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Shore Leave

Shore Leave

2021 • 64 pages

Ratings1

Average rating4

15

This is the second story I've read from Thomas in as many days and this one was a little more satisfying but still has a very open ending that is frustrating. However, it's well paced yet short and both leads are charming in different ways so still worth a read.
Jacob is a Royal Navy man on shore leave (hence the title) to be his sister's chaperone during her first season. Their other siblings are busy with their own established families so it's down to Jacob, as the bachelor. While standing on the sideline at a ball in Bath, Sebastian, a fashionable socialite, notices the stiff Navyman and is intrigued. While Sebastian does his social duty of attending balls and entertaining fellow members of the Ton, it turns out that he actually prefers the low-key life of a farmer and mostly keeps to himself in the country. So while both men are more upper-middle-class, they have very different backgrounds which make them more interesting characters.
However, the ending is very abrupt and open-ended, giving the impression that Thomas didn't know where to go after the two men finally expressed their feelings. It begs for a sequel or at least a novella with some more scenes of them together. Jacob has to go back to his ship eventually so there's a lot of questions.

November 13, 2022Report this review