Solemn Contract

It's very difficult for me to review a book that I have mixed feelings about. A few CWs: sexual assault, violence related to sexual assault, severe homophobia from otherwise sympathetic characters, and a truly evil gay villain.

This book is a gay-for-you romance, which is not my preference to read about. It's double gay-for-you, sort of. Jem is assaulted and harassed by a serial sexual predator. After that (but not as a result) he develops feelings for his friend Will. At one point, another friend wonders if the predator "saw something" (desire for men) in Jem that caused him to assault Jem. This is a really, really dangerous idea to put out there in any form. The victim of assault is never the cause of assault, nor is the victim's orientation, yet many survivors of sexual violence struggle with feelings of guilt.

The book is written in 3rd-person omniscient; we always know what almost everyone thinks at all times, sometimes multiple characters in the same paragraph. I thought this was an odd choice, and the story would not have been much different if we had only seen Jem's point of view.

Overall I didn't enjoy this book, but the story at the heart of it is a sweet friends-to-lovers romance. I also liked the setting of pre-Revolutionary War Connecticut.