-
REVIEW: Devil Next Door by Alex Jane
Criminal Delights: Obsession: Devil Next Door – Alex Jane
All Remy Harker wants is a fresh start.
Well, maybe that’s what he tells himself as he rolls up to his nice new house, in the nice little neighborhood, in a town where nobody knows his name.
He’s surrounded by friendly neighbors and a white picket fence. The ugly pink carpet might drive him to insanity, and he can’t stop wondering where the old lady who lived there before him died—but it’s nice.
And if he puts his mind to it, he can be anything—or anyone—he wants to be. He can be nice too.
At least, he thinks he can until he lays eyes on his next-door neighbor.Luke Boucher is nice.
And quiet.
And perfect.It doesn’t take long for Remy to insinuate himself into Luke’s life. A camera here, a break-in there.
– It’s not really stalking if you love someone, is it? –But when Remy’s plan to make a good impression goes to hell, he ends up over his head in more ways than one. Then things aren’t quite so nice anymore.
– It’s not really murder if you love someone, is it? –Loving your neighbor isn’t so easy when you’re the devil next door.
*****
This book is part of CRIMINAL DELIGHTS. Each novel can be read as a standalone and contains a dark M/M romance.
Warning: These books are for adult readers who enjoy stories where lines between right and wrong get blurry. High heat, twisted and tantalizing, these are not for the fainthearted.
This has the makings of a truly dark romance. Twisted, bloody and psychopathic.
But it lacked a certain oomph.
The oomph being Remy and Luke making it to my favorites list.
Remy and Luke, being what they are, could have easily made it but they didn’t quite have the intensity of fan favorites, Lecter and Graham. They were good though, I give them that.
The book started normal enough, mundane even as Remy goes about his business setting up his house, installing surveillance equipment, taking notes, and following Luke around. Remy was meticulous and careful but was completely caught off guard when Luke broke his pattern. The mystery of why Remy thought Luke was ‘the one’ had me on the edge of my seat. At the same time, since the story was all about pushing boundaries, I already have an inkling of what Luke really was (because what else would he be short of a homo Humbert Humbert) but, still, it didn’t detract from the pleasure of the big reveal.
From then on, the story plunged even deeper into macabre territories. It wisely veered away from the gratuitous, providing only enough blood and gore to get that taboo aspect going but not too much to be considered full-on horror. But maybe, YMMV. Remy’s talent for research and surveillance worked in perfect tandem with Luke’s proclivities and their partnership and romance are major goals if it weren’t for the fact they get off at things that disturb most of us. Despite the gruesomeness of the events, you cannot help but root for these two men who were simply made for each other.
All in all, Devil Next Door is a total yandere. Creepily kind, unnaturally patient and unfailingly polite until they flip the switch and suddenly you’re staring into the eyes of a ‘ferocious angel draped in bloody violence‘. It is completely unhinged and I loved it.
Rating:
4 Stars – minor quibbles but I loved it to bitsSoundtrack: Neighbor Boy
Artist: Andrea Marie
Album: Here Begin -
SOUNDTRACK: Neighbor Boy by Andrea Marie
Soundtrack to Criminal Delights: Obsession: Devil Next Door by Alex Jane
-
“I know you feel a bit down right now, but it’ll pass. Hey. You wanna break into my house and replace some of those hidden cameras you like so much? Would that cheer you up?”
Remy chuckled despite himself. “I may have done that already,” he whispered, smiling against Luke’s tee shirt when he heard him laugh too.
“That’s my boy,” Luke whispered back and kissed his temple.
-
MOVIE FEATURE: Dreams From Strangers
-
MANGA: The Timekeeper’s Final Summer
The Timekeeper’s Final Summer – Ribbon
“I will die this summer.” Eden is a member of the Timekeeper family, who possess the ability to travel back in time. Their date of death has been set since the day they were born… and the summer of 2018 is when Eden is destined to die. On that fateful day, , he decides to confess his feelings to his longtime crush. But Jay, who is straight and only cherishes Eden as a friend, is flustered by Eden’s confession and reacts badly. Caught up in his thoughts, Eden is met with a fatal accident—and thus his time travel begins. He finds himself on the last day of the high school summer camp training where he first met Jay. Given the opportunity, will Eden be able to change anything that happened on that day, 20 years ago?
That ominous statement!
Soo glad it ended happy…phew!
-
REVIEW: Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
In 2014, Maia Kobabe, who uses e/em/eir pronouns, thought that a comic of reading statistics would be the last autobiographical comic e would ever write. At the time, it was the only thing e felt comfortable with strangers knowing about em. Now, Gender Queer is here. Maia’s intensely cathartic autobiography charts eir journey of self-identity, which includes the mortification and confusion of adolescent crushes, grappling with how to come out to family and society, bonding with friends over erotic gay fanfiction, and facing the trauma and fundamental violation of pap smears. Started as a way to explain to eir family what it means to be nonbinary and asexual, Gender Queer is more than a personal story: it is a useful and touching guide on gender identity–what it means and how to think about it–for advocates, friends, and humans everywhere.
I learned the term asexual sometime in 2015 and more recently, gender queer. It wasn’t earth shattering or life-changing. It was more like something clicking into place with the knowledge that that disinterested state you have known all this time has a name. If this graphic novel was released much earlier, that light bulb moment would have come sooner too.
In my country, the term gender queer is relatively unknown. If you are not hetero, it’s either you are a gay or lesbian. People confuse gay with trans, even the gay guys themselves almost always have the idea that being gay means becoming or acting like a woman. Those who prefer to act masculine are referred to with derision as ‘pretending to be a man’ or ‘not a real man’. Lesbians were also expected to be butch and lipstick lesbians are not common. Much of my experience with gender queers are those born biologically male and would be automatically tagged as gay. Maia Kobabe would be tagged as lesbian and it would take a very lengthy explanation to make people understand. There are no guarantees they will.
This memoir will help open minds. It explores gender identity and self. It also talks about love and family and how having a sibling who just gets you could make all the difference in the world. It chronicles the difficulties and horrors a gender queer person goes through. It is raw and very honest, sometimes painfully so but always with a touch of humor and optimism. In itself, it is a highly enjoyable graphic novel with interesting illustrations and has an ending that leaves an opening for a sequel just in case.
I highly recommend this to everybody.
P.S.
I received a copy of Gender Queer: A Memoir from Lion Forge via Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
Rating:
4.5 Stars – perfection is only half a step awaySoundtrack: Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere
Artist: David Bowie
Album: Pin Ups -
SOUNDTRACK: Anyway, Anyhow, Anywhere by David Bowie
Soundtrack To Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe
-
My deepest emotional relationships have always been with women. Did that mean I was a lesbian? But my sexual fantasies involved two male partners. Was I a gay boy trapped in a girl’s body?
The knowledge of a third option slept like a seed under the soil.
-
MOVIE FEATURE: The New Girlfriend (Une Nouvelle Amie)
-
MANGA: Sakura no Awai
Sakura no Awai – Mita Ori
Sasaki claims he is haunted by his sempai whom he loves. Yoshiyuki, a carefree monk decides to help him…
Ended too soon! This should be a series
