Physics Grad Student Marcus Fitzhughes agrees to leave New York City with his roommate, Andy, to visit Andy’s uncles in Vermont. Marcus wants to escape the city and his ex-boyfriend, Dan, who hasn’t taken their break up very well.
In Vermont, Marcus meets Andy’s Uncle Raph, a scarred, handsome man with a mysterious past, who settled there to tend bees and make mead. Marcus feels an unexpected attraction to Raph, an interest and lust which he had thought he’d never he feel again after Dan. Raph seems to have the same feelings about him. But both of them need to find the courage to take a chance on the happiness they deserve.
I will say this … if I didn’t have to review this one for the blog, I would have DNF’ed it half-way. I kept being distracted and needed HOURS because I felt forced to finish it. That should tell you something about my reading experience with this story – and this is a rather short one (only 18k words!).
While the beginning was intriguing – Marcus seemed to just come out from an abusive relationship – it quickly fell into something I could only best describe as an unfocused plot. The start of the relationship with Raphael seemed rushed and without a strong base of attraction. It said that Marcus always liked older guys – but did he really? Was Dan (his ex) one of the ‘older’ guys?
Then the sex – it had a rough tone to it as well. Was this intentional, to make Raph seem like a more dominant older one? And should Marcus quickly trust Raph when he said he was clean? They just knew each other for what, mere days?
And don’t get me start on that ending. Was that meant to be some sort of thriller? It came out of nowhere and it was a big plot-hole in my opinion.
Personally, I thought this was meh-humdrum at best and a mess at worst. It might start nicely but it never delivered.
Title: Tell the Bees I’m Sorry
Author: Felicitas Ivey
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Pages: 70
Release Date: June 1, 2014
Purchase Links: Dreamspinner Press, ARe, Amazon