An enjoyable May-December romance, part of the Shamwell Tales. A bit slow in places, but fine. A decent mid-series book.

I absolutely adored this book, which was both a bit of a delightful surprise and the first step in laying a foundation of affection for everything that comes after this!

Out!, the third novel in the Shamwell Tales series by JL Merrow, focuses on the unfortunate Patrick Owen, first seen in the story Played! when he landed a cricket move by stepping down hard into a rabbit hole on the field, putting him in the hospital. Patrick is a very confidant gay man, proud of who he is and the work he does for charity. While he is a bit flirtatious at times, he is also very no-nonsense when it comes to sticking by his principles and fighting for causes he believes to be important. He comes off as a bit worldly-wise beyond his twenty-five years, and is the perfect foil for the uncertain Mark Nugent.

Mark has left a job he was married to, the woman he never should have been married to, and picked up with a teenage daughter he barely knows anymore. To say that Fen is a handful is an understatement, and yet she does love her parents—in that angsty, rebellious teenage way. She is not thrilled that her preoccupied father has decided to quit his job and move to Shamwell and is now bent on re-establishing their relationship. Mark, on the other hand, likes Shamwell, and Fen, even though he is pretty much lost when it comes to reaching his daughter and breaking through the hostile shield she’s erected around herself. The very last thing Mark needs is for anyone to know he is gay—it’s bad enough his ex does and then never fails to throw it back in his face. But after trying to get involved in the community, by joining a men’s club that focuses on drinking and charity work—in that order—he comes face to face with the most compelling gay man he has ever met, and it terrifies him.

Despite the large age gap, Mark is drawn to Patrick, and vice-versa. However, the last thing Patrick intends on being is someone’s dirty little secret, and he refuses to play that game. No matter how attractive Mark is. When David, Mark’s former work assistant, arrives in town, all hell breaks loose which forces some pretty major changes in Mark’s life, and more than a little jealousy to surface for Patrick. It all seems to be a mess that is not easily sorted—unless Mark can be brave and come out of the closet once and for all.

I really feel that the beauty of this series—its real genius—lay in the cast of secondary characters that are ever evolving. From crazy little old ladies to middle-aged drinking buddies and flaming office assistants, JL Merrow works some real magic when it comes to crafting interesting and quirky village folk. I also enjoy how she rotates this pack of crazies in and out of the various novels, giving Shamwell real flavor—more than a hint of a small town where everyone knows your business and never fails to offer their opinion about it. This time she has added a fantastic ex-office assistant, David, and his ridiculous stuffed teddy bear to the mix, along with some rather amusing fellows who are club members and manage, between drunken bouts, to raise money for charity. These characters give this novel such flavor and really aid in fleshing out the main players—in this case, Mark and Patrick.

I so loved Mark. He presents as being this older, sophisticated man and yet beneath that exterior is such a sensitive, lost soul. He is so scared to appear vulnerable and to be honest with his daughter about his fears. Yet we can see he loves her so fiercely—humbly acknowledging that he has really screwed up parenting to this point. It is this near painful introspection on Mark’s part that endears him to the reader, and to Patrick himself. Patrick grows up in this story—realizing that there is much more to falling in love than just physical attraction. He grapples with some serious flaws he discovers in Mark; in particular, his pride in his former area of work. But as time moves on, Patrick also comes to understand that while his principles are right and good, there must be some gray area when it comes to those we love. When it comes down to it, Out! is about more than just a person finally acknowledging to the world that he is gay; it is also about coming to terms with how we can trick ourselves into believing we are something we are not—and learning to love ourselves despite that revelation.

My only problem with this story hinges on something I have noted as an unappealing plot vehicle in this series—the bitchy female character. In the other novels it was played by other dominating women who impacted the main characters rather heavily. In this case, it is Mark’s ex—and I have to say it saddens me to see the author once again make a female lead both a harridan and unforgiving to boot. It is, I feel, a well-worn and unfair cliché to make a female character the bad guy in a novel—to give her so little compassion and make her so angry and unapproachable. Unfortunately it seems to be a staple in this particular series, and it makes me all the more disappointed to see it happen yet again. I am hopeful that the fourth novel will rectify this problem, for I feel it is a disservice to the skill this author has as a writer to continually fall back on the same tired trope that is seemingly rebirthed with a new character name in every story.

Out! is most certainly an amusing and thoughtful addition to the Shamwell Tales series, and doesn’t fail to make this reader wish once again that we could all live in the wacky village author JL Merrow writes so lovingly about.

*2.5 stars*

I like J.L. Merrow, I swear, but the Shamwell series has turned out to be a major dud for me.

