Susan

3.5 stars

So far I liked every single book in the Market Garden series. But this is my least favorite book. It felt a bit different.

I do have to start with praising the writing. It is so good! L.A. Witt and Aleksandr Voinov sure know how to write a book. I was sucked into the story and I couldn’t read fast enough, even though I did have some problems with the story.

---Possible spoilers ahead---

The fifth book of this series is about Frank, the 41 year old owner of Market Garden. And Stefan, his new 25 year old rentboy.

This book handles a couple of things I am normally not really okay with, but here it was handled so well, I was fine with it.

When Frank and Stefan start to notice each other, they still have sex with other people. Stefan of course because he is a rentboy, but also on the paintball field. (When one captures someone from the other team, he is yours to do as you want). But it fitted the story. It was an outlet for Stefan and it did not diminish his feelings for Frank at all. It helped that Frank liked to watch, that early in their ‘relationship’ (there was no relationship at that point).

Frank’s loneliness really saddened me. I felt for him and could so understand his craving for something so simple as a touch from another human being.



With him being HIV positive and losing his partner, casual sex just wasn’t for him. So when his 2 best friends took care of him, it wasn’t just sex. It was very emotional and I was really touched by the scene. This all happened before something happened between Frank and Stefan.

I really liked how the romance progressed. They went from attraction to friendship to something more serious and being exclusive.

The one thing I didn’t like was Frank wanting to protect Brandon (Stefan’s real name) by breaking up with him. It wasn’t dragged out, but it still bothered me.

Overall, a very good read, but more due to the excellent writing than to the characters.