Customer Reviews

The Dickens With Love

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Josh Lanyon's novella "The Dickens with Love" is a story of love, redemption and holiday spirit that will both entertain and charm its readers. Basically, this is a Christmas story about a Christmas story; it is clever, well-written, and frequently humorous, and it captures the many facets of the holiday season. Within the pages of this story, we find Christmas cheer, seasonal depression, music both annoying and inspiring, fellowship and family, and that magical feeling of anticipation that comes no other time of the year.
Lovers of Charles Dickens - actually book lovers, period - will find this to be a fascinating tale. What bibliophile doesn't dream of finding an undiscovered manuscript written by a master? Although the tale in question, "The Christmas Cake", doesn't exist, Mr. Lanyon has built up a solid story around it and has made its existence seem entirely plausible. He includes wonderful small excerpts from this fictional work, and although I cannot profess to be an expert on that author, these passages simply screamed "Dickens" at me. Of course, now I want to read The Christmas Cake, and it doesn't exist, darn it.

Along with a very witty and well-paced narrative and an involving plot, Mr. Lanyon gives us a couple of almost irresistible main characters. First there is James Winter, the narrator of the story. There is no way that you cannot love this fellow, who is something of a loner and has a self-deprecating wit and a hint of sadness that will reel you right in to him. Then we have Sedgwick Crisparkle, great-great-great-grandson of Canon Crisparkle, a character in Charles Dickens' "The Mystery of Edwin Drood." He wears a stern demeanor like a mask, but under his many protective layers is a man who is has a lot of love to offer others.

Mr. Lanyon has a way of making the reader feel the emotions of his characters. We laugh when they laugh, and we hurt when they do; we experience their ups and downs. During one memorable scene, Sedgwick calls James a whore in a fit of anger, and the effect is like a slap in the face. The overall effect that this had on me was that I became very invested in a happy ending for these characters.

While "The Dickens with Love" is not a whodunit, Mr. Lanyon still incorporates an element of mystery to it as James investigates the Dickens manuscript and tries to untangle its background and origins. I found this process of discovery to be a very interesting and well executed addition to the story. Overall, I truly enjoyed "The Dickens with Love." This story is smart, fun, and just plain entertaining, and I found reading to be an excellent way to usher in the holiday season.

Sweet, tender, holiday love...
Who says gay love can't be tender & sweet. Lovely story of two lonely men who find true love in one another's arms. Original Dickens twist... great characters & story.

Keep in mind that this is a sweet gay fluff read. 5* of 5*

This is the first book by Josh Lanyon that I have read but it won't be the last. I loved all of the ups and down of this story as well as some very real characters. While it was a fairly short read, I don't feel like it was rushed like I sometimes feel with a book of this size. The story was complete and all loose ends tied up. What is really funny is that I was truly wanting to read "The Christmas Cake" after reading this. Seriously, Josh you couldn't have written a companion story for us?

What is it about Josh Lanyon's books that make them so compelling?! Whatever the "recipe" is for putting together an unforgettable and well crafted story with great characters and a romantic undercurrent, he has it in spades! Like his other novelettes, this one is completely addictive. The romantic storyline is tender and sweet (yes, we can all fantasize about having a Mr. Crisparkle in our lives). I must admit that I have always wondered how romance novels hooked and maintained their (usually female) audience. Now that I have read a couple of really good M/M romantic novels, I can understand. Do yourself a favor, whether Christmas time or any other, treat yourself to one or two of Josh's writings--whether short story, novel, or novelette. His works are immensely readable and fun. I started with the Adrian English series and he has only improved. Highly recommended!

Lovely! I finished this book with a lonely tear running down my face, perfect!

James, the narrator, is a hardened man. Of all the things he had in his life, only the love for books has remained. When he meets Sedge, James is a paycheck away from the street. To survive he needs to buy the book for his sleazy client, but first his pride and then his attraction for Sedge get in the way. It's James himself that recognizes that he is not probably a model of integrity, but he acts with his own code of honesty and, even when he does wrong, he means well. What I appreciated more is that he's maybe depressed, but he's never bitter.

