Wintergreenreviews

Wintergreen, the sequel to Wild Raspberries, is now available from Torquere Press as an e-book and a paperback.

Well Read Reviews
Review by Jenre
Wintergreen is the sequel to Wild Raspberries which I reviewed last week (here). I'd really enjoyed that book and was keen to read this sequel and see how some of the loose ends at the end of the previous book would be tied up. Whilst I still enjoyed this book a great deal, it wasn't as wonderful as the first book.

At the end of Wild Raspberries, we left our heroes, Dan and Tyler, planning on staying in their isolated cabin over winter in order to spend time with each other and also to plan a long vacation which they intend to take in the spring. As Wintergreen starts it's the middle of winter. Dan's jobs have dried up with the end of the harvest and the tourist season and Tyler is beginning to wonder whether they shouldn't just start to trip early as cabin fever starts to set in. Things suddenly change when Tyler's ex-boss, Cole, comes to see him and asks him to do a job for him. There's a rogue agent who is selling secrets to targets which means that three agents have been killed before they can perform the hit on their target. As an outsider, Cole feels that Tyler has the emotional distance to find out who the rogue agent is. Dan isn't happy about this and becomes increasingly more unhappy as Tyler takes the job and shuts himself away with his computer for hours at a time. Then something happens which threatens both their lives.

The main purpose of this story seems to be to pick up on some of the questions left at the end of the previous book. First and foremost is the question of how well Tyler's old life as a government hit man will impact on their new life together. This is the main focus of this book and is immediately brought to the forefront of the story in a tense scene where Dan surprises Tyler as he's shovelling snow and nearly gets a shovel in his face. The ensuing argument is only just cooling down when Tyler hears from Cole saying that they want to meet. The next few chapters are a mix of hot sex, which the two men seem to use to settle all arguments, and tension as the work that Tyler is doing for Cole starts to drive a wedge between them. I found this section quite frustrating at times, mostly because of Dan. For the first time I began to feel that Dan's youth would cause the break up between them. He's bored, petulant, demanding and behaves like a spoiled brat. I found myself with a great deal of sympathy for Tyler as he tries to cope with the pressures of dipping back into his old life, exhaustion and worry over the work he is doing and then on top of that dealing with Dan's increasingly immature behaviour. What also became apparent is that the two men never really resolve their arguments. Instead they use sex as a way of smoothing over the waters, only burying the underlying problems rather than dealing with them openly. It isn't until later in the book when circumstances force Dan to really understand the nature of Tyler's old career, when sex is out of the question for a while and they are forced to talk to one another that I felt they were getting anywhere with the relationship. As it was, by the end of the book I began to feel more upbeat that actually they were going to survive in the long run, that their differences were keeping them together rather than forcing them apart.

The other loose end which is tied up in this book relates to Dan's past. He left home suddenly, unable to stand the thought that his father hates him for being gay. When he finally returns and sees his father for the first time in months, it's a poignant moment, but one which emphasised how Dan's immaturity has led to undue suffering for him and his father. I found myself, once again, losing sympathy for Dan as he floundered around unable to make a decision about his life and stick with it. He goes home, but doesn't want to stay; he wants to be with Tyler, but messes Tyler around so much it's a wonder Tyler doesn't lose all hope and just take off without him. In fact it's a measure of how much Tyler does care for Dan that he sticks around with Dan bounces from crisis to crisis. It certainly made me view him in a more favourable light than from the first book.

Despite my feelings towards Dan in this book, Wintergreen was a still satisfying read. I finished the book happy that the loose ends had been tied, that certain issues had been faced and resolved, and that I could happily see these men off into their HEA. Along the way there is much tension and one very terrifying section which had me on the edge of my seat; lots of arguments, but also lots of times when there is tenderness and loving. I may not have enjoyed this book as much as Wild Raspberries, but Wintergreen was still a great story and I would recommend it with a grade of 'Very Good' to those who have read the first book.

Rainbow Reviews 4.5 stars

Review by Blondie. Full review here.

In short, this book was awesome. It had a lot of action, some mystery, and some sex. The characters were well rounded and I felt as though they were meant for one another.

There is some action in the book that had me on the edge of my seat. The character of Tyler was very frustrating for me as I couldn't get over his attitude towards Dan. I think Ms. Davitt made the character Tyler a hard, tough as nails guy with a soft spot especially for Dan.

To find out about Tyler and Dan you will need to read this wonderful book for yourself. I recommend it highly.

Review by Elisa Rolle

This is a claustrophobic novel (and BTW I'm not saying it in a derogatory way, I think it was a quite hard psychological work for the author to write it), and how it can't be seeing that it's almost all set in a isolated cabin in the woods in winter? At the end of the previous book, Tyler told Dan that they would have been gone on a travel, to see the ocean: quite the feeling of freedom, isn't it? And so, when the reader starts this sequel, he is all for the moment when Tyler and Dan will leave the cabin to explore the world, and maybe test their relationship. And instead, chapter after chapter they are always there, in the cabin, making loving and quarelling, yelling to each other or kissing. From the most unimportant reason to life change decision, there is always a reason for one of them to be mad and for the other to try to make peace.

Due to the difference in age between Tyler and Dan, more or less fifteen year, you could expect that the one mad would be Dan and Tyler the one always trying to be the balanced one, and instead, in this second novel, we understand that Tyler "needs" Dan, probably as much as Dan needs him. Dan is the anchor to reality, and the reason why Tyler can constantly and firmly refuse to come back in service. And now it arrives another element that adds to the claustrophobic feeling of the story: actually Tyler comes back in service, but all his work is brought on by home, using the internet and his inquisitive mind. Again a claustrophobic feeling, seeing that all the action happens inside Tyler's mind. It's like the outside world doesn't exist, like if they leave their safe haven in the woods, only bad things can happens. The cabin is, at the same time, shelter and prison, and Dan is the first to realize that, if they don't have each other, there is no way he could survive alone there.

Dan is growing in this sequel, he is not yet at his full development as a man, but he is near. You notice that not only from some behavior, like not running away when he is mad, but trying to talk it off, but also in their sexual encounters; more than once Dan takes the lead during sex, and Tyler lets him do so. More, I think that Tyler needs it. When he has too much things swirling in his mind, letting it go, not being the one in control, it's probably the only thing that saves Tyler from going totally nuts.

In a way Dan and Tyler are equal, the difference in age is shortened by their own faults: Dan not yet a man, with still a baggage of insecurities and Tyler with all his nightmares, regrets and fears.

In House Review by Alexa Snow

In Wintergreen, the much anticipated sequel to Jane Davitt's Wild Raspberries, partners Dan and Tyler have settled into a tentative relationship together. It isn't until Tyler's complicated past rears its ugly head that the two find themselves thrown off-balance. Can Dan learn to deal with Tyler's history... and even if he can, can they build a future together?

This book does an excellent job of combining character-driven scenes and an overall plot arc. Dan and Tyler, two characters who are very real in the first novel in which they appear, are fleshed out even more in this story. They're believable, complex men, complete with flaws that somehow manage to make them even more likeable. The storyline involving Tyler returning (at least partially) to a job he'd previously abandoned is both interesting and a significant cause of tension which builds to a spectacular conclusion. The author's use of language is skillful, her secondary characters well-drawn, and the erotic scenes hot and inspired. Definitely a novel you don't want to miss!

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