This book was fine... it was fine... but just draggy. The whole Shamwell series just seems to be told at a glacial pace, and my attention just wavered the entire time.

The relationship was hot/cold, hot/cold (repeat, repeat, repeat), and I was sick to death of it by the end. I actually was rooting for Mark to get with his assistant, David, because he was the only thing that kept me interested! Ugh, and a bratty, know-it-all teenage daughter just isn't something I want to read about (I get enough of that already from my little girls!).

The emotion and the "I love you" exchanges at the end left me scratching my head. Really? Didn't you guys hate each other last week??

Some charming moments, but overall just too slow and too tiresome for me.

*Copy provided in exchange for an honest review*

*** Copy provided via NetGalley in exchange for a fair and honest review. ***

Mark Nugent is a divorced workaholic, and so far inside the closet, he isn't likely to find the way out without a compass and a map. When his stubborn teenage daughter, Fen, is expelled from school, he decides to step up to the plate and become the father she needs by quitting his demanding job and relocating them both to Shamwell in the hopes of giving them both a fresh start.

In Shamwell, he joins a local organization and there he meets Patrick Owen, who is 14 years younger than him and while both of them are interested in the other, the age difference and Patrick's reaction when he finds out what Mark used to do for a living might get in the way of a relationship.

I adored Mark! He was a fabulous, flawed character. Self-deprecating and with the type of humor I love. His scenes with Fen were hilarious and very realistic! Fen was your typical rebel teenager, much more perceptive than the adults in her life gave her credit for. I also adored David, Mark's ex-PA, and I have to admit I was hoping David and Mark would get together at first, but since that's not going to happen, I'm very happy that David's story is next in the series.

I was a bit ambivalent regarding Patrick, not because he isn't a great character or that he doesn't have chemistry with Mark, because he so does. I liked Mark and Patrick together, I found them sweet and hot, but I wanted to slap Patrick when the whole blowout with Mark's career happened (actually cheered when Fen did just that to Patrick, delivered with a few choice words!).

All in all, a great, enjoyable, fast-paced read! I loved JL Merrow's writing style, combining humor and light angst to provide us with hours of uninterrupted entertainment! Definitely recommendable!

Rating: 4.5 Stars!!!

Mark Nugent finds himself in Shamwell after deciding to take a year away from his career as a tax advisor so as to try his hand at raising his teenager daughter Fen after she was expelled from school. As his ex-wife Ellen says: "It’s about bloody time you took some responsibility for your only child.” It's also bloody time Mark starts to explore his attraction to men, yet when he meets hot Shamwell local Patrick, rather than act on their mutual attraction, Mark instead decides he needs to hide his sexuality from Fen - “She’s not going to find out. That’s what I’m trying to tell you.” Mark took a deep breath. “There’s not going to be anything to find out. That’s why we can’t do this.”

Sadly, this was only the first time I dearly wanted to whack Mark sharply about the head with a Clue Stick. Mark and Patrick don't have a relationship as much as a running series of three steps forward, two steps back arguments that lead to them feeling the relationship is OVER, and then a few days later they are back together until the next miscommunication. The pace of their relationship slowly unfolds, ever so slowly, so slowly in fact they finally have sex in the last chapter of the book.

The overall pace of the book didn't work for me, and I'm realizing the entire Shamwell series is too slowly paced for me. I like the small town setting of the series and how characters from other books in the series pass along the edges of each additional story, but this series is like baseball. A recent study found that 90% of a baseball game is basically standing around, with about 18 minutes of action in an average 2-1/2 hour game.

Don't get me wrong. Out! has some great secondary characters - Mark's former personal assistant David with his costumed teddy Gregory (they called him "Camp David" in the office), Mark's daughter Fen, Patrick's gender fluid assistant Lex, Barry and the Spartans - but they are the 90% while Mark and Patrick's relationship is that slim 18 minutes. 3 stars for Out! (although I am very partial to the John Barrowman-esque cover).

Out! by JL Merrow is book 3 of the Shamwell Tales series but can be read as a standalone book. I had not read any of the others in the series and had no trouble following the story.

The author does a great job of creating the story, fleshing out the characters, setting the scene and providing engaging secondary characters. Those all factored heavily into the star rating for this book. I found the book itself, however, a bit lackluster in terms of grabbing my attention which definitely detracted from the overall review.

Basically, you have Mark, a 39-year-old rather stuffy tax accountant who has divorced his wife and moved away to Shamwell. His goal is to stay in the closet get his slightly out of control teenage daughter (Fen/Florance) back on the straight and narrow. He somehow feels that coming out as gay will create way more teenage angst than he wants to deal with.

