An average book!
I thought the story was good. However, despite being a book with a hot footprint, I found some scenes unnecessary which made the book's note drop in my opinion.

3.5 rounded up

This was a quick and enjoyable read. The writing flows well and the characters are well developed.

The writing somewhat “dances” around what is real and what is fantasy. There was a lot of inner dialogue and self realization. There are flashbacks of various stages of the narrator’s life and how it shaped him. It is merely one day but what a day it was!

Thanks to NetGalley, the author and Bold Strokes Books, Inc. for a copy in exchange for a review.

One of my favorite books this year. Juluis Eks takes us on a visual and visceral journey through the eyes of Ben, vacationing with his lover Gabriel's family on a boat off the French Riviera. This is a beautiful, cinematic reading experience with Eks using language as an artist painting a curiously, perfect landscape.

Ben questions his choices, ponders his future and relishes in the moment of uncertainty as he fantasizes in the hot summer sun.

Le Berceau feels like a poetic novel form the early 20th century. Rich in its vision. The first book I've read this year, that I look forward to reading again and again.

I received a copy from the publisher through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I really enjoyed this graphic novel because of its art style and entrenching plot. I would highly recommend this to fans of erotica and interesting stories.

Le Berceau (the cradle) is a novella exploring both love and lust aboard a families boat one day at sea. 21 year old Ben is in a comfortable relationship with Gabriel and has been for 6 years, but at times he can't help feeling he's sacrificed the electricity of new found attractions to remain with the same partner. Then, the beautiful and wise-beyond-his-years Leo boards the boat and suddenly Ben isn't quite so sure what he wants from life anymore. If you were a fan of the infatuation and the steamy scenes set during the blistering hot European summer from Call Me By Your Name then I think you'll enjoy this book! I found it a bit confusing that it appears to be written in English but the characters speak French and Italian and i think some areas could've done to be fleshed out a bit more (What was Ava reading? Did Ben go off to Italy and meet anybody?) and I would've loved an epilogue set a few years in the future, but still a lovely quick read.

I feel that I really learned nothing about any of the 3 young men other than perhaps their sexual preferences which were clearly spelled out (or at least for 2 of them). Ben obviously is a clearer drawn character than Gabriel or Leo but it seemed to me that for him to talk of Gabriel as "the love of my live" at the age of 21 is unlikely; what happened between their masturbatory encounters at school and the day at sea?

If I'm honest I'd quite like to know how the relationships between the 3 men/boys develops, but perhaps the story should just be seen as a mentally immature, although physically mature boy/man's random erotic fantasy.

Thanks to the publisher and NetGalley for the opportunity to read the book.

Did not make much sense ang very hard to follow... could not recommend ro others as an enjoyable read.. somewhat creepy in nature

First off I was unaware of the age difference in the love/infatuation interest. Somehow I thought they would be the same age. It disturb me that the main character who is an adult was lusting after a teenager. And I thought he was a bit immature in that there was no prior dialogue with his partner of his feelings. I loved Ava and Gabriel. I thought more can be done with some with those characters. And it was sort of left ambiguous in the ending. I wanted to know what happened later on. An epilogue was needed in my opinion.

The good parts of the book was that it questions what love is and how happy someone can be without first loving themselves. I liked how he starts to question his future and his own happiness. That’s not easy for anyone.

I gave it 3 stars because it had good intentions, I just wish it wasn’t a teenager he was infatuated with.

Multiple good starts on narratives that never really are fleshed out or come together. When I finished the book I felt like I had be in a young man's mind who could not focus on anything for more than a few minutes. There were good bits of multiple stories that were unfinished and only peripherally connected. This might have been better as separate short stories or fleshed out into a longer novel where each of the stories elements were fully developed. There is good writing there, just not well put together. The title seems unrelated to the story other than the couple of times it was mentioned in the narrative. It was also confusing to read a book in English where the people were supposed to be speaking French as their primary language with Italian thrown in. Some better editing could make that less of a distraction.

A day of lazy sunshine set on a luxury yacht gives the background to what is a true coming of age story. Not just coming of age but more to learn about yourself. Doubts of what you think is true love brought out into the sunshine to explain to yourself that maybe its not the true one and only love of your life and that there are many more to look forward to. Sounding like a philosophical waste of time it actual is well worth a read.