somewhat charming but insipid, like a debutante who wishes they were at home having a nap.

the setting was... odd. i'm not sure exactly what the author was going for; it's historical, but it's alternate historical for no discernible reason - the only reason i can think of is convenience, as same-sex partnerships and marriages are completely accepted in this version of 18th century england. there is also a hint - just a hint! - of steampunk in a couple of clockwork devices mentioned. but the worldbuilding was absolutely dire. this could have been set in a modern day little Cornish island and literally nothing would change. it seems like a last-ditch attempt at originality that just jars.

the writing was humdrum and pedestrian, not bad and not good, just serviceable. i was expecting a little more romance - it was an undercurrent, really, and there was absolutely no chemistry between any of the characters. i'd be better off finding sparks in a pile of damp firewood than between robin and edwin.

in conclusion, it's not bad, just dull... which is one of the worst sins a book can commit.

This book was so simple on the surface, but so, so good. It was a different book from what I usually read in a lot of ways. It's historical fiction, the main characters are all a little bit older (in their 30s or 40s, I believe?), and there's no grand adventure or major conflict. No magic, no aliens, no bells and whistles. Just the story of a man, his life, his relationships, and his home and how they weather a hurricane.

Like I said, the premise sounded simple, but from the beginning every line drew me in and got me more and more invested in Robin and his life. On the surface it's fairly straightforward, but with the catalyst of the hurricane, the layers of Robin's past and the entire island of Merryapple are peeled back one at a time, and with every new revelation the reader is drawn deeper into this world.

I'm having a very hard time articulating just what was so great about this book, or even what it is "about," per se. It's about a town weathering a hurricane in the bar that is the heart of the town, (and later, Robin getting stuck in a lighthouse with his ex and his current love interest-amazingly enough, it all goes much smoother than you'd expect). It's about the history and secrets of a town that's very accepting in some ways (all sexual orientation are accepted as normal), and very judgmental in others. It's about normal, flawed, well-meaning people making peace with themselves and with others. It's about relationships, and the many forms that they can take.

There were a lot of things that I loved about how this book was written. I love that almost nobody is completely lionized or demonized. I love that the characters actually talk about their problems and think about their own faults. I love that love isn't restricted to the young and attractive, and doesn't always have to be dramatic and whirlwind. I love that value placed on community and simply being a good person, in whatever way you can.

It was just awesome. I don't want to write more and give too much away, but I would absolutely recommend this to pretty much any reader. It's different than a lot of books I read, and it's good in a subtler, quieter way. This book doesn't just tell a good story, it's a full experience that touched me in a way that was completely unexpected, and gave me appreciation for the meaning of the little, mundane things in life.

Oh gosh.

On the plus side, there was real heart to this story. The MC, though not often liked by the who's who in town, is one over-sized doll of a man with genuine friends who stick by him, and rightfully so. The atmosphere was cozy, despite being on an island in the midst of a hurricane. It's the story of a community, one that sticks together or perishes. And it's a lovely, historical world - a bit of an olde English island paradise.

On the downside, there wasn't really much character development. After one or two promising traits were fleshed out, the character repeated themselves over and over again, much like you'd read in a myth. Also, any time any bit of tension built up, it was quickly eradicated, washed away and--yes, there was some suspense building through the book but it was negated by making sure happy feelings neutralized the atmosphere. Lastly, this could have been so much tighter. The needless and endless description made it very difficult to read. I forced myself to pick this up time and time again and finally had to give up just over half-way.

Maybe the second half would have been better? And it wasn't horrible? It was just hard work. And even though its heart was in the right place, I just don't have the kind of time to make myself keep going back to try again.

2 stars / 5 `| 12/20.

To be honest, I struggled to properly immerse myself into the story. There is too much descriptions to my liking. Everything is described, from the village, to the buildings, to the colour of the furniture, to the weather, etc. At the end, it was just suffocating.
The more there are descriptions, the less I can really picture the setting.

And compared to all these descriptions of Merryapple and its places, I kind of felt like the characters were empty somehow. Their backstories and everything around them are very interesting and authentic, but there's no description of their thoughts, of their emotions, or of their aspiration. They just 'are' but they don't 'feel'.

It gets me confused and I'm a bit upset because the characters are still engaging and charismatic. They could be anyone, they have flaws, they're not perfect, they're relatable. And I love that Merryapple is an alternative historic island where homophobia doesn't exist (what a relief!). It doesn't mean that people are faultless and kind, though, which sounds realistic.