Patrick is a very out and proud 25-year-old gay man with a seriously passionate love of social justice. He suspects Mark is gay and is very attracted to him but wants nothing to do with the closet Mark is living in.

The age gap is a big deal for Mark. He grew up in a totally different era when no one talked about being gay. He has a teenage daughter he wants to keep I the dark about his sexuality. There is no room in his life (so he thinks) for a relationship. Patrick is frustrated and confused but tries to see it from Marks POV. There is a lot of ‘I want to but I can’t’ scattered through most of the story. They get to know each other slowly. They are in a group together called the Spartans, a local club of men from age 25 to 45. It is a rather slow paced book which does drag a bit for me.

The writing itself is very strong. Great character building, amazing description of scenes and locations, and the whole thing just flows very smoothly. It is very heavy on the British lingo which I think is cool although as an American I have to stop occasionally and translate something in my head. I don’t mind that…actually seems to really boost the setting development for me.

In terms of angst, drama, and passion it isn’t a HUGE page turner. Ther is a bit of a misunderstanding or two throughout the story that creates some drama. Nothing completley outrageous. …. it all seemed to unfold in a rather lifelike manner. It takes quite a while for any sort of relationship to develop between these two guys. At 65% they haven’t even kissed yet. Even by the end of the book the heat level is fairly low. At the very end of the story, they finally declare their love but it seems like it was a bit rushed to be real.

Overall, Out! by JL Merrow is a well-written book that is low on the romance but high on character development. Not a huge amount of plot other than the whole getting to know you thing and a bit of drama and misunderstanding.

What a great series this is turning out to be. As with the other books, starting with Caught, this one is set in the village of Shamwell, about a half hour outside of London. In this one, Mark Nugent quits his lucrative job as a highly success tax adviser to the wealthy so that he can take full-time custody of his teen daughter, who is proving to be too much for his ex-wife to handle.

Florence, or Fen as she wants to be called, hates that her father is not the man he was when she was young and they were a family; she hates living in the country; she hates her new school; she pretty much hates everything—total teen angst! Mark had wanted to liberate his inner gay man, but when he gets custody, he realizes he may have to live a celibate life because he can’t imagine coming out to his teen daughter. But when he meets out-and-proud Patrick Owen, a man who heads a local charitable organization and is drop-dead gorgeous, he struggles to keep his resolve.

Just as he’s thinking maybe he can somehow get to know Patrick better, his former PA, David, comes to help him prepare for his induction into the local Spartans group—Mark had decided to set an example for his daughter by joining a local organization—but when Patrick catches David and Mark in a compromising position, he jumps to the wrong conclusion and that potential romance stalls out.

Add in complications with his daughter’s former school friends, misunderstandings and assumptions by both men in his life, and a fun three-legged race and you get a very entertaining story. There are serious issues as well, and both Patrick and Mark have to face some truths in their lives, but with perseverance and a lot of humor, Mark and Patrick find their way to their HEA.

I love this author’s writing style and sense of humor, and I swear each story gets a bit better than those that came before. I understand David will get his own story next, and I can’t wait to get started. I highly recommend this story, and the whole series, to those who enjoy MM romance, particularly stories set in rural villages in the British Isles.

This is a fairly pedestrian story of Mark and Patrick and their slightly rocky road to love and a lasting relationship. Mark, a recently divorced 39 year old tax avoidance expert with a 14y.o. daughter,Fen, and almost no gay experience, meets Patrick,25 y.o. charity worker, gay, out and picky about his men.

On their voyage of discovery, there are misunderstandings, disasters, quarrels, musings on age difference and some fun. There is lots about life in an English village, a lot of gentle humour, a stroppy and caring teenager, a harassed ex, a knowing gay PA, some indeterminately gendered friends and other miscellaneous villagers you have met before or will meet in the other books- Caught, Played and Spun.

I was a bit bored by the book and not just because there was no sex until 96% of the way through-an alternative title could be Coitus Interruptus. It was all very humdrum and of course the sex would have to be penetrative…. despite an earlier failed attempt at something more exciting…….!

Mark and Patrick have issues which must be addressed, mostly stemming from their fathers and from their own acquired prejudices and ingrained attitudes. There are few outside obstacles to them “coming together’ only the barriers they put up themselves.

As I have said before, these J L Merrow books are nice tales about nice people, nicely told. As Fen would say, Duh! Whatevs!

Thank you to NetGalley and Riptide Publishing for the ARC of the second edition.