Old Town New (Ele’s review)

Title:Old Town New
Author:B.A.Tortuga
Publisher:Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: April 20th 2016
Genre(s):Contemporary
Page Count:136
Reviewed by: Ele
Heat Level: 4 flames out of 5
Rating: 2 stars out of 5
Blurb:

Danny Avers is a teacher in small town Colorado. Back in the day, before high-speed Internet, social media, smartphones, or streaming anything, Danny’s just trying to live down his wild teenage years and carry on the only way he knows how: one day at a time. The last person he expects to see back in town is Harlan Quinn, his old best friend and former consummate bad boy. And when he finds out Quinn is the new sheriff and his new neighbor, it’s even more of a shock.

Quinn knows there’s more to his old hometown than meets the eye. There’s more to Danny than old memories and quiet living too. But as in the past, stirring things up is Quinn’s specialty, and he sets out to do that, in more ways than one, pushing Danny to admit there’s more to life and that their old town just might manage to be new again. That’s if old town thinking doesn’t get them both killed.

I enjoyed BA.Tortuga’s The Terms of Release. Unfortunately, Old Town New didn’t work for me at all.

The premise was good (second chance romance is always a favorite trope for me), and I liked the first 20% of the story. Quinn returns to his hometown, a small town in Colorado, where he is supposed to work as a Sheriff. There, he meets his old friend and teenage boyfriend, Danny. Danny is a teacher and he carries his own demons.

What bothered me to no end and made me almost DNF was the writing, especially the dialogue. For example:

“Hey. There’s coffee. Bacon. Eggs.”
“Yeah. Naked. Fucking.”
“Anything. Fuck. Love.”
“You ‘re. I. Wow”
“Danny. Babe. I, oh.”

And this is only a small sample. Single, one syllable, random words ALL THE TIME. It didn’t make any sense.

The writing was repetitive too. The word “babe” was used 100 times and I couldn’t tell one sex scene from the other.

The “mystery” subplot with Quinn working as an undercover cop was so underdeveloped, it bordered on ridiculous.

After a while I couldn’t even see the point of this story. The sex was too much, not integral to the plot at all (if there was any plot to begin with), and it was mostly used as a filler.

I’m sorry, but I can’t recommend.

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