T. Baggins

Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/

Gabe MacKenna is known throughout Wentworth Prison as a tough, ruthless man not to be crossed. He is everything that comes to mind when you think of a prison thug. Most of the guards turn a blind eye when Gabe is on a roll. In prison for life, Gabe has nothing but a quickie with a willing inmate, bland food and poker for cigarettes to fill the lonely hours when not working for the prison itself. Joey Cooper arrives at Wentworth in 1936 and catches Gabe's eye immediately. A handsome, young doctor, Joey is a total innocent when it comes to prison life. He is brutally raped by MacKenna in the showers one evening. When he returned to the cell block after a short stay in the infirmary, Joey is terrified to learn that Gabe is his new cell mate. Gabe offers Joey protection, for a price, but soon it's Joey that has Gabe breaking all the promises he made to himself when he entered Wentworth. This book just blew me away because on one hand it is a brutal, gritty story and on the other hand it is a beautiful love story. I was caught up in that juxtaposition until I turned the last page. Ms Baggins has the rare gift of being able to create characters that are crude, flawed social misfits and makes the reader adore them. This story is definitely character driven. Gabe truly has no redeeming qualities and is not someone you would bring home to Mom yet I found myself cheering for him right until the end. The characters evolved slowly as did the connection between Joey and Gabe. The story line read smoothly and clearly and my attention never wavered from Ms Baggins' nearly excellent writing style. I am a fan of prison stories and also like a good romance story. This book supplied both without an overabundance of pages that tend to bog down some books. There is no HEA to Gabe and Joey's relationship but I knew there couldn't be because of the length of the men's sentences. I honestly believe that a HEA would have ruined this story. I cannot recommend this story highly enough and look forward to reading more of Ms Baggins' works.… (altro)

Reviewed on Hearts On Fire... http://heartsonfirereviews.com/

T. Baggins is a magician with her characters. She has the uncanny ability to create an average diamond in the rough and make the reader fall in love with a hero. Michael Maguire was no one special. He worked as a textbook writer always dreaming that he'd write the great American novel, didn't love his nasty wife and wasn't sure that he ever had and just wanted to feel something again. A friend drops Michael off at Brixton Park to get a little action. He is approached by the young, handsome James Campbell, a rent boy who is living trick to trick and carrying more baggage than a freight train and Michael's life is never the same again. This was a story of two desperate men needing much more than a night of fast sex. They needed whole new lives and somehow like the phoenix rising from the ashes, they found that new life in each other and never let go. Yes Michael was an adulterer with no excuses but Ms Baggins turns him into a tragic hero who saved himself by escaping. The story is told primarily from Michael's POV but I can't imagine that his life was any better before James. James provided an anchor and gave Michael a reason to begin living again even though their relationship was just sex at first. I enjoyed that this was a very slow burn love story and that James was insecure with feelings enough to question it every step of the way. He really didn't realize how good he had it with Michael until his friend Kevin stepped on his heart once again. I truly cannot blame Frannie for all of the marriage problems but she sure was easy to hate. The surprising plot twist at the end at Frannie's wedding blew me away and kind of validated Michael's and James's relationship socially. There wasn't much said about Michael's children but I liked how his son finally came around. I was sorry to see this well written and very smooth reading story end. The HEA was an extra because the way that Michael and James saved each other made the story happy enough. This touching story is a must read story for everyone.… (altro)

Starkly beautiful

My mental images of this story are mostly in black and white. Some of the more passionate moments carry shades of colour. This could be due to the time period when the story took place. I think it was down to the writing itself.

I rarely read historic fiction. ‘Protection’ was an exception. I wanted a male on male prison romance. This ticked all my boxes. Raw, intense, erotic, and starkly beautiful.

n.b. This was more violent than what I typically read. It was crucial to the plot and not excessive.… (altro)