Review: Bear Among The Books by T.J. Masters

Forty-eight-year-old Ben Thompson is a librarian, a passionate book lover, and a man who embodies the definition of a bear. He’s also lonely after the loss of his long-term partner. Young ex-gymnast Jason Barnes piques his interest, but Ben quickly realizes there’s more to Jason than his good looks. While Jason visits the library almost every day, he never checks out a book.

With gentle persistence, Ben befriends Jason and learns the nineteen-year-old’s tragic secrets. After years of abuse at his father’s hands, Jason was kicked out of his family home for being gay. And despite his apparent love of books, Jason never learned to read. Ben offers to teach him, and the two men bond over their lessons. Ben can’t deny his attraction to Jason, but he wonders if Jason is too young and too handsome to return his interest. With the help of the close-knit library team and Jason’s growing self-confidence, they move beyond the books and into the bedroom, where their own story is just beginning.

I couldn’t imagine life without the printed word. Every book was a powerhouse of knowledge, ideas, characters, and experiences. I had always felt sorry for people who didn’t read and never experienced the joy of getting lost in a well-written story.

One thing this book didn’t lack was an absolute reverence for books. That was wonderful to read about, I’m pretty sure everyone here will appreciate it.

This book surprised me in both good and bad ways. We have Jason, a nineteen year old who has just moved to town to live with his Grandmother after his horrific childhood, which I’ll get to later. Due to his childhood he never did well at school and therefore never learnt how to read, but he has an amazing imagination and loves to explore books even though he can't read them. Here enters Ben. Ben is forty-eight and instantly attracted to Jason but is rather conscious of their age difference so decides to keep things platonic and just help out where he can, in teaching Jason to read and offering him work around the library.

This started really strongly and I was absolutely glued to these two men. I loved the build-up of their friendship and attraction. Both Jason and Ben's insecurities were really well processed and explored. Unfortunately once they got together their relationship development ended and most of the story consisted of changes to the library. The story just lacked any real forward momentum after that and by 60% I found myself skimming through until the end.

I was pleasantly surprised by how soon these two started having sex and the frequency of that sex. Before reading the story I wasn’t sure how their sexual relationship would begin as I thought Ben would be more of a ‘father figure’ to Jason, which didn’t end up being the case. Ben was a stable and constant support for Jason, but there was that underlying attraction from the beginning which made Ben fit the ‘boyfriend’ role better than the ‘father’ role. However the sex name of ‘Big Bear’ was a little weird coming from a nineteen year old… or any age bracket for that matter.


SPOILERS AHEAD.

Where this book really felt stilted was with addressing Jason’s abuse. I felt the writing displayed Jason to be very disconnected from his abuse and not in a way that would come from suppressing the pain, he just came across as rather unaffected by it all. Perhaps this is all to do with not having Jason's POV, we just get chunks of dialogue from Jason with no underlying emotion.

Jason was raped by his stepfather for 3 years and was then kicked out of home by his mother when she discovered them in the act and believed Jason had seduced his stepfather. This only ended 8 months ago. He’s had no counselling or psychological help and talks about it freely with Ben, and has no qualms about starting up a sexual relationship… with an older man at that.

Ben is affected by Jason's story and there were a few moments where the emotions displayed were very tender and subtle which was lovely. Those moments made me expect Jason’s abuse to be a more significant issue within the scheme of the book, but it wasn’t. The majority of the book was about the library and Jason's work on it with Ben.

If the whole book was void of emotional depth. The brief mentions of rape and Jason’s ability to get over it quickly would have been fine, but because of those subtle moments that had me feeling something, I expected a higher quality of feeling connected to Jason's recovery.

END OF SPOILERS

This was a sweet sweet May/December romance and I would absolutely recommend it if you're looking for something subtle and tender. I think I was left a little disappointed that I didn’t feel more, or that it lacked that ‘comfort’ element that I was expecting with such serious themes.

An ARC was provided in exchange for an honest review.

Find out more on Goodreads & Dreamspinner Press!

GIVEAWAY + Blog Tour: Bear Among the Books by T.J. Masters

Please welcome T.J. Masters, who's making his first clubhouse appearance!

BLOG: Hunting the Bears.

It was with no small hint of irony that I had librarian Ben read/perform the Michael Rosen children’s book We’re Going on a Bear Hunt. As a teacher of young children I used to love reading the book to them with all the actions and sound effects and, just like Ben I am labelled a gay Bear. What do I mean by that?

In gay culture the term first appeared in 1970’s San Francisco as an affectionate label for hairy men of all shapes and sizes. Gay men however, love their groups and sub-groups, so it was not long before these men were divided into bear (stocky) wolf (medium) or otter (slim).

