Memories and Marco edition by Hollis Shiloh Romance eBooks
Download As PDF : Memories and Marco edition by Hollis Shiloh Romance eBooks 
Jace is a washed-up ex-boxer living with daily pain and bad judgment in boyfriends. Then his best friend Jeff reintroduces him to the gentle healing magician he used to work with.
Marco is everything Jace could want—and everything he can't trust himself not to break. Nobody has ever loved Jace, not properly. And Marco is so warm and caring and tenderhearted, he could have anyone. How could they possibly be together—even if Marco did have a crush on Jace all those years ago?
But not everything is as it seems, and there is darker magic at work than anyone has guessed so far. Trusting Marco is no longer the hardest thing in Jace's life…but rather, keeping him safe. No matter what it takes.
Heat level low-medium
Length approx. 42,000 words
This story stands alone, but takes place in the same world as Jude's Magic, Magic for Lee, and Through the Window.
Memories and Marco edition by Hollis Shiloh Romance eBooks
This is an abridged version of the complete review as it appears (http://ianwoodnovellum.blogspot.com/2015/05/memories-and-marco-by-hollis-shiloh.html) at my blog dedicated to reading, writing (no 'rithmatic!), movies, & TV.I should have known this was going south when I read the names of the two main characters: Jace and Marco. Honestly? Why not just name them Trope and Cliché? But you know I could have managed even that had there been something worth reading. There wasn't. The entire text, for the portion that I read, consisted of Jace's internal monologue as he went back and forth to his magical therapy with Marco. There was absolutely nothing whatsoever to build any atmosphere. There was no description of the surroundings - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feel of the place. Even when Marco made physical contact while applying his magical remedy, there was nothing - no spark - nothing! It was just conversation and internalizing, and even that had problems.
Here's an example of the author striving for erotic content, describing the two of them sitting in the park eating soft pretzels they just bought:
I took one last bite slowly, and then looked down at my salty, sticky fingers and brushed them on the edges of my trousers. It would just be cruel to suck them one by one, in front of him.
Self-obsess much? You know, if it has been just the one thing, in a decent context, or said in fun or self-deprecatingly, it would have been fine, but it wasn't. This was one of many such comments very early in the story, and it makes no sense, since they had pretty much just met. How much self-adoration in a main character can a reader stand?! Whatever the limit is, it was exceeded astronomically here, and clearly what the author is telling us is that this isn't a romance at all - it's just lust and sex and there's nothing else to it. It was at that point, at the quote above, that I quit reading this.
Rather than take the road less traveled, the author went by mass transit, and I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in the path most trampled, but that wasn't the worst offense believe it or not! Note that these are two adult guys, but there is a large age difference between them. That wouldn't have been a problem except that every time Jace thinks about Marco, it's in terms of Marco being a child: large eyes, soft lips, smooth skin, small buttocks. He's infantilizing this guy continually, and it's all physical.
There are homophobic morons out there who are so stupid that they cannot even begin to grasp the quantum gap between pedophilia and male homosexuality. Intriguingly, these same people never conflate pedophilia and lesbianism - that ought to tell you all you need to know about what ignorant bigots they are. That said though, I honestly don't think it's a good idea to risk handing these jerks any more ammunition - through writing poorly - than they've already invented for themselves, when it's just as easy to go the extra mile and produce original and inventive ways of describing love in fiction.
I can't recommend this.
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Memories and Marco edition by Hollis Shiloh Romance eBooks Reviews
When Jace, a seriously injured and downcast boxer goes to his old gym to be treated by an old acquaintance, healing magician Marco, he finds much more than the cure he is looking for. He finds an attractive and caring man who harbours a deep crush on Jace since the times he was a boxer and Marco a young and inexperienced healer. Jace cannot understand why such a sweet and worthy man can be in love with somebody so undeserving as himself, but despite his qualms they start a relationship which makes Jace happy for the first time in his life. Unfortunately, things in Marco past don’t add up, and soon Jace must face the real threat of dark magic to save Marco… Even if that means losing the only man who has ever loved him….
Set in a world were reality and magic intertwine, this story is a story about learning how to love and be loved. Jace has more problems with assuming that Marco loves him, than with loving him back. Abused both physically and psychologically, he deems himself unworthy. As for Marco, something similar happens to him. He’s wanted to be loved all his life, but mysteriously, nobody has remained by his side. Both learn that love is not what they thought; it is something different and scary sometimes…
As in all Hollis’ books I’ve read, the prose is nice and smooth, the characters endearing and the story has a certain nostalgic feeling to it. I really like her books more and more. She does not engage in epic love stories but ordinary ones, and her characters are as faulty and hesitant as you may feel when falling for someone. There is fear there is hope. And there is a reassuring HEA with turns most of her books in perfect comfort reads. Very recommendable.
