Series: Revolutionary Heart
Volume: 2.5/?Publisher: Janice Jarrell
Genre/s: Contemporary Gay Romance
Length: -
Read in: English
Review copy format: mobi
Rate:✮✮✮✮✮✮
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Josh and Colin put one of the biggest and most difficult trials of their relationship behind them. Their love survived it and now is even stronger than before. However, it doesn't mean that the fate finally allows them to fully enjoy life, because dark clouds appear on the horizon of joyful moments. One of them are the nightmares of Josh's past, which return when his father tries to renew the relationship with his family. The other is the death of someone close to both men, which strongly affects them. Well, life is life and doesn't stop the moment we want it to. Instead, it takes us for a rollercoaster ride, whether we like it or not.
"Trial Runs" is the second collection of short stories of the "Revolutionary Heart" series, which take place after the events of the incredibly emotional second volume, entitled "Love's Trials". I admit that picking a path of emotions as Colin and Josh's story presented in the said installment is concerned, Janice Jarrell is not changing it, as in each of the short stories, that create "Trial Runs", some completely different but deep and strong emotions are presented. In fact, in this collection we can find a whole range of them: desire, love, joy, affection, dedication, acceptance, confusion, weakness, fear, sadness, despair, emptiness, anger. Believe me, you can find everything is here, and what is more, it's shown with such passion, feelings and sense that we immediately feel enchanted. Reading this book, we laugh, cry, we want to give the characters a bit of privacy and, on the contrary, we want to watch them all the time. And that's because the emotions shown in the stories affect the reader, who not only reads but also feels "Trial Runs".
In the "Revolutionary Heart" series I really like the fact that Colin and Josh are wonderfully crazy about traditions and believes of their other half. I think we can confidently say that in this respect in "Trial Runs" we reach a higher level, because this time our two characters begin to earnestly combine all this into one solid thing, which we see on the example of Christmas and Hanukkah. And it's the most beautiful aspect of their relationship. Colin and Josh don't split their traditions, but in a completely natural way, full of respect, acceptance and love, they combine them into one unique whole. What can I say, these two are simply the best example of the equation "I + you = we". And that's because in their relationship their believes and traditions are not like water and oil, but water and juice, so when mixed they turn into something new, fantastic. And in this case into Chrismukkah.
At the beginning of this review I mentioned the various emotions we see in each of the short stories. This time, however, I would like to point out that apart from the main characters, the stories presented in "Trial Runs" have something more in common. Namely, amazing sweetness and deep love. This is really a great advantage of this collection, as it gives it even greater uniqueness, and somehow makes it a literary work in honor of love. This is because Janice Jarrell lets us see some different ways in which people show their love to another person in different situations. Sometimes it takes just a word or an open confession, another time it's conveyed by gesture, touch, kiss, anger or joy, fondness or care. The way in which Colin and Josh show us how much they love each other, regardless of the events that take place in their lives, is truly beautiful.
Finally, I would like to mention a rather small, but very important to me, element of "Trial Runs", which I think is really fantastic. What I refer to is the fact that we have here all the most important characters of this series, and therefore David and Nate, who are well known to us from the very beginning, and Trent and Jeff, who start to occupy more and more important place in "Revolutionary Heart". Let's start with the fact that in her series, the author repeatedly showed us how important in human life friends are, how much we need them and how supportive they can be. This time we also see that they differ from one another and sometimes they can be really annoying in their "friendly uniqueness", because difficult times occur not only in a love relationship but also in a friendly one. In short, I'm very happy that in this collection of short stories the author found some room for the entire group of "Revolutionary Heart" friends, as I love their dynamics.
In summary, "Trial Runs" is a wonderful collection of short stories, which awake a huge number of various emotions in the readers, the emotions that go hand in hand with the stories presented in the book. This is not only the supplement to the series, and in particular to its second volume, "Love's Trials", but above all it gives us the insight into Colin's and Josh's feelings and their love. Believe me, you simply must read "Trial Runs"!
Headcanon: When Josh is extremely tired, Colin tries to make him relaxed by kissing every available piece of his lover's naked skin.
Fanfiction idea: One of Colin's cousins goes to hospital for a few days to have some tests done. She has no one to leave her 2-year-old daughter with, so she begs Colin for help. Although reluctantly, the man agrees to take care of the child during her absence. And that's how Colin and Josh's extremely tough week begins.
AU idea: Fantasy!AU, Colin is Fairy Queen's Champion. One day an uninvited guest crosses the borders of their Realm. Colin needs to capture and question him. The intruder is a Nephilim, Joshua Abrams.
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