Release Day Review by Kristie: Murmuration, by T.J. Klune — PLUS GIVEAWAY!

Murmuration, by T.J. Klune
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: October 28, 2016

Rating: 5 out of 5 stars

In the small mountain town of Amorea, it’s stretching toward autumn of 1954. The memories of a world at war are fading in the face of a prosperous future. Doors are left unlocked at night, and neighbors are always there to give each other a helping hand.

The people here know certain things as fact:

Amorea is the best little town there is.

The only good Commie is a dead Commie.

The Women’s Club of Amorea runs the town with an immaculately gloved fist.

And bookstore owner Mike Frazier loves that boy down at the diner, Sean Mellgard. Why they haven’t gotten their acts together is anybody’s guess. It may be the world’s longest courtship, but no one can deny the way they look at each other.

Slow and steady wins the race, or so they say.

But something’s wrong with Mike. He hears voices in his house late at night. There are shadows crawling along the walls, and great clouds of birds overhead that only he can see.

Something’s happening in Amorea. And Mike will do whatever he can to keep the man he loves.

Pairing: M/M
Gay Character
Bisexual Character
Romance
Historical Americas
Science Fiction
Small Town
Memory/Amnesia

Further tags are not included as they would spoil the book.

There are books that I love. Books that I don’t. There are books that frustrate me to no end. There are other books that confuse me and challenge me. There are books that make me laugh, cry, shout, scream, giggle… Any emotion you can think of, I’ve probably read a book that has made me feel it.

Emotions. So many emotions.

The emotions that I felt while reading Murmuration were all of the above, with the exception of not liking it because, WHOA… I sure liked this one.

This book… THIS BOOK! I saw somewhere where Mr. Klune indicated that this was the probably the most romantic book he’d ever written, or something. I thought, yea sure. Whatever, kind Sir.

He was right. But he was also wrong.

There is no way to really explain things to anyone. This is one of those books where any spoiler, any discussion prior to reading, could really ruin the experience. I’d hate for that to happen to someone, so I’m just going to tell you about me and how this book left me.

Through the roller coaster that is Murmuration, the ups and downs, the confusion… After the times when I thought for sure I had it all figured out, just to have the name of a song throw me through a loop… To the time when I couldn’t figure out who Mike was talking about… like, who was that guy? Following the moments when I had a steady stream of tears, silent and dripping down my face in the last 20% because THE TRAGEDY OF IT ALL! During the moments when I finally, finally, figured it out and realized what was going on and have it slap me in the face. Through it all, I loved every minute of it.

This is honestly one of the hardest books I’ve read this year. It’s difficult to read, not because of the content, but because of the feelings I had. The romance is sweet and tender, beautiful and honest, and yes, utterly romantic. In the end, my heart was crushed at the same time it was uplifted. I have a lot of conflicting emotions over the ending. It’s really that hard. I’d love to sit down with TJ and chat about it. Ask him, WHYWHYWHY? But in the end, it’s perfect. I think I see that now.

I can’t recommend this book enough. If you want to read something really different, something that is not even close to what the blurb teases you with because it’s so much more. A book that will make you feel. This is the book for you. It haunted me while reading, and it haunts me still. I suspect it will for some time to come.

When TJ Klune was eight, he picked up a pen and paper and began to write his first story (which turned out to be his own sweeping epic version of the video game Super Metroid—he didn’t think the game ended very well and wanted to offer his own take on it. He never heard back from the video game company, much to his chagrin). Now, over two decades later, the cast of characters in his head have only gotten louder. But that’s okay, because he’s recently become a full-time writer, and can give them the time they deserve.

Since being published, TJ has won the Lambda Literary Award for Best Gay Romance, fought off three lions that threatened to attack him and his village, and was chosen by Amazon as having written one of the best GLBT books of 2011.

And one of those things isn’t true.

(It’s the lion thing. The lion thing isn’t true.)

You can follow TJ here:
Twitter
Facebook
Goodreads

You can purchase Murmuration from:
Publisher
Amazon
iTunes
Google Play
All Romance eBooks
Barnes & Noble

I received an advanced copy of this novel in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Today we have TWO giveaways for you! One lucky blog reader has a chance to win a paperback copy of Murmuration (US Only), and another lucky winner will get a $10 Dreamspinner Press gift certificate (International Only)!

[Unfortunately it is very expensive to mail books overseas… but we hate to see our international readers miss out! So today we’re thrilled to have a giveaway for both US and International readers, so everyone has a chance to get a copy of Murmuration!)

Want to enter? Click below! Giveaways end at 11:59pm EST on November 3, 2016.