This review is part of the Speculative Fiction Indie Novella Championship (SFINCS). SFINCS, pronounced “sphinx”. This is a yearly competition to recognize, honor, and celebrate the talent and creativity present in the indie community. It’s a sister competition to both SPFBO and SPSFC, and it highlights greatness in the novella format in all areas of speculative fiction (fantasy, science fiction, horror, etc.).
To see more information on my team Behind the Musings check out this post!
Blurb for The Solstice Cabin
Six months ago, David's best friend disappeared from the city. Now, David has found him tucked away in a secluded cabin, in the heart of the Great White North. Amaruq begs David not to ask why he left without saying goodbye, but David can't forgive the panic and heartache Amaruq put him through. Not without an explanation. And with winter closing in, David can't exactly turn around and go straight back home.
Amaruq has always kept his personal life closely guarded. Between his parents' mysterious disappearance twenty years earlier, his powers that only come out in the cold, and his reason for abandoning his comfortable city job, David hardly knows him.
As the snow piles up and the nights grow colder, Amaruq's secrets gradually come to light, and David realizes he has only ever scratched the surface of who Amaruq really is. He has until the spring thaw to learn Amaruq's story and understand the man he barely recognizes anymore—and find the nerve to confess his own feelings, and tell his best friend why he couldn't just let him go.
The Solstice Cabin is a 27,000-word friends-to-lovers novella in the Flos Magicae series, a collection of queer romances set in an alternate 1920s universe with magic. All the stories are standalones and can be read in any order.
The Solstice Cabin Book Review
The Solstice Cabin deals with the heartbreaking concepts of losing a friend to suicide and having to hide a person's sexual orientation. When David’s friend Amaruq leaves his life due to accusations shortly after losing Paul to suicide, it is too much for David to bear. With nothing but a cryptic note left behind David tracks Amaruq to the freezing and snow-covered lands of northern Canada.
Arden Powell builds a picturesque setting of the Great White North. From the frigid temperatures to the howling wolf packs, readers will be fully immersed in this winter world. And with David used to city life, there will be a learning curve for him to adjust to the wilderness. But he isn’t alone.
While the novella deals with heavy themes, it is about two friends finding comfort in one another. And through their shared experience, realizing how to open up about how they feel. As the characters bond, the reader is granted pieces of their pasts, slowly uncovering who they are and what they have experienced. There is even a thread of magic woven within the story.
The Solstice Cabin is a novella for those who enjoy reading stories about friends to lovers. While it does have a cozy budding romance, keep in mind David and Amaruq have to endure terrible circumstances, revealed in memories, to find their paths into each other's lives a second time.
To Purchase: Amazon |Author's Website
All or part of this book review may be used in marketing, I only ask that you reference Behind the Pages if you choose to do so.
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