Standish - Dark Publications

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Editorial Reviews:

Product Description
A great house. A family dispossessed. A sensitive young man. A powerful landowner. An epic love that springs up between two men. Set in the post-Napoleonic years of the 1820's, Standish is a tale of two men - one man discovering his sexuality and the other struggling to overcome his traumatic past. Ambrose Standish, a studious and fragile young man, has dreams of regaining the great house his grandfather lost in a card game. When Rafe Goshawk returns from the continent to claim the estate, their meeting sets them on a path of desire and betrayal which threatens to tear both of their worlds apart. Painting a picture of homosexuality in Georgian England, Standish is a love story of how the decisions of two men affect their journey through Europe and through life.

Customer Reviews: Read 17 more reviews...

5 out of 5 stars

An engrossing read December 15, 2006
36 out of 40 found this review helpful

I'm not a big reader of regency romance, but was intrigued by the idea of the romance in the story being between two men. But novelty isn't the only thing Standish has going for it. This book is also beautifully written, well paced, and researched with an attentive eye to detail.

I found the characters very sympathetic and refreshingly multidimensional. Society's intolerance of homosexuality can't help but be a major theme--it was regularly punished by death in Regency England--at the same time, the issue is explored with such delicacy and consideration, that I didn't feel preached to or hit over the head with it. I also found it refreshing that the two representatives of religion in the story were sympathetic to the protagonists, and struggled to understand and befriend them, despite their strong objections to homosexuality.

The sex is graphic and frequent. At the same time, it is so beautifully described, that one would be hard pressed (no pun) to be offended by it.

But most of all, this is an excellent, excellent story. Once I started, I couldn't put it down.

Highly recommended.

5 out of 5 stars

A compelling book December 18, 2006
12 out of 19 found this review helpful

What can I say... I love it. And hate it.

Love because Erastes makes me feel the emotions of Rafe, the main characters, and the joy of Ambrose, his lover.

Hate cause he describes the real world, where the true love is never simple, and where an happily ever after is not so common.

You want the perfect hero, dark, tortured but always right? Then don't read Standish. Rafe is everything but perfect. Is a man led by the passion, and sometimes the passion guide him to the wrong path. And Ambrose, the other hero, is sometimes fragile, sometimes strong, but also human. And like every human he want love.

Ambrose and Rafe see each other like Ganymede and Zeus. Ganymede, the guy that with his beauty who stole the role of God's cupbearer to Ebe. Ganymede served ambrosia to Zeus. So also the name of Ambrose recall this legend. He is the object and nourishment of the love of Rafe.

In a fairy world Rafe must save Ambrose from every trouble and perilious... in the real world we have the tragedy, but also the love that forgive anything.

When I'm happy I want the laugh, when I'm sad I want to cry... Standish stay between

And let me say: it's not a romance, if we consider the normal level of the romance. But it's a beautiful romance, when we consider that in this category we can put some very lost pearl.

So thanks to Erastes for this book, I will put it in my bookshelf, but think I will take it often

4 out of 5 stars

Heartbreaking and Beautiful January 18, 2008
11 out of 11 found this review helpful

Poised to hate the man whose father made off with the title to his ancestral home, the young Ambrose Standish gets in over his head when his loathing gives way to first love and naive passion. Rafe Goshawk, a rake of a man, comes to claim more than the prized estate. He wagers a secret bid to win and eventually possess Ambrose. Without a prayer of hope in resisting, Ambrose is overtaken by the wealthy and sophisticated Rafe, and by tragic circumstances that spin them wildly out of control. Set in Georgian England, Standish brilliantly delivers in the quite eloquent language of the era a story of love between two men, their tale built upon the innate peril of opposites joined and the grave threat of social prejudice against homosexuals.

Ambrose is set to be a delicious sacrificial lamb from the beginning, his innocence and humility glittering jewels in the eyes of a cad like Rafe. Ambrose's fall is inevitable. That foreshadowing drives the plot well, though the pace moves slowly in some places. Author Erastes still manages to sustain the expected sympathy for Ambrose, also revealing hidden heart-soreness in Rafe along the way. Unraveling the complex tangle of Rafe's feelings and Ambrose's insecurities Erastes shows how Rafe's wounds fuel his utter lack of self control, which precludes his ability to confide in Ambrose about his tormented past or to root honestly into their bond. Feeling sympathy for Rafe is unexpected though it is a significant facet of his character and nuance of their journey together. Factor in an unlikely foil to both Ambrose and Rafe, and Erastes creates tangible tension through the novel's end.

Despite it's familiar arrangement of romantic archetypes this story is no boy bodice ripper. No one begins defiantly pinned on his back only to end up clawing at buttocks and begging for more. There is no mixed intent in the hearts of these men. No, these characters are genuinely madly in love from beginning to end. Theirs is the lesson that abiding love does not conquer all, particularly in such a sexually stifling culture, where they are left to repeatedly assess how to move on.

5 out of 5 stars

Fabulous Story! March 19, 2007
9 out of 11 found this review helpful

Never does the phrase 'don't judge a book by it's cover' apply more aptly than here! An innocuous title written by an enigmatic name. Onlyafter reading previous reviews did I finally succumb and buy the book. What a story! True love never does run smoothly in this rich novel of murder,rape,infidelity, sorrow, hate and love, brutality,etc. - in the extreme. Ambrose Standish whose family originally owned the house becomes a tutor to Rafe's son (the current owner). Ambrose feelings of hate and resentment toward Rafe grow from a lifetime of looking at the estate house that should have been his. But they fall in love. Then through misinterpretation, miscommunication and misunderstandings the beautiful love between Rafe and Ambrose is gone but not destroyed. The story revolves around the love they had but through a series of unfortunate events is lost through misinterpretation, mis-commincation, etc. I couldn't put the book down because I needed to know if they were ever going to find their love for each other again. Therein, lies the crux of this extraordinary novel. There love for each other was never enough to bring them together because of circumstances whirling around them. Well-developed characters, and such a great descriptive narrative of Standish, the prison and the secondary characters. The brutality of Rafe's upbringing in the lap of luxery combined with the beautiful, innocent Ambrose and their love for each other was nothing short of one of the best love stories I have read in a long time. Everyone loved Ambrose. Totally unpredicatable. Am looking forward to Erastes next book Transgressions.

5 out of 5 stars

Standish February 20, 2007
8 out of 10 found this review helpful

This book is truely worth the read. It took me just a day to read it because it was so freakin' good. Erastes out did himself with the plot and characters.

Even the lesser characters will take you for a ride as you see how they play out. Its so very easy to fall in love with Ambrose and to want everything for him to be happy and good. He's an innocent when it comes to the world around him. Yet, by the end of the book you know that everything that happened has only made him stronger and makes you love him more.

Rafe has his ups and downs, he's not the normal perfect hero, he makes mistakes. Thus making him seem far more human and as you move with the story with Ambrose it makes you both love him and hate him at times.

This book is one of those books that you laugh, moan, and cry with. If you are looking for a really good romance story that has both ups and downs, that shows love & life in the wonderful detail that it is. Well, then you'll find it in Standish.

Truely wonderful.

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