Boats in the Night edition by Josephine Myles Literature Fiction eBooks
Download As PDF : Boats in the Night edition by Josephine Myles Literature Fiction eBooks 
Like two ships passing in the night—if one was a narrowboat and the other a luxury yacht.
Disgraced private school teacher Giles Rathbourne has been sent home on extended sick-leave and is stuck in a rut of obsessive housework and drinking. His ex may have been a snobbish bastard, but without him, Giles is adrift, rattling around his huge, lonely house. When a dreadlocked narrowboater’s engine breaks down at the end of his canal-side garden, Giles is furious at this invasion of his privacy—for a while.
Smutty might not have ever held down a proper job, but the fire-dancing, free-spirited traveller can recognise an opportunity for mutual benefit when he sees it. Giles’ extensive gardens are in as desperate need of attention as the upper-class hunk is himself, whereas Smutty knows a thing or two about plants and needs a place to moor up.
A simple business arrangement between two men who have nothing else in common? It would be—if they could keep their hands off each other!
Boats in the Night edition by Josephine Myles Literature Fiction eBooks
I really really enjoy this author's writing style and I loved Barging In and several other short stories by her. Other reviewers described the good reasons to love the story already, so I will not go there, except to say that I loved Giles and Smutty and I really liked how slowly but surely their feelings for each other were getting stronger and stronger (okay, maybe not that slowly, but in the context of the story it felt slow enough for me).So the story was coming along to be a very high graded one for me and closer to the end author just had to use one of the silliest coincidences ever to move the plot along. I mean what are the chances that something like this could ever happen? Of course your mileage may vary and it may not overstep your personal "believability barrier", but it surely did overstep mine. Unfortunately I cannot grade it higher than three stars because of the plot development that jerked me out of the story and hard.
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Boats in the Night edition by Josephine Myles Literature Fiction eBooks Reviews
Giles and Smutty are opposites in every way--you'd think. Giles comes from money and lives in the ancestral house, which he's trying to take care of himself. The light bulbs are dusted, but the gardens are going to jungle, because Giles' obsessive cleaning keeps him indoors, fretting and drinking, trying to wash away the pain his stuck-up ex left behind. He's got a trace of whimsy, nearly dead and buried under the weight of Fabian's disapproval, but still hanging on, or he would never have gone out to the garden to chase away the intruder while wearing slippers with claws on.
Buying a wreck of a narrowboat with the last of his funds leaves Smutty depending on the goodwill of the property owner nearest where his engine expires. Raised in a commune that fell prey to developers and with a first love who ran out on him, Smutty's resisted forming ties anywhere else. A narrowboat's just the thing for a man who doesn't want to put down roots, until it won't run. With his dreads in bleached colours and tattoos blazing up his torso, Smutty looks like the flames he dances with; he's much too wild, and yet oddly too conservative, for a man like Giles.
Yet as they work out how to mesh, even if temporarily, the two are more alike than it seems at first glance, and if they don't mesh, the friction is interesting. Giles is teetering on the brink of alcoholism; Smutty shuns the stuff. Smutty dances with fire; Giles has reason to fear it. Yet they come together.
Fabian, the horrid ex, casts a very long shadow, even though he's offstage for most of his role. The author tweaks the reader's expectations of him masterfully; his truths are buried deep. Giles is still living in reaction to Fabian's expectations; this was a toxic relationship but repeated exposures to Smutty's herbal teas draw the poison from Giles' heart. Kindness and real love are so far in Giles' past he has some trouble recognizing the signs now. Fabian gets mentioned at times when I really didn't want him intruding, but I could see why Giles would think of him then.
The gap in social status weighs more heavily on Smutty, whose off-the-grid lifestyle lifts a lot of eyebrows. His Maori heritage is his pride, the source of his livelihood, and cause for discrimination. He's feeling the tick of time, not wanting to get too attached because he'll be moving along soon. A posh fellow like Giles surely can't want him long term, can he? The man who tends the gardens is only help to be dallied with, Smutty fears. A wanderer who accidentally boated into his life is only going to sail away again, Giles is sure. The gardens, long untended but starting to recover under Smutty's care, are a lovely metaphor for the relationship, with roots, blooms, and a lot of work.
This was a charming journey, as the two men find the way to be together, and around the barriers to happiness that their pasts have erected. I read this in one sitting, thoroughly engrossed, and wishing I could watch Smutty dance with fire.
The title is quite evocative of what happened with this book, Boats in the Night who met, maybe even brush, but then go on their respective paths far from each other. I had this book in my reading list from probably the first week it was out, and for a reason or the other delayed the read, until I realized it was almost 2 years. There wasn’t really any specific reason, moreover, as soon as I started it, I realized this is exactly the story I like, cute, tender, just that touch of angst, but nothing too much to make you sad. It’s an heartwarming story of hope and love, with that UK flavor to make it fashionable.
I loved both characters, stuffy Giles (I imagined him like a Colin Firth’s sort of man) and gipsy-like Smutty, they were for sure perfect together, opposites attracts, but above all, they were balanced; nice touch the fact that Smutty wasn’t some young lad searching for a sugar daddy, he was actually older than Giles. I more than loved the small town setting, I had the chance to visit Bath and around this past winter, and so was able to visualize what the author was describing and it was great. Like for the story, nothing was really against these men and their love, and for once, I liked I hadn’t to worry for them and just enjoy their love.
If you want to experience the same contentment I’m feeling right now, don’t make my same mistake, and if you “brush” paths with Boats in the Night, take your time to stop and enjoy it.
I really like this writer. This was a great book, really enjoyed this story. Will read more of Josephine's works.
I really really enjoy this author's writing style and I loved Barging In and several other short stories by her. Other reviewers described the good reasons to love the story already, so I will not go there, except to say that I loved Giles and Smutty and I really liked how slowly but surely their feelings for each other were getting stronger and stronger (okay, maybe not that slowly, but in the context of the story it felt slow enough for me).
So the story was coming along to be a very high graded one for me and closer to the end author just had to use one of the silliest coincidences ever to move the plot along. I mean what are the chances that something like this could ever happen? Of course your mileage may vary and it may not overstep your personal "believability barrier", but it surely did overstep mine. Unfortunately I cannot grade it higher than three stars because of the plot development that jerked me out of the story and hard.
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