Review Tuesday: The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish -- #MMRomance #MagicalRealism #ReviewTuesday

The Remaking of Corbin Wale by Roan Parrish

Monster Press, 2018

Corbin Wale is weird. He’s thoughtful, quiet and shy, oblivious to social conventions, so self-effacing that you tend to forget he’s there. His closest friends are the people he creates in his amazing drawings, who are as vivid and real to him as the sometimes disdainful and abusive individuals he encounters on the streets of Ann Arbor.

Corbin Wale is cursed. The twin aunts who raised him have explained that anyone loved by a member of their family will die within a year. Both of them defied this destiny and lost their lovers. Having witnessed their terrible pain, Corbin knows he must build a wall around his heart to protect himself as well as anyone who might someday want him.

Corbin Wale is beautiful. When he enters Alex Barrow’s artisanal bakery, sits down by the window and starts to draw, something turns over in Alex’s soul. The slender, graceful, unearthly young man enchants him, making him realize how shallow his previous loves have been. But Alex can tell that Corbin is skittish, that one wrong move will drive him away. Meanwhile, all that Alex wants is for him to stay forever.

I bought a copy of The Remaking of Corbin Wale after reading a glowing review on someone else’s blog. The novel sounded original and engaging enough that I was willing to give it a try, though I’d never heard of the author. Even if it didn’t live up to the hype, I thought I might enjoy it.

I got way more than I bargained for.

The Remaking of Corbin Wale astonished, delighted and aroused me. It is simultaneously sweet and steamy, a gorgeous love story laced with transcendental passion. The characterizations are delicate and thoughtful, eschewing all the stereotypes of MM romance. Though the genre dictates a happy ending, I found myself holding my breath as Alex and Corbin take tentative, dangerous steps toward connection.

The novel’s lyrical prose is sometimes closer to poetry, especially when the book takes Corbin’s point of view. (It alternates between the main characters, an effective strategy.) Corbin comes to life in the natural world, the forests that surround his out-of-the-way home. Ms. Parrish manages to capture the magic that underlies almost any experience, if you pay close enough attention.

When I went to Amazon to download the cover for posting with this review, I saw that the book has more than a thousand five star reviews. I don’t usually like to follow the crowd, but in this case I can’t disagree. The Making of Corbin Wale might be the most romantic as well as the most erotic MM tale I’ve ever read.

Don’t miss it.