On the level of personal enjoyment, in the "don't think critically about this book in any way and just enjoy it for what it is" kind of way, I really liked this book. I like sad, broken characters finding love and finally being taken care of - bonus points if both characters are a little broken. I also like queer characters. A lot.
That being said, when I did think critically about this book, it started to lose stars - fast.
Marco's character is very overdone. He's a sensitive, emotional man, per the book's words. And that's fine. I've, in fact, dated several sensitive, emotional men who all cried at the drop of a hat. But Marco reads like something out of a tacky yaoi manga about teenage boys experiencing overwhelming emotions as they touch each other with fragile, trembling hands. There was absolutely no way, in any universe, that he was 40 years old. I don't care how many protective older brother-type friends he had.
This book also has a bad case of instalove. These two men have a history - but they have literally never seen each other for twenty years. And yet they are saying "I love you" after a short 4 weeks, with most of their interactions during that time aren't very emotional at all. I mean, when I read this book, I imagined them as being 20-something years old anime characters, and it worked VERY WELL and I LOVED IT. But every time the author tried to convince me these were hardened middle-aged men, it started to feel ridiculous.
Also... the world this takes place in is never fully explained. It's vaguely steampunk? I think? The characters use phonographs but wear blue jeans. This story could have taken place in the modern world (plus magic) except random jarring references to them getting horses to ride because they can't afford a motorcar, etc. If you're going to have a fantasy world, let your characters fully inhabit that world and flesh it out, otherwise let it be in the real world.
There's also a fair bit of kink-shaming, and using "omg they are into kinky stuff!" as evidence that a person is bad. And that the good, loving man would "never do something like that to him!" Ehhhh. Not here for it.
The book ends when the real, honest, amazing story begins. Take all the instalove and weird dependency and all that, yeah? Then she gives us a twist that explains it all and makes perfect sense, and the characters decide to lay a healthy framework and start their relationship over on solid ground. Now THAT is a book I want to read. I want to see how they piece everything together and work through everything that happened in this book. But as far as I know, there is no sequel, and the epilogue kind of glossed over all the (very interesting!!) struggles that they would have faced together and gave us fluff instead. Fluff is fine, but I really wanted to know how they were going to make this WORK in the nitty-gritty details beyond "oh but I love you!"
I'd be interested to read other work by this author, as the actual writing was not bad at all, especially not for a self-published book. )
This is an abridged version of the complete review as it appears (http//ianwoodnovellum.blogspot.com/2015/05/memories-and-marco-by-hollis-shiloh.html) at my blog dedicated to reading, writing (no 'rithmatic!), movies, & TV.
I should have known this was going south when I read the names of the two main characters Jace and Marco. Honestly? Why not just name them Trope and Cliché? But you know I could have managed even that had there been something worth reading. There wasn't. The entire text, for the portion that I read, consisted of Jace's internal monologue as he went back and forth to his magical therapy with Marco. There was absolutely nothing whatsoever to build any atmosphere. There was no description of the surroundings - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feel of the place. Even when Marco made physical contact while applying his magical remedy, there was nothing - no spark - nothing! It was just conversation and internalizing, and even that had problems.
Here's an example of the author striving for erotic content, describing the two of them sitting in the park eating soft pretzels they just bought
I took one last bite slowly, and then looked down at my salty, sticky fingers and brushed them on the edges of my trousers. It would just be cruel to suck them one by one, in front of him.
Self-obsess much? You know, if it has been just the one thing, in a decent context, or said in fun or self-deprecatingly, it would have been fine, but it wasn't. This was one of many such comments very early in the story, and it makes no sense, since they had pretty much just met. How much self-adoration in a main character can a reader stand?! Whatever the limit is, it was exceeded astronomically here, and clearly what the author is telling us is that this isn't a romance at all - it's just lust and sex and there's nothing else to it. It was at that point, at the quote above, that I quit reading this.
Rather than take the road less traveled, the author went by mass transit, and I'm not interested in that. I'm not interested in the path most trampled, but that wasn't the worst offense believe it or not! Note that these are two adult guys, but there is a large age difference between them. That wouldn't have been a problem except that every time Jace thinks about Marco, it's in terms of Marco being a child large eyes, soft lips, smooth skin, small buttocks. He's infantilizing this guy continually, and it's all physical.
There are homophobic morons out there who are so stupid that they cannot even begin to grasp the quantum gap between pedophilia and male homosexuality. Intriguingly, these same people never conflate pedophilia and lesbianism - that ought to tell you all you need to know about what ignorant bigots they are. That said though, I honestly don't think it's a good idea to risk handing these jerks any more ammunition - through writing poorly - than they've already invented for themselves, when it's just as easy to go the extra mile and produce original and inventive ways of describing love in fiction.
I can't recommend this.
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