• Author: Patrick Doyle
• Publisher: independently published
• Publishing year: 2024
• Pages: 193 (Kobo epub file)

https://a.co/d/ac8pGg2

Review:

The life before

Before Pierre met Bills father, before Pierre became Bill’s guardian and before the events in ‘Pierre and Bill, a Love Story’ and ‘Pierre and Bill Now’, Patrick Doyle wanted us to witness the story of Pierre, before Bill!

A young Pierre leaves his home, not planned, still in his school uniform and starts wandering through Canada to escape his hometown and his family. Along his journey he meets Ed, a truck driver with whom he falls in love. But their love is not meant to be because Ed has his job to think about and has not yet come to terms with his own sexuality, something Pierre has and quite openly even.

So Pierre ends up at and orchard where he starts working. Even though work is hard he does make a lot of friends but also a few enemies there. One of them is the sheriff, who is the father of his friend Derek. After an encounter with some though guys, who beat up Derek, Pierre decides to leave the town and start all over again.

And that’s when he meets Ed again. They start a life together, albeit one with trials and tribulations and a lot of obstacles. Pierre started his own landscaping business and Ed makes furniture. Even with all these obstacles and even though their love seems forbidden to the outside world at the time, the seem to find a right pace and a way to make it work. And then Pierre meets a cop who is actually an old acquaintance… it’s Derek! And Derek’s infatuation with Pierre from back when is still very much alive. This could become worrisome for what Pierre and Ed have together!

This is, like the title already suggests, a prequel to the previous books in the trilogy written by Patrick Doyle. He delves deeper into the past of one of the characters from the previous books, the French speaking Pierre who has a knack of swearing in the most cute way ever. But as with everyone who meets someone in their life, there’s always a past. So before Pierre met Joe Harris, the father of Bill, his life was very different. We see a young, still naive but very outspoken boy who is finding his way into life and discovering that not everyone is to be trusted, not even old friends. The book ultimately blends in perfectly with the storyline that started in Pierre and Bill: a Love Story and Pierre and Bill Now.

The story plays in three different decades, where gay love is either frowned upon or not cared about, depending on who Pierre meets.

I had started the book at the start of the year but it was left alone for a few months because life intervened at so many levels… blogging is harder work than you might expect and if my health works against me, I have to make choices sometimes… But this never made me loose interest in the book nor the series. Once I started reading last week, I never stopped. So this book is definitely a worthy addition to the series. And I have to admit, if ever Patrick would decide to write another book in the series (whether it be a sequel to Pierre and Bill now or maybe another prequel, based on Joe Harris’ past, I don’t care), I would read it without an inch of a doubt!

Patrick Doyle is an indie-author who writes queer stories with genuine heart, a bit of spice but a lot of love. And I think he is worth it to be discovered and to be read by queer and allies, especially in a time where being part of the lgbtqia+ community is challenging again. These stories matter, more than ever! Love is Love!

The other two books in this series are:

Pierre and Bill: a Love Story (link review below) and Pierre and Bill now (link review also below)

https://looneybooks79.blog/2024/04/14/pierre-bill-a-love-story/

https://looneybooks79.blog/2024/11/02/pierre-bill-2-pierre-bill-now/