Debate as to the group definitions continues to this day and the sub culture will continue to evolve. Room has already been made for leather bears, muscle bears, daddy bears, bondage bears and polar bears. For most people however, the general term ‘bear’ will always mean bigger, older, masculine but cuddly men. Young bears are’ of course, known as cubs.

In recent years the term has also become more flexible and it’s use has even leaked out of the gay community. Straight or bi men exhibiting the same characteristics are often called bears and some non-gay celebrities have embraced an affinity with the gay community and been accepted as honorary bears (Ben Cohen?).

Asian bears (oriental) are now known as pandas. They may have many of the same physical appearance but are characteristically smooth skinned. There is also a lesbian sub-group who have adopted the distinct label of Ursula (from the latin, ursus, meaning bear) to describe their bigger, more masculine appearance.

What about Jason in the novel? Our handsome young man is clearly attracted to the warm, friendly, intelligent and cuddly bear. To some he might be labelled ‘twink’ but in the parlance of the sub culture, he is known as a bear ‘chaser’.

BLURB:

Forty-eight-year-old Ben Thompson is a librarian, a passionate book lover, and a man who embodies the definition of a bear. He’s also lonely after the loss of his long-term partner. Young ex-gymnast Jason Barnes piques his interest, but Ben quickly realizes there’s more to Jason than his good looks. While Jason visits the library almost every day, he never checks out a book.

With gentle persistence, Ben befriends Jason and learns the nineteen-year-old’s tragic secrets. After years of abuse at his father’s hands, Jason was kicked out of his family home for being gay. And despite his apparent love of books, Jason never learned to read. Ben offers to teach him, and the two men bond over their lessons. Ben can’t deny his attraction to Jason, but he wonders if Jason is too young and too handsome to return his interest. With the help of the close-knit library team and Jason’s growing self-confidence, they move beyond the books and into the bedroom, where their own story is just beginning.

EXCERPT

Whenever Jason checked books out, he only seemed to keep them for two or three days before he returned them again. He always brought a ray of sunshine to our mornings with his ready smile and cheery greeting upon arrival, but it was difficult to engage him in any lengthy conversation. Even Daisy warmed to the lad, and while she might not count him among her favorite people, she had at least stopped complaining about him. For Daisy, this was a big, positive step.

One Thursday morning, we had a group of youngsters in from a local primary school. I had worked hard to forge links with all our local schools in an effort to get kids using the library. With my own teaching background, I had the skills and the drive to push this, even if the irascible Daisy found children difficult to cope with. On this particular morning the group was lively, but well-behaved, and I loved their natural curiosity and enthusiasm. I gathered the twenty-five or so seven-year-olds together, and they now sat cross-legged on the floor. I’d just read one short story to them. It was the lovely picture book called The Patchwork Quilt  by Valerie Flournoy. I loved the story, but it was also a great stimulus for talking about things like death in the family, multiculturalism, and inclusion. After we’d talked about it for a little while, I asked the children if they had a favorite book they wanted me to read. I was a little surprised when they all asked for the same book: Michael Rosen’s W e’re Going on a Bear Hunt. I asked why they all liked that one so much, and one forthright young lady gave the game away.

“Miss said that you read it funny!”

I glanced at the teacher, who was looking very red-faced as she mouthed an apology. Of course she had seen me do my performance of the story before. As if on cue, one child suddenly appeared before me and thrust the slim copy into my hand.

“I found it for you, Ben.”

“Why thank you. It looks like that’s decided, then.”

As I went through the story with all the appropriate sounds and actions, the whole group became animated and joined in with the bits they knew and reacted with joy and excitement as the tale unfolded. Partway  through the reading, I looked up and noticed that just behind the teacher, Jason was standing watching the whole thing with a huge smile on his face.

Part of me felt embarrassed at him seeing me behaving like this. At the same time, I registered the similarity between the look on his face and those of my young audience.

AUTHOR BIO

Author T.J. Masters recently and somewhat reluctantly passed his 60th birthday. After a long and happy teaching career T.J. wanted to follow a new path before senility set in. Books and stories have been a lifelong passion and there are many tales waiting to be told.

As a happily partnered gay man T.J. chooses to write what he knows best. His overactive and ever exploring mind is probably best described by the Oscar Wilde quote that “We are all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars”.

SOCIAL MEDIA LINKS

Website: www.tjmasters.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tjmasterswriter/

Twitter: @TJMasters

BUY LINKS

https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/bear-among-the-books-by-tj-masters-7491-b

Also available on Amazon and Are

CALL TO ACTION/GIVEAWAY

Do you have a favourite bear either fictional or real? Tell us who it is and why by posting in the comments here through Monday, September 5th (with a means to contact you, i.e. email) and I will choose the best one to receive a free copy of one of my previously published short stories.