This contemporary fantasy isn't anything else I've read or skimmed or heard about in the M/M genre. I gave Cat's Quill a 5 star rating, and I'll tell you why, but first a brief description (devoid of all spoilers).

Author Tomas Kemp needs a vacation, or more correctly a writer's retreat—at least his older sister Kathleen thinks so. Accordingly, the book opens with Tomas's train pulling out of the station, headed for a tiny village in the English countryside where, apparently, nothing and no one is quite as they seem. Although the idea is for him to break through writer's block, he only hopes the sojourn will help him stay off his editor's radar. To his surprise, though, he does find his muse, hanging around an exceptional tree. But he's also on a quest to find the sequel to a rare book—a sequel that seems not to exist. The most important quest for closeted Tomas is for love. (Well, this is romance, right?)

Anne Barwell knows her way around the language, and as such she has been able to pull off prose that is as beautiful as it is unassuming. The words and phrases never get in the way of the tale, and that's how it should be. Her locations are well-realized with mostly active description, although there are descriptive passages that wander on a bit too long for my taste. As I read, I found myself unsure of the characters at times, because they did seem to change characteristics. I couldn't quite decide, for instance, whether Tomas was morose and angry or terribly afraid of blundering, hurting, or being hurt. Could be both, I know, but the point is it wasn't clear. That said, somehow by the time I'd read 1/4 of the book, I was invested in Tomas's needs. I wanted to see him "win," didn't want him hurt—even though I didn't always him. And that's what a protagonist is supposed to do, so kudos to Barwell.

The novel has literary roots and revisits an old, well-used and well-loved model: dual planes of existence and that place between where things are glimpsed that aren't of the mundane. The story itself is tight—Barwell has left no loose ends. Pacing is a hiccup, I think, but I'll admit that might be only due to my reading habits these days. I'm always in a hurry (no, that's not a good thing), and most of the books I've read recently have moved along at a tidy clip. Cat's Quill pulls out of the station slowly, picks up speed in tiny increments. About 2/3 of the way into the book, suddenly, stuff is happening. When I got to this point putting the book down was very, very difficult—which was responsible for me being late to work one day! Earlier, I admit to skipping/skimming paragraphs. (sorry) But even during the slow movements, I always wanted to move forward, always wanted to know what would happen next, always wanted to know what was coming up for Tomas and Cat—and that's the reason the pacing and the character breaks didn't keep me from giving the book a five-star rating. The surprises later in the book are superb: Falcons, nursing home residents, cats, tiny little flutes...

I definitely recommend this book for lovers of old-style fantasy, quest-tales, and fairy tales. Sexy heat gets a 2 of 5, barely, but then that's not the novel Barwell wanted to write, I would guess. It's sweet, though; Tomas is sweet as much as he'd rather be gruff. It's kind of cute. Good book.5 s Meggie4,980

“Love me now, love me never, but if you love me, love me forever.”
Really pretty verse from the book!

This was truly well written story. The mystery around Cathal was pulling and really interesting. I d Tomas as a moody character. He was unique that way. Cathal was a small puppy around books which was funny and cute. Some aspects in this plot were annoying, but hey enjoyable enough. Overall I enjoyed this story and recommend it on! fantasy m-m-romance-romance magic2 s Vivianne TM1,249 20

Reading this in paper was a whole new experience. There were so many wonderful details I had forgotten and they came to life in this read. I would always picture the characters a certain way (*winkwink*) but somehow both visions seem to mesh in my head perfectly. The bes thing about reading this book was remembering when it was written. And of course, I too believe in dragons. biblioteca mythology paper ...more1 Ann22

If I'm honest the first half of the book was far too slow for my taste but had enough mystery to keep me reading. The second half grabbed my attention and I couldn't put it down and led me straight into reading the sequel Magic's Muse.1 Kristy Maitz2,550

Surprisingly very interesting plot. 1 Shanaz3

It was simply magical. I'd definitely be reading this again.m-m-fantasy romance1 Deja Dei125 23

Just enchanting.1 Sol36 2

OK I had a problem with this book.

For some reason, every character insisted on telling the protagonist that he was rude, even when he was being completely polite and sometimes even when they were the ones who were being rude to him. It was infuriating and it kept distracting me from the story.

Despite that, I d the story. It was sweet and intriguing, and I d Cathal's mysterious and quirky personality and how it contrasted whit Tom's.

That is, until they crossed over to Cat's world and then everything went to hell. Dannie *migraine in 5..4..3..*56 6

I drug reading this one out. I wanted to keep the characters fresh in my mind, and I was dreading the story ending. When I did get to the end, I was counting down the days to the sequel. The ending left me craving the more, not just for myself, but for the characters as well. I absolutely love this series.lt-backed-up read-2012 Kate314 162

The story was to drawn out, and slow moving. Yet they fell in love very quickly. I was disappointed, I really wanted to this book. K1,608 80 Shelved as 'lurking-in-kindleland'

trick or treat freebie from Dreamspinner Alison795 31

DNF after a few chapters. The writing style bugged me, as well as lots of other things. Oh well. dnf lgbtq nz ...more Elisa RolleAuthor 61 books234

2011 Rainbow Awards Honorable Mention (5* from at least 1 judge) J.J. CarrollAuthor 8 books11

Review at Prism Book Alliance
http://www.prismbookalliance.com/2016... Andrea2,785 15

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