Sedge is giving. He's also single-minded, outspoken and blunt, and a generous lover. The reasons why he's selling the book are altruistic and speak of a man of great ideals.

When these two men meet and collide, what comes out is an unstable relationship that kept me turning the pages to see what good might come from such unpromising premises. We are in James' head all the time, so maybe that's the reason why he always seems so contained and closed and tightly wound. Sedge on the contrary seems always to projects himself to the outside. They couldn't be more different.

The opposite backgrounds of the two main characters made them even more endearing and James' humor, a trademark of Josh Lanyon's narrators, made me highlight a few paragraphs. There's a masterly drawn encounter with an ocelot that is revealing of both James' practical disposition and Sedge's helping nature. The ending is full of possibilities.

I recommend this book to everyone, because it leaves you with a warm and happy feeling.

Apparently, Josh Lanyon knows his Dickens and what all m/m romance readers want for Christmas :)

This story is better read around Christmas time. Not only it's taken place around Christmas, IT IS a Christmas Story. Not just a Christmas romance but in great old heart-warming Christmas story tradition. There's loneliness, desperation, holiday season blues, redemption, forgiveness and oh yes - love, all wrapped in one captivating romance.

(SPOILERS) I do find the gift at the end a bit... not 100% convincing, but since it's a Christmas story, I think something "magical" and unreal is probably appropriate.

This is the third novella I read by Josh Lanyon and like the other two it is well-written, has characters who are deep and easy to root for, has a cultured and tasteful tone and separates from the many other M/M books out there by its authentic male tone without being coarse.

Apart from all that it also is an absolutely enchanting Christmas tale which should be taken with a smile and some irony and the same suspension of disbelief you engage in when you watch Christmas movies. Delightful and hilarious by the way the quite correct clash of cultures described!

A must read for around Christmas time, lovely and human.

Josh Lanyon has developed really good cherecters and enviroment. I felt LAX, emotins etc during the read. It is really good novel to read even just a novel because it is witty, feels like a true storry (i am not sure about the end)

I downloaded this book in early December because it was a free Christmas Novella and I was just to busy to read it till yesterday. I read it in one afternoon and it was fantastic. I loved the storyline, it was festive, witty and at times very funny. I particularly enjoyed Sedgwick Crisparkle's character but the relationship between him and James was well written, smooth and erotic. This is my first gay romance and to be perfectly honest I was unsure if I would like it. Josh Lanyon is a very good writer, he had me captured in the first chapter and I did not want to stop reading until I was done. It was a sweet love story and I will be reading lots more of his books.

Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.

Rating: 9/10

PROS:
- The more I read, the more I liked the tone of the narration. James is honest and intelligent, and there's something rather charming about his resigned attitude toward life. Lanyon also captures the obsession of a scholar very well: when James starts looking at an antique book or manuscript, he completely loses touch with the outside world.
- Sedgwick intrigued me almost immediately. He's so frigid and remote at the beginning that I at once began anticipating seeing his cold demeanor melt away when he fell in love.
- Some of the things that happen in the story are so unusual and so unexpected that I found them uproariously funny. And the characters' reactions are priceless. James says this at one point: "I wondered if I'd gotten in a car accident on my way to the Hotel Del Monte and was, in fact, happily hallucinating in a coma somewhere."
- I thought the little details here and there about Charles Dickens and antique books and such were really interesting. They seem well researched, and there aren't so many details that the story seems overloaded or bogged down by them.

CON:
- Okay, so the romance maybe developed a little quickly for me to find it utterly believable. But it was so sweet and lighthearted and fun, I didn't really care.

Overall comments: This is a pleasant little read: not very long, but certainly worth a couple hours' worth of time. There's some intrigue, some sex, some light angst, and a healthy dose of heartwarming romance. What's not to like?