In conclusion, The Moth and Moon is definitely not a bad book, they are a few points that really got me, yet the overdescriptive narrative lost me at some point...

"The little fishing village of Blashy Cove sloped up the hills beyond the harbour, and with his gaze, he traced the low, stone walls lining each cobbled road. It was the only significant settlement on the tiny island of Merryapple, the southernmost point of a little cluster of islands nestled off the Cornish coast."

The Moon and Moon is: written by an Irish man, an escape from the oppressive tyranny that is m/m shuttering out gay men’s voices, a delightful tale that contains the soul of the Celtic Sea between its pages, and historical realism that fully luxuriates in the strange and curious wonders of reality. This book is for: people who want a quiet, sweet tale that unfolds slowly and dives deep; people with empty wallets looking to take a vacation.

I went to England and Ireland during my freshman year of college, a long trip my memory has chosen to summarize with the image of a single bowl of chowder and a butter-slabbed slice of bread—in the background, the frosted Dublin Sea.

This book is Celtic all over, and this passage brought me straight back to a place I'd been years ago:

"When he reached a seat by the grand fireplace, he ordered a bowl of hearty crab stew and crusty, buttered bread rolls, which he devoured while listening to the gossip and chatter of the tavern folk."

Please forgive me for the excessive quotes, but the writing in The Moth and Moon is really beautiful. Its story takes place mostly during a storm that ravages the tiny village, forcing its residents to huddle together inside their timeless tavern, The Moth and Moon. During the storm, repressed narratives of the past, years old, are confronted by the villagers for the first time.

There’s a light dash of romance, but that’s not the overarching point of this book. What I enjoyed most was its incredible eye for descriptive detail and architecture. Architecture in fiction is something I relish but don't often find. Recently, realistic books have disappointed me in how utterly boring they are, as if the authors haven’t fully cherished the details of life. I live for descriptions like this:

"The Moth & Moon was the oldest building in the village. Cavernous, sprawling, and dark, it had been added to many times over the years, making it a labyrinth of rooms and corridors. Black wooden beams criss-crossed almost every surface. Lanterns hung low on the walls, casting a shallow light across the tavern. Various bric-a-brac, from irons to watering cans to flails and more than a few pieces of rusted fishing equipment, could be found on every shelf. The walls were either white, uneven, and limewashed, or dark panelled wood. Whatever their construction, they were punctured with niches of varying sizes filled with candles or books or tankards or far more colourful items. It was something of a ritual for sailors passing through to place a token in one of these hollows."

and let’s please please please not forget the labyrinthine staircases:

"The staircases in the Moth & Moon were winding, twisting affairs and they often doubled back on themselves at sudden, awkward angles. They were peppered with landings, big and small, some of which could barely hold one person, while others held entire tables and chairs. Low-ceilinged and tucked out of sight, these little hidey-holes were the most favoured of patrons wishing a modicum of privacy. The staircases riddled the whole building, cropping up in the most unlikely places and never continuous, meaning a person who reached the end of one and wished to keep going was forced to hunt for the next one on whichever floor they found themselves."

There’s also a strange, sweet toymaker, sailors, and reclusive women with complicated pasts. Merryapple is a utopian town, where its residents briefly abided by a “peculiar restriction” outlawing queer relationships, but found that, “marriage…for the production of offspring…reduced [people] to mere livestock,” and thus the discriminatory “decree had never taken root in Merryapple.” As a result, Glenn Quigley embraces a cast of men and women (I don’t recall any specifically nonbinary characters) of various orientations and relationship statuses.

I loved this tiny, intricate tale of Merryapple, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

Let me start by saying I really, really enjoyed this book. The events of this novel are set in 1780, and I haven't read fiction set before the 19th century in such a long time so it was a really refreshing read.

The Moth and Moon follows the events in the life of a man called Robin Shipp over the course of a day-long hurricane, as it sweeps across the tiny island of Merryapple off the coast of Cornwall, and the effects of the hurricane on the village in the weeks after. The main premise of the book is that homophobia doesn't exist, consigned to the history of the 'previous millennium' where homophobic laws were imposed but lasted only a short time as society saw it as reducing them to 'mere livestock'. As much as I think books tackling the very real effects and structures of homophobia are important, it was so refreshing and lovely to read a book which visualises a world in which sexuality simply doesn't matter.

