The Last Nights of The Frangipani Hotel

Re-Read
This was a re-read for me mostly because I just read “The Complications of T” which for some bizarre reason I hadn't read. Needless to say it lead me directly back to this and I loved it so much more the second time around so it's going up from 4 to 5. Part of that is that I just got the audio by Nick J. Russo and it's official: I'm getting a second job to have him read me everything from menus to instruction manuals. He's brilliant.

I also enjoyed all of the nuances in Rudie's character, how he's willing to be vulnerable and open but also strong and goes for what he wants. Lucky for James who, let's face it, has been a bit of a hypocrite at least with himself as far as his sexual desires. But I don't have it in me to judge someone else's reasons why. There are many and all valid. Happily James is now ready to make the leap and hopeful that things can go well. Rudie & James' HFN is well on the way to a believable HEA and I can just see James really getting into giving Rudie what he wants. Delicious.

This is a series in the loosest terms, more like a thematic thing. We hear briefly about Tim & Stuart from TCoT because it turns out James and Stuart are cousins.

My hope now is for the next installment. Fingers Crossed

Original Review

This was a sweet read. James Talbot is a successful actor whose life is less so and he is on his yearly retreat at The Frangipani hotel, which has seen better days, when his solitude is broken by the appearance of Rudie Brauer a German actor whom he is acquainted with but wouldn't' call a friend.

Suffice it to say that some beers lead to moments of emotional openness and James having to come to grips with attraction & lust for Rudie who is more than receptive, being an openly gay man who at one time harbored a crush for James.

More than panty melting sexy this was an intimate and emotional story and I liked it. James is a man at a crossroads in his life. Separated from his wife for two years & maybe on the wrong side of thirty which is no small problem in Hollywood and just feeling general ennui. Here comes Rudie showing him another possibility and that maybe if he comes out as gay the sky won't collapse. It is not strictly speaking a GFY story as James confesses to a series of encounters with men over the years, all of which he has fooled himself meant nothing as he was conveniently always under the bottle when they happened. But by the end of the story he is open to seeing where the road will lead him with Rudie and try something new and as a metaphor for James' life the author gives us the hotel which will be sold by the end of the season & the bungalows where he has stayed for years will be gone just like his old life.

In this HFN he decides to look into buying a new vacation condo on the island and is happily making plans for time spent there with Rudie and little else. I should add that Rudie is a sweetheart but in the end this is not his story, he's the catalyst that sets James on the road to living.