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
Drama Cruise
Book 3: Drama CruisePages: 194
Star rating: ★★★★☆
POV: 1st person
Another rip-roaring adventure, this time we see Noah and Nicky on a cruise in Alaska, with their parents tagging along! Oh my!
Again, Nicky and Noah are far from perfect. They each have their own idiosyncrasies and they each deal with them different. I loved that Noah really wasn't loving the new-version of Nicky that appeared when he was around his parents and their influence. At the same time, Nicky wasn't best pleased about being judged for something that he was barely aware of doing. Between them, there were plenty of arguments, but just as many understandings, revelations and agreements that helped move things alone.
I really love that each story makes the focus 50/50 between Nicky and Noah's relationship and the murders. This one emphasised this for me the most. They really had a lot to explore with each other, between their parents showing up, Martin and Ruben being with them, and the whole wedding planning deal, that there was plenty of relationship material to cover, as well as the theatrical. Yet, the theatre rehearsals and the murders never took a back seat; both were shown equally and took equal precedence within Noah and Nicky's attention.
The story dealt with cheating, LGBT characters marrying and behaving as straight people for the sake of their families, disabilities, sexual assault, as well as hypochondria and alcoholism. They're all serious subjects, but they're brought up in ways that don't leave the reader feeling too uncomfortable or being over the top. There's a realistic balance shown, as well as letting the reader “experience” these things either through organic conversation or character expressions, rather than it being spelled out to us.
As for the characters, I really loved Pedro and Jeff, was intrigued by Sy and Neem, and really liked having Mama and Papa Abbondanza in the picture, so that we could see where Nicky got all of his quirks from.
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Favourite Quote
““You two should not argue. You are a very nice couple.” Pedro's six pack abdominal muscles tightened then released. “Are you sure you do not want to adopt a strong, young houseboy?””
