Elaine White's Life in Books
The Author
Elaine White is the author of multi-genre MM romance, celebrating 'love is love' and offering diversity in both genre and character within her stories.
Growing up in a small town and fighting cancer in her early teens taught her that life is short and dreams should be pursued. She lives vicariously through her independent, and often hellion characters, exploring all possibilities within the romantic universe.
The Winner of two Watty Awards – Collector's Dream (An Unpredictable Life) and Hidden Gem (Faithfully) – and an Honourable Mention in 2016's Rainbow Awards (A Royal Craving) Elaine is a self-professed geek, reading addict, and a romantic at heart.
The Reviewer
I’m an author and reader, who just can’t get away from books. I discovered the MM genre a few years ago and became addicted.
Top #50 UK reviewer on Goodreads
#1 reviewer on Divine Magazine
First Watch
This was an interesting little read. Unusual and yet, oddly familiar. There were hints of The Pirates of the Caribbean about it, while also hints of old war stories and Davy Jones Locker type stories.I liked Eduard and Farid, the two main characters, and I really liked the way the story was explored from the middle of the story. From the blurb, I assumed it would start on the battlefield and show us Eduard getting roped into service on the Fleshe, but starting in the middle of his service felt much more natural and allowed for flashbacks and character history to fill in the blanks.
A few niggles were that there were no chapter headings, only scene cuts. This meant that there really wasn't anywhere to put it down when I needed to (despite it being only 50+ pages). There were also no translations of the various languages littered throughout the story - namely French and Spanish. This got a little annoying, eventually. The only thing I did recognise was the French for Beauty and the Beast.
Still, the story had a great adventure, some off-page dub-con, non-con sex that we, thankfully, never had to read in full (only hints of kisses and vague touches) as well as all the drama you'd expect with submarine sailors, unpaid debts and rekindled friendship between old lovers.
A very interesting read that I'd be happy to follow into another story, as it did end on a bit of an HFN, rather than a final resolution.
