Edward Kendrick, Never Let Go of Hope

[Ulysses]

This is a short book, clearly a romance, and doesn’t stray far from the expected parameters of this genre.

Except in one important way: both of the main characters are in their fifties—something unheard of among the women who write m/m romance.

Speculation along these lines always stirs up fuss, and I don’t mean to do that; but a friend and fellow m/m reader recommended this book to me because she knows of my despair at the lack of older protagonists between the cover of m/m fiction.

Ellis is a successful artist, living in a little plantation house upriver from New Orleans. But he’s hit a dry patch, and hates making money off of paintings that he feels have no soul. His social life is so minimal as to be moribund, and he realizes that he’s just uninspired by his own life.

This is a simple plot and while nicely written, is not earth-shaking in any way. And that’s what I liked about it. This is the quiet story about a fifty-something gay man trying to find something more in his life.
That may not have much appeal for m/m readers who pant for hot gay action and trauma-strewn storylines. But for readers like me, it touches a tender nerve in the best possible way.