I just love Jo Myles' quirky characters. Smutty is just another in a long line :) ( )

I just love Jo Myles' quirky characters. Smutty is just another in a long line :) ( )

4.5 Stars

An absolutely charming story! Loved Giles (well, after he got over his foot-in-mouth condition) and loved Smutty! I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Myles' writing style! ( )

This is a cute, romantic story about two men who are fundamentally different. Yet, they both have quirks that make it difficult to live with other people. Interestingly, after some very amusing initial resistance and friction, it turns out that they can deal with each other extremely well.

Giles is a teacher at a private school: sedentary, set in his ways, and has been rejected by a snobbish ex. Without him, he is even more lost than normal and, forced to endure sick leave, doesn't quite know what to do with himself. Not that he will admit this. He is quite clearly desperate for company, yet defends his privacy as if it were going out of fashion.

Smutty is a wanderer, loves seeing the world, and has a boat (doubling as his home) that is in dire need of repairs. He happens to land on Giles's private land, and sees nothing wrong with staying for a few days - just until he can get his boat fixed. He is willing to work while he is there and turns out to be really good with plants. Just what Giles's garden needs.

I enjoyed their slow approach and gentle dance, intermingled with flaring passion when they let go and Giles manages to forget his inhibitions and insecurities. I loved the fact they used their 'business agreement' as an excuse for spending more time together, but hey, whatever works, right?

If you like stories about ordinary men with somewhat unusual personalities, and if you are in the mood for a gentle romance, you may enjoy this book. ( )

This wonderfully entertaining romance opens near Bath in the beautiful English countryside as Giles mourns his breakup with a selfish boyfriend. When under stress, he consoles himself with obsessive housework. In fact, he has just dusted every light bulb in his house. Since he is a man of inherited wealth who lives in a beautiful, historic estate, you can imagine the Herculean nature of this task. What else can he do? After he made a drunken spectacle of himself at the school where he teaches, the headmaster put him on leave.

Fortunately, his enforced vacation develops an immediate complication when a narrowboat breaks down in the canal bordering his property. The boat owner is gloriously different from Giles – Smutty, a free spirited world traveler of mixed ethnic heritage, juggles fire for a living. Smutty grew up in a hippie commune. He is strikingly beautiful and cheerfully ignorant about boats. When he agrees to work short-term for Giles as a gardener, the two men start a passionate relationship buffeted by old hurts, vastly different cultural outlooks, and the reappearance of the selfish ex-boyfriend.

My favorite thing about this book is its dynamic, three-dimensional characters. If you’ve read the author’s previous novel Barging In, you might assume the themes of opposites-attract and canal boating would be too similar and make the mistake of skipping this one, but you would be missing out. Both books are distinctly different while being equally good. Barging In celebrates the British narrowboat community, whereas Boats in the Night focuses more on Giles’s awakening to possibilities beyond his traditional English life.

Let me continue to praise the characters, who are both immensely likable. They are a fascinating blend of contradictory characteristics that ensures neither can be classified as types. Instead, they seem vividly layered and individualistic. For example, Giles is a wealthy but lovelorn gentleman, who could have seemed too mannered and self-pitying. Instead, there is a forceful, stoic, rugged quality about him as he pursues Smutty.

A world-traveling guttersnipe like Smutty could have been a fast-talking con man or an irritatingly strident flowerchild, constantly nagging Giles to get in touch with his feelings. Instead, there is a seductively vulnerable and sensitive aspect to him. He has experienced cruelty for being biracial and gay, but he strives to go on enjoying life and hoping for the best. How can we readers not fall in love with these two men? Boats in the Night is not to be missed!

Val for AReCafe ( )