Demi-Gods – Mortal Lives, Immortal Attraction

I picked up this book at my local bookstore because it caught my eye. I saw that it had won a prize and the cover was reminiscent of the 1950s, looking back at the synopsis it seemed interesting enough and so I bought it. It was a whim buy and I am glad I did it.

Synopsis:

In the 1950s Willa and her elder sister Jean meet the two boys who would be a part of their lives much longer than each of them hoped. Kenneth, the elder brother who is smitten with Jean and Patrick, who has a wild side and who is both a little reckless as well as a slave to his emotions. A game starts throughout the years between Willa and Patrick as they grow up and become more and more entangled in one another as the attraction between them grows with the two of them exploring their sexuality with each other every time they meet.

This books sounds sexy, but it is more sexual than anything. Showing how Willa grows to be a woman in both mind and body, how the 1950s which we think of as repressing (which they were) has a hidden underline of unspoken sexual urges that had to be kept secret, or at least make sure only the two of you knew. The aesthetic of the cover echoes in the writing as it describes hot summer days and hot encounters that are only cooled by water or by a brief moment of intimacy.

Willa is a good main character (sounds odd I know, but it was the first thing that popped in to my mind), being “bookish” as her mother once says to her, being smart and as willing to go by her emotions at the moment as Patrick is, but not without preparation and though Patrick initiates many of the encounters he wants to make sure she is having a good time too. He is a little bit of an enigma, with the reader being able to gather what he is feeling or thinking about at a particular moment only by the eyes of Willa and he surprises us as much as he does her.

All in all this book by Eliza Robertson is a good read easily done in one sitting. It explores the nature of attraction and how one can last a lifetime. Read it on a cold day to remind you of summer or read it during summer on the beach before taking a dive to the sea. Either way it will leave you satisfied and looking back on times that may be gone for now or may yet still be ahead.

Thank you for reading!