Can love erase a lifetime of fear and bitterness?Kuba flees the oppressive influence of his strict Catholic family as soon as he graduates high school. In the big city of Pilsen, Czech Republic, he can get a fresh start. Although he is fairly content sharing a flat with his coworker and filling it with books, he knows he’s destined to be alone unless he can come out of the closet. But he just isn’t ready to bare his soul to the world.
When he meets his roommate’s friend Emil, he begins to reconsider. Is a chance at romance with the gorgeous man—and fellow bibliophile—incentive enough for Kuba to face his demons?
World of Love: Stories of romance that span every corner of the globe.
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Cat gives this one 3 Meows...
This one is hard for me to review. I chose it because of the blurb and title. I expected lots of angst, maybe even an ugly cry here and there. What I got was just a sweet NA romance. Most of the characters are still in college yet they felt older. Even Kuba I believe was around twenty but felt older.
I never really got what the bitterness was or what he was supposed to have escaped from as the first words of the blurb hinted at.
I did however like learning some about the Czech Republic and that is why I love these World of Love books. It's like taking a World tour.
If you like learning about new places and how people live in them, New adult Stories, coming out and an allover sweet romance, this is for you.
Excerpt...
AT THE end of my shift, I walked away from the blocky white building with the huge black-and-blue Dahotz logo on its facade and straight through the gate past the security guards. Dahotz manufactured submersible pumps, and I worked there as a repairman. It wasn’t a bad place to work, but the bosses were cheap. The guards came from an agency, and even a preschooler would be able to beat them up. Half of them had some small infirmity and the other half were over sixty No one else would work for the low wages the agency paid.
On a small patch of grass near the road, I stopped and waited for my friend and coworker Hynek. A cold wind played with my hair, blowing silky, ash-brown strands into my eyes. Summer was coming to its end in Pilsen. I zipped my sweatshirt and kept watch through the wire-mesh fence. It wasn’t long before I saw Hynek in his blue-and-white baseball cap, blue vest, and jeans heading toward me through the crowd of impatient people who were desperate to get out of the area and into one of the crammed buses.
“I was starting to wonder if you had decided to take some extra hours.” I smiled at him.
“Are you nuts, Kuba?” My given name is Jakub, but everyone in the Czech Republic loved diminutives. Talk with them in a friendly manner for two minutes and they stop using the proper form of your name. “I wouldn’t stay in this madhouse any longer than I have to. Those people are driving me crazy.” Hynek grimaced and shook his head.
“Fine, let’s get to the store or there won’t be anything left,” I said once I’d stopped laughing at his extreme reaction, and we walked to Tesco for some beer and snacks.
An hour later, we entered the small apartment we shared. Hynek shared it with me, to be exact. It belonged to his parents, but they had decided to live in their cottage away from the city rush.
I put the alcohol into the fridge and slipped into my room, where I put on my favorite sweatpants, curled into a chair I’d managed to squeeze between my bookshelves and double bed, put in earplugs, and dived into the fantasy world of a book. I’d bought it about a month ago but hadn’t the chance to start reading until yesterday.
It wasn’t until Hynek knocked on the door that I realized how much time had passed. I raised my head and looked through the window. A bunch of tiny reddish clouds dotted the sky. It was evening already. I fished my mobile phone out of my pocket and stopped the music.
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On a small patch of grass near the road, I stopped and waited for my friend and coworker Hynek. A cold wind played with my hair, blowing silky, ash-brown strands into my eyes. Summer was coming to its end in Pilsen. I zipped my sweatshirt and kept watch through the wire-mesh fence. It wasn’t long before I saw Hynek in his blue-and-white baseball cap, blue vest, and jeans heading toward me through the crowd of impatient people who were desperate to get out of the area and into one of the crammed buses.
“I was starting to wonder if you had decided to take some extra hours.” I smiled at him.
“Are you nuts, Kuba?” My given name is Jakub, but everyone in the Czech Republic loved diminutives. Talk with them in a friendly manner for two minutes and they stop using the proper form of your name. “I wouldn’t stay in this madhouse any longer than I have to. Those people are driving me crazy.” Hynek grimaced and shook his head.
“Fine, let’s get to the store or there won’t be anything left,” I said once I’d stopped laughing at his extreme reaction, and we walked to Tesco for some beer and snacks.
An hour later, we entered the small apartment we shared. Hynek shared it with me, to be exact. It belonged to his parents, but they had decided to live in their cottage away from the city rush.
I put the alcohol into the fridge and slipped into my room, where I put on my favorite sweatpants, curled into a chair I’d managed to squeeze between my bookshelves and double bed, put in earplugs, and dived into the fantasy world of a book. I’d bought it about a month ago but hadn’t the chance to start reading until yesterday.
It wasn’t until Hynek knocked on the door that I realized how much time had passed. I raised my head and looked through the window. A bunch of tiny reddish clouds dotted the sky. It was evening already. I fished my mobile phone out of my pocket and stopped the music.
Emory Schneider was born in Děčín, the Czech Republic, as the fourth of five children and later moved to the western part of the country to find a job. They ended up working as a brazer in Pilsen—yes, the home of the beer. Emory spent a lot of their childhood discussing possible scenarios for cartoon and manga series they watched with their brother and pretending they were a knight or a spy. Their love of books and stories in general motivated them to learn English, although they had nearly failed the subject for two years.
During their teenage years, they started to make up M/M romance stories, but it took them several years to put any of them on paper. When not working or writing, Emory tries to fight their laziness and burn some calories they probably gained from staring at chocolate bars at the shopping mall or drinking some of the Coke they bought for their husband.
great review and enjoyed the excerpt
ReplyDeleteThank you for the review and excerpt!
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