear of dragging Darian down with him. He wants to be happy again, but doesn’t see it as a possibility when it will all be destroyed by the next depressive episode. Being in Ash’s head had me by turns laughing out loud, cringing in disbelief and feeling the pain of Ash’s inability to accept what Darian offers.

The one thing that initially slowed me down in reading the book, was Darian’s accent. I have no idea what an Essex accent is supposed to sound like so although it was written phonetically, I still had trouble grasping some of the words until I got the flow of it. Also, Ash tends to be very wordy, which fits the pompous side of his character, but had me researching a bit to understand a few of his references. Overall, it did not impact my enjoyment of this book. Alexis Hall has created some memorable characters and the HFN ending was honest and fit the story perfectly.

*A copy of this book was provided by Riptide Publishing via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.
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Dec 12, 2014 Molli B. rated it really liked it

Shelves: format-paperback, length-novel, borrowed, genre-m-m, borrowed-library, 2014-shelved, 2015-read, format-epub, bisexuality-is-a-thing, format-audio-hoopla

4.25. I kind of loved this. I thought the author did a great job portraying Ash's bipolar disorder and anxiety. Mental disorders are tough to write, but this felt real.

I'm the first person to holler bloody murder about authors using dialect in dialogue (because most of the time it's pointless overkill), but I genuinely loved Darian's accent. Maybe because the author committed to it whole-heartedly. It made it so easy for me to hear (and see!) him in my head. And despite the serious themes of th ...more

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Apr 14, 2013 Didi rated it really liked it

Shelves: romance, m-m

I didn't think I'm gonna like this when I started reading this. An acute bipolar depressive with not so good (best?)friend ex-lover? Their first encounter in the early pages didn't endear me to either of them.
Surprisingly, or ironically, came Darian with his Essex-written-accents that drew me to read on (could be sheer stubbornness on my side, since I've to assume, predict, etc half of what he said, really). Could be the same effect he gave to Ash, Darian made me laugh.

I could go without self-an ...more

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May 25, 2014 T.T. Kove rated it it was amazing

Shelves: genre-contemporary, pov-1st, location-uk, pairing-mm, book-novel, identity-gay, theme-mental-illness-bipolar

THIS BOOK. I don't even have any words. I LOVE IT. That is all I can articulate at this point in time. ...more

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Oct 31, 2013 Claudia the Night Owl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: hot-and-steamy, devoured-it, tortured-hero, contemporary, pullin-an-all-nighter, m-m, i-should-read-you-again, flamin, disability-illness

At first I was like Whuuuuut? Then I was like Whaaaaat! Awesome read.

This book's a work of art. ...more

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Jul 13, 2013 Evaine rated it liked it

Shelves: romance, e-books, m-m

This book could have been rated 5 stars, but the DIALECT! UGH! There is a lot of dialect in this. Ash's (the main character) love interest, Darian is what they call an Essex (in England) boy. As such, he speaks with an accent, a heavy accent. Ash, the main character, is a much more... refined sort and the class difference is one of the big stumbling blocks to these fellows' happiness. But for God's sake, readers aren't stupid, they don't need to be hit over the head, over and over and over, with This book could have been rated 5 stars, but the DIALECT! UGH! There is a lot of dialect in this. Ash's (the main character) love interest, Darian is what they call an Essex (in England) boy. As such, he speaks with an accent, a heavy accent. Ash, the main character, is a much more... refined sort and the class difference is one of the big stumbling blocks to these fellows' happiness. But for God's sake, readers aren't stupid, they don't need to be hit over the head, over and over and over, with one of those huge cartoon hammers. That's what it felt like every time that Darian opened his mouth to speak. And when we had scenes with his friends and nan? *facepalm* Nearly incomprehensible on the first read. I lost count of the times I had to reread a section of dialogue to understand what the boy was saying. I even resorted to reading it out loud to try and understand. And maybe it's the 8 year-old that lives inside of me, but deep, emotional passages with the word 'fink' repeated over and over again just made me giggle.

The thing is, Alexis Hall has told a wonderful story here. The characters are excellently drawn with flaws and wounds that people have suffered from since the beginning of time. I do not suffer from depression, but the picture that Alexis drew of Ash's illness seemed real and tangible to me and maybe I gained a little more understanding of something I have never experienced first hand. Darian could easily come across as too good to be true, the street urchin with the tragic past but the stoic heart of gold and positive outlook. You know... Annie-like. But he really is charming and sweet and yeah, I do know people like that. Not many, but they do exist. My mom was like that. And the romance! It was lovely to watch it unfold and even the heart-breaking parts of it were so human, so real, that they were lovely too. BUT THE DAMNED OVERWHELMING DIALOGUE... it pulled me out of the story every time. And it could have so easily been rectified. I don't know, maybe for a UK audience this is normal, but I'm in Canada and it was far too much for me. Pick a word or two and just use those. The story is written from a first person POV so the differences could have so easily been shown in Ash's reactions and inner musings. Readers will remember all through the book that this divide exists between Ash and Darian (and his friends) and I think Alexis Hall is a good enough writer to pull that off.

So in the end, I was disappointed and thrilled at the same time. I loved everything about this book except for the dreaded dialect dialogue - the DDD - and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking for a bittersweet but ultimately happy read, with the caveat that the DDD could be problematic. I have Alexis Hall's Iron and Velvet which comes out in December on my wishlist and I am crossing my fingers that there will be no such tidal wave of unreadable DDD in it. ...more

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Aug 29, 2013 Mariana rated it it was amazing

What an emotionally satisfying book. Will definitely look for more of his books.

One thing though, beware of the Essex accent. While reading I could picture it being spoken, but it was a bit much to be reading it. Still a very good book.

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