The essence of the book is Quigley's mastery over description, vividly detailing the landscape so that the reader can perfectly visualise the village and locate the hill, the bay, the lighthouse, and the central location of the novel, The Moth and Moon tavern. It's honestly worth reading the book for the locations alone, with the fairy tale set up of the gentle sea and 'pale blue-and-white striped-lighthouse that sat out at sea on its desolate little clump of rocks and scrub'. The star of the show though is definitely the tavern which seems like it must have been built by magic. It expands from the solid remains of the ship, being built upon with layer upon layer into a labyrinthine structure with staircases leading everywhere, causing the guests to get thoroughly lost, whilst the old ship's wheel-cum-candelabra steadily drips layers of wax on the floor below. I also appreciated the idea that even though the historic ship was a wreckage after running aground, in this form as a tavern it safely weathered the storm and protected an entire community of people.

I also loved how well-rendered the relationships were in the novel, with no shying away from the soreness of past love and how relationships can simply become lacking, but cause deep rifts and tensions and affect whole communities of people as a result. This isn't a place for earth-shattering romantic drama among the main characters (although there is some of that in the novel if that's your cup of tea) and I appreciate how sensitively the complexities of relationship and friendships and communities were approached and explored.

Another layer of the novel that I loved was the thread of Paganism, of 'the spirits of air and land and sea. Woden and Frig, The Wild Hunt and the Bucca, piskies and mermaids, the Green Man and the wights'. The fact that superstition reigns in the burying of the dead, with the idea that the tree could sustain life after death. These superstitions are only referenced and I would have liked to know more about how these beliefs influence the life of the village. The relationship of the village to religion is interesting though, as it's stated fairly early on that the only thing the village does not have is a church, which seems to hint at a rejection of religious institution at the same time as rejecting homophobia, which is intrinsically linked together throughout history. The idea of marriage in the book is really interesting as well, as both 'marriage' and 'hand fasting' are referred to, the latter of which is a Pagan tradition and like a kind of pre-marriage trial, or engagement. I wish this custom was explored a bit more but I really loved how it subverted the marriage institution in the book, and I love the Pagan influence in the town.

My only major problem with the book, and the reason I can't give it a complete five stars, is the depiction of women. In comparison to the men, such as Robin, Duncan, Edwin, and even Robin's father Erasmus, very few of the women get a fleshed out backstory, and even fewer are well-rounded characters like the men. I would argue Morwenna is the only complex female character in the novel, with an interesting backstory that is explored through the book, and different facets to her personality and reasons for her actions. Eva would be the next, but even then her characterisation felt contrived at some points in the book, as she would switch between a seductress-type (which was out of place and didn't make sense) to an aloof-ice-queen type within ten seconds in some scenes. Her wife, Iris, along with every other female character was relegated to types too, usually those of submissive roles (note that all the heroes of the book are men, usually the same six). If Iris had simply taken over the forgery (regardless of her 'dainty wrists and slim arms') then that would have cleanly subverted that problem. Also, every prominent female character in the book propped up one or more of the men at some point without their actions benefiting them much. Sylvia was fairly one-dimensional, the typical 'strong female character' that is actually just an abusive, spiteful, evil woman with no complexity or redeeming features, and that made her feud with Morwenna ultimately uninteresting. I like my villains with more depth to them. Of course, this is the year 1780 which would explain these characterisations to a degree, but part of me thinks that if a world in which homophobia doesn't exist can be imagined, then why rigidly defend gender roles?

Ultimately though the book was so well-written, and women like Morwenna definitely stood out which was great. Structurally, I was impressed with the book. The major plot twists were always weaved into further conversations and scenes in the novel which helped to process them when it felt like you were suspending your disbelief a bit too far. I especially loved the use of mirroring in the novel as a device to compare and tie together different relationships and conversations, a major theme being unprepared for difficult conversations, but that putting things off solves nothing and being forced into these conversations by uncontrollable events is often the only way to achieve resolution.

Some little gems from the book:

'Once they were gone, the people picked through the remains, seeing the value in certain aspects and thoroughly disregarding the rest, scouring the regime clean from the face of the world and consigning it meekly to the tomes of scholars and students'. I loved this entire passage.

'Edwin fought the urge to tell him his fruit cake was already quite moist enough and didn't require butter'. Honestly Edwin's pettiness(/pride) is great and I wanted more of it.

'"Those two, I mean, imagine! Getting married. To someone from Blackrabbit Island! There should be a law against it!"'

