Cover Story: Dream Boys
BFF Charm: Big Sister
Talky Talk: Surreally Funny
Bonus Factor: Family Business
Anti-Bonus Factor: Suspension of Disbelief
Relationship Status: Happy Fall Festival
Cover Story: Dream Boys
I can’t quite tell which one is Lars and which is Caspen. The layered backgrounds look intriguing, though – you can tell right away that they’re not meeting in an ordinary place.
The Deal:
Caspen Coolsby is optimistic to a fault. His father (who must be quite the eccentric, given what he named his son) has been missing long enough that the police have all but given up. Still, Caspen hopes that he’ll come back for their town’s fall festival. It’s their favorite tradition, after all, as well as the biggest sales day for their family candle shop. When the scents of certain candles start sending him into the memories of people he meets, he’s convinced that they contain clues to his father’s whereabouts. But who’s the other boy who keeps showing up in those memories, without knowing anybody there? And why did Caspen’s father disappear in the first place? To get those answers, he’ll need to look at more than just the good parts.
BFF Charm: Big Sister
I understand why Caspen is afraid of change, even a small one, like new decor at the store. He sees that as a betrayal of his father. I don’t know if I’d be qualified to give advice, but I’d at least try to tell him that modernizing the place might be his mother’s way of keeping his father’s legacy alive.
Swoonworthy Scale: 5
Caspen and Lars don’t have much time for falling in love. Their shared visions come with a limited timeline, and Caspen has a mystery to solve. While he’s there, though, Lars is very cute: a science student who pulls away Caspen’s rose-colored glasses and looks like a “teddy bear who hits the gym”. Although some of his opinions are … debatable, let’s say. “Marriage is a scam,” for instance.
Talky Talk: Surreally Funny
Caspen’s memory-reading power, as he puts it, “at best warrants a CAT scan, and at worst justifies an exorcism.” Still, he can’t help laughing – and making me laugh – at some of the predicaments Lars gets into within the mindscape, like appearing inside a snowman or a giant cardinal bird costume.
Bonus Factor: Family Business
The Coolsbys’ candle shop is a source of frequent arguments even as it holds them together. Caspen admires his father’s dedication to their heritage, but that doesn’t mean he wants to inherit the place himself. His mother resents her husband spending more time at the shop than with his family. Caspen doesn’t approve of his mother’s innovations, feeling that QR codes and selfie mirrors ruin the vintage atmosphere. It’s a messy, complicated relationship, but still as loving as the family itself.
Anti-Bonus Factor: Suspension of Disbelief
While it’s true that smells carry memories, I have to admit that scented candles have never evoked anything for me besides the shops from which they came.
Relationship Status: Happy Fall Festival
Coolsby Candles and the town of Crimson, Michigan sound like lovely places to visit – magical detours and all.
Literary Matchmaking
If I See You Again Tomorrow by Robbie Couch is another surreal love story by the same author.
Husband Material (London Calling #2) by Alexis Hall covers gay men’s perspectives on marriage in much more detail than Lars and Caspen’s discussion.
Dangerous Angels by Francesca Lia Block also includes an M/M romance that begins in a dreamscape.
FTC Full Disclosure: I received no compensation for this review. Just the Good Parts will be available Oct. 13.
