Series: Rewind
Volume: 3/?Publisher: Self-Published
Genre/s: MM Romance
Length: -
Read in: English
Review copy format: mobi
Rate:✮✮✮✮✮✮
Patrick is a playboy who goes to bed with every willing man he finds attractive. He doesn't even think about stable relationship and settling down. One day, in one of the clubs he meets Brandon, an incredibly handsome American with whom he spends the passionate, unforgettable night. However, his life turns upside down when they meet once again, this time as a psychologist and his patient. Their mutual attraction is impossible to ignore, which is one of the reasons things get even more complicated. Especially, when Brandon's bisexuality comes to light as Patrick has a deep-seated aversion to bi people.
"Revive" is the third volume of one of my favorite series, "Rewind" written by Rowan Shaw, which focuses not only on the stories the author tells us, but also on showing some problems the bisexual people face. I admit that starting reading this part I didn't know what to expect from it. The author creates stories which are very different from one another, and "Revive" begins in a direct and somewhat powerful way, so there was always a possibility that in the end I might not like the novel so much. However, it quickly turned out that there was nothing to be afraid of, as Rowan Shaw used the mentioned beginning in an amazing way to show us Patrick in a more thorough manner, and thus to better shape the story. It so happens that thanks to this powerful beginning, "Revive", being a romantic story, has this fairy-tale vibe that makes this novel sweet, which immediately conquers our hearts. So, you better watch out because you can easily fall in love with this book.
The thing that I undoubtedly love about "Revive" is the combination of feelings and complete sexual compatibility. Why I even mention this? Many novels emphasize the fact that being in love with your partner makes sex way more pleasurable. I believe it's true, although I don't want to check it. On the other hand, some time ago I read an article in which an expert stated the fact that feelings lose with sexual pleasure. Thus, regardless of the feelings towards the other person, people eventually return to the lovers with whom they had the best sex. So if we consider the fact that Patrick is a playboy, for whom physical pleasure is extremely important, is it possible for him to build a stable relationship on his feelings alone? That's why I think that by combining amazing sex with feelings, Rowan Shaw gave Patrick and Brandon a strong foundation on which they can build something solid and lasting.
The great advantage of "Revive" is also the fact that building her two characters the author focused on their past and its impact on them, their views, life situation, problems. Thus, the characters of Patrick and Brandon consist of two overlapping images of them - the first one shows who they are, while the second one shows how they were shaped by their past. However, Rowan Shaw doesn't let her characters to remain the same throughout the novel, as she gives them the opportunity to grow and change. This is a really big plus because it makes Patrick and Brandon more real. What's more, our characters' painful past is presented like a mirror that distorts their image. They need each other to see the problem, throw out the crooked mirror and put the new, good one in its place. I really liked this presentation of the problem.
And since I've mentioned the reflection in the mirror, I would like to stick to this topic in a way. In "Revive" I fell in love with the fact that in this novel the need for "repairing" oneself and finding a new self within oneself is so important. The characters don't change just like that, but they try to make each other's positive qualities more visible. In other words, they want to extract something that was already in them, but for some reasons was deeply hidden. This is important because in this fantastic way the author lets Patrick and Brandon fall in love with each other as they notice their advantages and bring some of them to light. Thus, the characters don't fall head over heels in love with each other just because they are sexually compatible, but because they see each other's inner beauty.
To sum up, "Revive" is a really wonderful, well-written, extremely interesting and addictive novel that we would definitely remember for a long time. We fall in love with the great characters in the blink of an eye and they are the reason we want to read some more about them and we don't want to part with them. In short, I recommend you "Revive" with all my heart.
Headcanon: Patrick learns to cook a little so that on the anniversary day he can spoil his beloved with meals in bed.
Fanfiction idea: Patrick loses his bet with Enzo and now before he is allowed to have sex with Brandon he must go on 101 dates with him.
AU idea: Brandon is a court musician who plays at the ball. Count Patrick Lefèvre, who is invited to this event, constantly flirts with him. And although Brandon refuses to admit it, he really likes it.
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