Some other little notes: I absolutely adored Duncan's glasses, and actually I really liked Duncan too.


Thanks to Netgalley for a free advance copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

I’m going to say straight away that this isn’t my usual kind of book: it’s historical and not YA, but I must’ve requested it for some important reason, so I did read and review anyway.

In the summer of 1780, fisherman Robin Shipp lives a simple life in a bustling harbour town on the tiny island of Merryapple. Due to the actions of his father, many of the residents dislike him but, with a hurricane approaching, he convinces the villagers to take shelter in the ancient tavern named the Moth & Moon. While trapped with his neighbours during the storm, Robin confronts more than the weather, and the results could change everything.

Some points:
• This is the kind of story that makes you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside
• It’s full of real, relatable characters that are flawed both physically and emotionally
• They are still easy to love.
• It’s set in a place where same sex marriages are the norm and homophobia simply doesn’t exist
• No one has to fight for their place.
• The descriptions of the buildings and the area are beautiful invite you into the story
• They’re a little repetitive in early chapters, but still beautiful

This story is an interesting combination of action, adventure, emotion, and romance, that one I started reading, I couldn’t stop. Even after the story ended, I was still stuck in the world, wanting to know so much more about the villagers and about Robin.

Rating: ★★★★☆

This story is brilliant! I loved it so much and it was just right for reading on a cold blustery day.

I would describe this as romantic historical fantasy. The story takes place in a small village on an island. A hurricane blows in and causes havoc damaging property and homes, but as the villagers begin the clear the hurricane damage, secrets are revealed. The hurricane smashes open lies and reveals life changing truths, blowing away falsehood and resentment, and showing the villagers their reality. As the clean up begins new friendships are formed and old love is revealed and new love emerges.

This was just such a wonderful story and really emotional. It was gripping and had me shouting in places, gasping in others and laughing. I love it when I am reading a story that evokes emotions and this one did that in spades.

Robin, the main character, is a bit of an outcast. Most of the villagers in the small fishing village of Merryapple do their utmost to avoid him. He is big and clumsy but that isn't why they don't like him. They dislike him because they suspect him of being just like his father who was believed to be a bit of bad apple. The villagers believe that "the apple doesn't fall far from the tree". Robin gets on with his day to day life. He is a fisherman and has one friend, Edwin. Robin also has an ex partner, Duncan, who was once very close to him but any thoughts of having something more permanent with Duncan have been swept away.

So life goes on in the village of Merryapple. It is a place where same-sex relationships are accepted and life is simple but good. This idyllic simplicity changes when the hurricane arrives. It is Robin who notices the hurricane's approach and he warns the villagers. Most of them gather at the Moth and Moon, for shelter because it is the only tavern in the village.

Robin waits out the hurricane with the rest of the village but when he realises a young girl in the village is missing he mounts a daring rescue, rushing into the storm to find the young girl. This is just one of the many adventures that take place during the storm. This hurricane which destroys so much of the village homes and properties, actually brings life as well. The hurricane creates a situation in which Robin comes to learn some secrets and the truth about his life.

I thoroughly enjoyed this. It is an engaging story and it held my attention from beginning to end. Even after the story ended I want to know so much more about the villagers and about Robin. It is also the first time I am reading anything by this author but I will definitely be on the lookout for other books by him because I thought the story was just so beautiful and a simple, but intriguing fantasy.

After reading the book I wanted to know so much more about all the other islands and other people in the village. I also liked the way the story gradually reveals the different issues within the village and the different histories of the main characters and how they fall in and out of love. All of this is woven together into a deeply satisfying story.

The author is very gifted in the way he describes the world in which the villagers live, and the characters are engaging and this pulls the reader into the story. The village came alive in my imagination, especially Robin who is an endearing character. It was such a beautiful story and will put this book on my list of exquisite reads for 2018. I will definitely be looking out for other books from this author.

Copy provided by Ninestar Press via Netgalley in exchange for an unbiased review.

This is a lovely little story. It takes a bit to get into as at times it gets bogged down by the details and descriptions of every bit of scenery, room, etc. Though once it picks up its such a lovely tale of a village and how a hurricane both brings them together and also washes out all the secrets kept hidden. Its full of the clearing of old pains such as with Robin and Duncans relationship and finding new love later with Edwin and Robin. It is about the pain and cost of secrets and how they can take a toll on the person but also the effect of being freed from them. Their are cute kittens and jaunty sea captains.

Overall this is a lovely debut novel.