Elaine White's Life in Books

Book – Cozzi Cove: Bouncing Back (Cozzi Cove #1)
Author – Joe Cosentino
Star rating - ★★★★★
No. of Pages - 213

Movie Potential – ★★★★★
Ease of reading – very easy to read
Would I read it again – Yes!


** I WAS GIVEN THIS BOOK, BY THE AUTHOR, IN RETURN FOR AN HONEST REVIEW **
Reviewed for Divine Magazine



Themes that may be triggers – cancer, child abuse, suicide, death, homophobia

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“Cozzi Cove must be a magical place where opposites attract, people fall in love, and last wishes are granted.”

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Cozzi Cove is that fantasy place where everything is kind of perfect, without being unbelievable. But, behind the scenes of his perfect location lie dark secrets, dark pasts and heavy burdens. The story is about how a group of eight men deal with the darker aspects of their lives finally being confronted.

Think the ultimate holiday romance, that doesn't have to end when the week is over. Though it might normally seem extreme to think that two men could fall in love with each other after only a week, the setting, description and chemistry between all couples really works in this story. Not one relationship seems ridiculous or rushed.

Potential couples are:

Cal and Lance – Cal, as the manager for Cozzi Cove, is pretty much the man who makes it all happen for everyone else. Cozzi Cove is his dream, with his husband Lance, until things begin to crumble as the story progresses. When new kid Michael comes into the picture, things begin to make sense again.

Tim and Mark – Tim is one of those tortured souls, who lives life to the full but keeps his past well guarded. Mark, on the other hand, is this beautiful, gentle soul, who has come to Cozzi Cove to make peace with his life. The two together are sweetness personified, despite their outlooks on life.

Sean and Chuck – Sean and Chuck are wildly different personalities. Sean, a writer stuck in a fantasy world, and Chuck a porn star looking to retire and settle down. Due to recognising each other for who they really are, the two hit it off and come to some uncomfortable conclusions about their own lives and futures.

Connor and Harold – Connor is the 'houseboy' employee of Cozzi Cove. Kind of a slut, he's happy to lay his hat wherever it might land. ;) Harold, as Mario's twin brother, is only too happy to take advantage of that, while causing a little havoc of his own.

Christopher and Mario – Christopher is the son of Greg and Josh, while Mario is at Cozzi Cove to spend more time with his brother, Harold, to mend old wounds. From their first awkward meeting, nothing goes right for these two and it borders between hilarious moments of weirdness and really uncomfortable misunderstandings.

Arthur and the Merman – Arthur is a lone-soul, with porphyria, who writes video game software and likes to be by himself. When he meets the mysterious “merman” at the cove, he suddenly realises that his life is more empty than he thought. And the same can be said for his merman.

Greg and Josh – These are the only established couple at Cozzi Cove. Already married, their bubbly attitudes are matched by their elitist personalities and they become a fun interlude for all the dark stuff that goes on behind the scenes. As an established couple, however, they don't really have a big slot in the story. That's for their son, Christopher.

To go into any more detail than that would ruin the story for you and I really don't want to do that. This is such a poignant tale that you really have to read it for yourself, to get the feeling of Cozzi Cove and the magic that it creates for its visitors.

For a story that is all about love and magic, it covers some very dark topics, as mentioned in my warning above. It also covers twin betrayal, inter-racial romance, may-december romance, outdoor sex, exhibitionism and a lot of pain. But, it's through that pain that the members of Cozzi Cove find their strength and, often, each other.

The only clear things I'll say about the plot are this:
I loved flirty, slutty Connor from the start. Cal was the sweet, tortured soul. Mark and Tim broke my heart. Michael was a ray of light. Harold is a shit-stirrer and revels in making Mario's life a misery.
The scene between Michael and Cal, after they met in the alley, was beautiful and poignant. I loved that Greg and Josh freaked the hell out at the thought of their son, Christopher, possibly being straight. Though, I'm disappointed to see that poor Julie was completely ignored for most of the story.

The only negatives are that the formatting issues were minimal until the 5% mark, then they got messy for a while and again later in the book. This is an un-edited, un-formatted ARC so I absolutely don't mind or care about that, but I always mention it, just because it's in my copy. The only real problems were a few missing quotation marks and sentences being copped in half between two lines/paragraphs. Nothing really.

Oh, one other thing I didn't really like, that isn't formatting/grammar related. The sex. Sadly, for me, the sex wasn't really necessary, but it kept cropping up for each couple. It felt generic and second-rate to the fantastic writing of the rest of the story. I would have been happy to have it all behind closed doors, but it wasn't, so that is my issue. Most of the characters never talk about sex, all make presumptions on who is doing what to the point of putting in the position and actually getting on with it, before making sure it's okay. It just seems to happen, flawlessly, despite some characters being total virgins and there being no indication that sex was going to happen until it's actually happening.

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Overall, this whole story was poignant and full of beautiful imagery. It's one crazy mix of characters, all weird and wonderful in their own way, but also carrying around these heavy burdens that they don't share until they meet someone at Cozzi Cove, who can coax them out of their hiding places.

Despite my misgivings about the sex, it's really such a minor part of the story that I couldn't penalise my rating because of it. It's a solid 5 stars for me. It made me laugh out loud, cry and want to snuggle up with someone I loved.

I couldn't have asked for more.

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Favourite Quote:

““I never cared what you were. You'll always be in my heart.””

“Mark coughed some more. “Tim, I'm afraid.”
“Me too.” Tears rolled down Tim's cheeks.”