• Author: Patrick Doyle
• Publisher: Independently published
• Publishing year: 2021
• Number of pages: 194 (Tolino e-reader)
• ISBN: ?

https://a.co/d/aQf3QfC

Review:

It’s not often I get offered books by writers via Goodreads but in this case I was. One of the reasons for this is dat the author is not on any social media (we had a talk about it and the writing is more important than the selling so I respect that!) Don’t hesitate to look him up though on Goodreads. He is a very amicable and very open for a chat and very openhearted.

This is the first book of two (by the end of 2024 a third book has come out, a prequel story) I was offered to read and review and I have been postponing it for far too long so I’m so happy to have find the time to finally read the first of the two books in this series! (If all goes well I will read the sequel pretty soon after I finish this one but as my reading list is evergrowing and eternally big, it might not be before next month, when I’ll squeeze it in between my other reads)

He felt something he’d never felt before. It wasn’t only love. He was hungry for him.

Bill

Bill and Pierre have been living together ever since Pierre and Bill’s father had a relationship and Bill grew up with both men. But Bill’s father, Joe, unfortunately died when he was young and after a custody battle he remained in the care of Pierre. Pierre is a very charismatic, Canadian fifty- or sixtysomething father figure for Bill who is currently battling his own fight with cancer. But Pierre is also very stubborn and if not for Bill he would probably not even go to the doctor. Despite the very funny French curses Pierre utters he lets himself being taken care by the young man he has had in his life for over twenty years now.

Bill is an art teacher, a very sweet man and single. During the course of this book he will meet a few men (more on them later) with which he finds himself enamoured. At his school there will be cutbacks and his boss and the school’s director offers him a deal to stay in the school fulltime, but to do so Bill needs to act in a way he would never. He refuses and loses most of his lessons.

To earn a little extra money he does teach art classes to grownups, with live naked models. One of those models is Danny, a very handsome, almost godlike, model. Bill and Danny become friends and Bill even has feelings (whether they are love or pure lust, he’s not really sure) for Danny, but something entirely unexpected happens which makes him very jealous and a bit lost.

At the same time, Bill meets another teacher from his school, Liam. Liam is a sweet somewhat naive man who is still searching his way in life. He was married once and has a little girl from that marriage but right now him and Bill are prone to get together, if it weren’t for Liam doubting himself. And then there’s the same school director who has offered Liam the same option as he has Bill… only for Liam to take him up on the offer, as not to loose his job and income.

For Bill starts one of his most exhausting periods in his life. He has to find a balance between Pierre and his recovery, Danny being in his life but having to face an ungrounded jealousy and Liam whom he begins a very passionate but also difficult relationship with as they have to face challenges at school, especially for Liam after he has refused to further abide to the director’s will!

This is a very heartfelt story with the right amount of drama, laughs and passionate (sex) scenes (with being too vulgar or too explicit) and I have to say, I have read more queer books written by indie authors but none have touched me so deep than this one, so far!

It is so easy to feel with and for the characters! The book touches very sensitive themes such as love, death, abuse and cancer. But it is done with such respect for the characters and with the utmost love by the author (you can clearly feel that!).

As I said before, in February 2024 the sequel ‘Pierre and Bill Now’ was released, which will continue the lifestory of these two main characters. I am curious what will have happened to both during the time between the two books and whether we will see many new and even old people back from the first book. I better get reading, I guess!