Glitterland Spires, #1

Alexis Hall — 2018

The universe is a glitterball I hold in the palm of my hand.Once the golden boy of the English literary scene, now a clinically depressed writer of pulp crime fiction, Ash Winters has given up on love, hope, happiness, and — most of all — himself. He lives his life between the cycles of his illness, haunted by the ghosts of other people’s expectations.Then a chance encounter at a stag party throws him into the arms of Essex boy Darian Taylor, an aspiring model who lives in a world of hair gel, fake tans, and fashion shows. By his own admission, Darian isn’t the crispest lettuce in the fridge, but he cooks a mean cottage pie and makes Ash laugh, reminding him of what it’s like to step beyond the boundaries of anxiety.But Ash has been living in his own shadow for so long that he can’t see past the glitter to the light. Can a man who doesn’t trust himself ever trust in happiness? And how can a man who doesn’t believe in happiness ever fight for his own?

Reviews

Sandra Gomes@xanoquita

Mar 16, 2022

Listened to the audiobook 2 years after reading it. Found it even more beautiful, if possible. The narration is brilliant, Nicholas Boulton has a wonderful voice and does such a good job with this, I was tempted to re-listen to it just for the pleasure of it. ---- Beautiful writing, almost poetic at times, the whole thing is quotable from beginning to end. Amazing characters, both main and secondary (Niall, Chloe, Amy, Max, Nan, I want to know them all) Brilliant dialogue: funny, emotional, painful, silly, just like... life, I guess.

Lennox Johnson @bookish_rex

Dec 7, 2021

This is exactly the kind of romance I can't get enough of. The characters have some serious flaws, they make really stupid judgement calls, they self sabotage seemingly every chance they get, they have to really fight to get together. The happy "okay, we're together now" ending doesn't just fall into their laps after some half-assed attempt at conflict. It's realistic, it's believable, it doesn't have the perfect Hollywood ending where everything's tied up in neat little bows. There's still uncertainty in the end, but I appreciate that. Two people deciding it's okay to be uncertain about "forever", because they're willing to make the effort for each other as long as they can- I find that immensely more satisfying than "happily ever after". To be fair, this is only the second book I've read by Alexis Hall, but I'm seeing a pattern. Hall writes characters that are frighteningly real. He has this incredible skill of writing characters that can easily make the reader feel as they are validated and understood.

Saayan@furikake

Oct 7, 2021

Quick but engaging read! I was able to finish the audiobook in one go on my day off. I loved Darian! He is such a beautiful character.

Kristina Sanders@ksanders013

Oct 6, 2022

Elisa Bieg@bookishexpat

Aug 26, 2022

Emir Andrés Ibañez@erasibanez

Dec 14, 2021

Kristina Masone@kayemm3

Dec 5, 2021