Recommended reading: N.R. Walker

I had the pleasure of catching up with author NR Walker last week. We met for coffee and had a wonderful chat about life in general. Of course, we also chatted about writing and publishing. It was a great morning,even if all that coffee left me buzzing! 🙂

I am very lucky to have author friends who are only too happy to share their knowledge and experience, and offer me great support for my own writing.

In honour of NR’s visit to Sydney, I’m sharing a recent review I wrote for Divine Magazine. It’s for NR’s series, Thomas Elkin – totally wonderful and totally recommended. 🙂

The Thomas Elkin Series

by NR Walker

There are three books in this series that focuses on Thomas Elkin and his lover, Cooper Jones.

1. Elements of Retrofit
2. Clarity of Lines
3. Sense of Place

Elements of Retrofit provides the introduction to Thomas and Cooper and what a wonderful introduction. I totally loved both these characters. Tom and Cooper—even the names together sound hot! The strength in this book lies in the chemistry between the characters. As individuals they are interesting—at different times in their lives but both intelligent, talented, driven and sexy. The way they relate to each other is perfect, a great balance between a meeting of the minds and a meeting of the bodies. The age gap was so well handled. There was a definitely sense of realism which made the May-December believable.  Oh, and did I mention how hot in bed these guys are together? *wink*

I enjoyed Clarity of Lines even more than Elements of Retrofit. The story provided more a background to Tom and his coming out. The way he lead his life up to his fortieth birthday made so much sense and I admired him for the way he’d handled both his son and his ex-wife in the years since he’d started to follow his true self. As Tom says of his divorce, his wife may have got the houses but “I got my new gay life.” There is a sense of realism with the pain and hurt, but it isn’t dragged out. The book is humourous with witty retorts, lots of banter, and of course a wonderful smattering of age references. Cooper is glorious in the way he relates to Tom. The sex is once again fabulous.  The story is (mainly) told from Tom’s point of view, which left me wanting to know how Cooper was feeling. And then it happened, the wonderful epilogue from Cooper’s perspective. *cheering*

The series just keeps getting better with fabulous addition of Sense of Place. It is the perfect ending to the perfect series. Tom and Cooper are so wonderful together it’s hard not to smile. The dialogue is excellent as they play off each other. There is lightness from the humour, beautiful sex and just enough drama to keep the story moving along. This book is all about confirming that Tom and Cooper are the perfect couple and the epilogue shows just how strong and bright their future is.

Throughout the series, NR Walker has done a brilliant job of comparing and contrasting the characters of Tom and Cooper, leaving the reader to know they are right for each other, despite, or maybe because, of their age gap. Tom and Cooper are a well-balanced couple who bring out the best in each other. I also appreciated the clever retrofit theme—the balance of the old and modern in architecture, echoing the central relationship.

“It’s a Gen Y thing.”

“It’s a Cooper Jones thing.”

It’s an NR Walker thing!