I really wanted to love this book. Its premise sounds like a story that is right up my alley. It brought to mind a few of all-time favorites: Call Me By Your Name, Tin Man, and Swimming in the Dark. I’m of an age and grew up in an area where the idea of forbidden gay love resonates. But, this story just did not come together for me. The writing showed potential, but the dialogue was clunky, awkward, and often out of place. The characters were very 1-dimensional and I could not find myself caring for or about either of them. And there was absolutely zero chemistry between them. The pacing of the supposed romance just was off and forced, it didn’t seem to naturally occur. I am sure that this book will find its audience. Sadly, that just wasn’t me on this one.

The Boy in the Rain by Stephanie Cowell is an emotional historical fiction steeped in "forbidden" romance. At times this book is hard to read because of the frustration with the world during this period of time. At times this book is hard to read because of the sheer injustices that occur. At times this book is hard to read because it reads just a bit too slow. Overall I enjoyed the bittersweet story of Robbie and Anton, but wish the story would have moved along a bit smoother.

3.5 stars.

FULL REVIEW IN: https://aishasbookworld.wordpress.com/2023/06/02/review-the-boy-in-the-rain-by-stephanie-cowell/

In the early 1900s during the Edwardian era in England, when homosexuality was considered a crime and those who practiced it were punished with years of prison and hard labor, 19 year-old Robert “Robbie” Stillman meets Antonio “Anton” Harrington, about ten years older, and they start a romance that will lead them through struggles, misunderstandings and hurt as they learn how to love each other in a world against them.

The Boy in the Rain is a story about two people falling in love and sacrificing that love in the altar of society’s demands and laws. With delicate topics as systematic homophobia, sexual assault, prison, suicide and alcoholism, the author portrays queer history in two flawed characters and their fears and insecurities which they will have to face to find who they really are and what they want in their lives. A book with potential despite its flaws.

• ARC given by Regal House Publishing via Netgalley. Thanks for your trust.

Over the gayngst
The Boy in the Rain did not work for me for many, many reasons. Honestly, it felt like a slap in the face. Usually, when a book bothers me, I put it down and move on. However, this one sickened me to the point that I felt compelled to finish it and warn others against it. (Especially considering this book is being released on the first day of LGBTQ+ Pride Month rather than a typical Tuesday book release.)


I don’t know — nor care — how author Stephanie Cowell personally identifies, but this book reads like a straight person’s imagining of how sad queer people’s lives are/were. I doubt (or hope) that’s not the book Cowell thought she was writing. The Boy in the Rain is likely meant to be an epic love story framed in Edwardian England, a time and place that ostensibly sucked for “teh gays.”

Unfortunately, Cowell created an incredibly depressing, hopeless tale filled with relentless trauma and misery. This is Brokeback Mountain, decades past its acceptability. The thing about minorities is … we’re good at finding moments of joy in the face of adversity. This is a work of fiction; it does not have to end in tragedy.

This book is called The Boy in the Rain. You’d think there’d be a rainbow at the end of the book.

Where’s the hope?

“They made love” ad nauseum
Stephanie Cowell is fond of the phrase “they made love.” The Boy in the Rain is rife with people making love, but there’s really no sex or sexiness in it. I criticize this for a couple of reasons. First, if you’re going to be shy about the nitty gritty, perhaps don’t include so many people doin’ it in your novel. It feels disingenuous.

Secondly, these dudes keep having sex with people who aren’t their primary partners! That’s not a problem per se; here, it is because we have no idea whether they are in open relationships, meaning it plays into the idea that all gay guys are promiscuous. Because this book doesn’t seem to be written for a queer audience, this feels especially harmful.

Trigger warnings and straight saviors
Books with vivid depictions of sexual assault should have trigger/content warnings. Full stop. However, they especially should when the thematic point of said sexual assault appears to be “pile on the suffering.” The whole thing just plays into the idea that gay people are wretched creatures, destined never to be happy.

The last criticism I’ll share is that Anton’s “enchanting former wife” is propped up as this paragon of excellence and near-sainthood. It left a bad taste in my mouth. In a book filled with “homosexual” men, why are the straight characters the ones who come out looking good?

Should you read it?
Obviously, I do not think so. As with all art, however, taste is subjective, and maybe you won’t be as profoundly offended as I was. To be fair, I enjoyed a couple of things about The Boy in the Rain. Stephanie Cowell describes artistic passion well and has an interesting way of using dialogue to describe action. That may sound like I’m reaching, but honestly, I did appreciate those elements.

All in all, though, with so much other incredible queer historical content out there, why waste your time on something so depressing?

The Boy in the Rain is out on June 1, 2023.

Content warnings: Sexual assault, cheating, homophobia, substance abuse, many character deaths (some on page), child abuse (emotional), depression, suicide, religious trauma.

If you like the style of writing that brings you back to the Edwardian era of England, this book will definitely be in your wheelhouse. I felt like I was reading Jane Austen or Charlotte Bronte with the style of writing. Definitely old style (IMO of course). Reading about the Labor movement as well as how life for gay men was in those days were certainly enlightening. The characters were not remotely loveable to me. While I felt for Anton through most of the book, Robbie's personality put me off to some degree. I, obviously, can't imagine what it was like for these two men to try to live their truth in those days (although I CAN imagine it currently), so perhaps that is why I found them both to be so off putting. In the end though, it was a good story, well written despite the ending that had me scratching my head.

M/M romance during early 20th century…poignant and sometimes painful
Superlative storytelling albeit realistic and that’s all I’m going to say about that.
This book is told in five books, each having multiple chapters told with a title instead of a number. When I saw one of the titles later in the book, I became fearful for our wonderful couple.
Orphan and 18yo Robbie was working for his uncle as a tailor’s apprentice of sorts, which he hated. He would rather draw things, people, anything. After a very mean event, his uncle sends him away to stay in a little village named Nottinghamshire to live with an old vicar and tutor. George Langstaff has tutored many a boy to prepare for the rigors of university. Robbie discovers his homosexual feelings when he meets almost 30yo Anton Harrington, one of the vicar’s former pupils. It doesn’t take too long for Anton to give into his feelings toward Rob. Life seems idyllic until Anton’s wife wants to get back together after their mutual separation.
This is a book to read and cherish so my telling you more would just ruin the story. If you like well-told stories with meaningful events and wonderful characters, of a time much different to today, please try this book. It is poignant, poetic prose. I felt like I knew these two men. When I wasn’t reading this book, I was thinking about it. I volunteered to review an ARC of this book through NetGalley. I say this book is beyond five-stars-good.

This is tender and utterly heartbreaking.

Through the span of growing from young man to adult, we follow Robbie, a queer man in the early 1900s and the paths he takes in his life and love.

In a time when being gay was a crime, punishable by prison time, the world isn’t safe for Robbie. But he meets Anton anyway. A decade his senior, Anton is a beautiful man grappling with his past demons. And the love that he and Robbie share is something living and breathing. It spans many stages, including time apart and much danger.

This love is all encompassing and I found it intoxicating to read. I wasn’t expecting so much sorrow and raw emotion in this story. But it was so beautiful. It was a vicious cycle of pain and love and the end left me completely reeling!

This novel will put you through the emotional wringer. You will FEEL the love between Robbie and Anton, and how both beautiful and bleak that love is. I was not prepared for the ending, although I probably should've been.

"It is 1903 in the English countryside when Robbie, a shy young art student, meets the twenty-nine-year-old Anton who is running from memories of his brutal childhood and failed marriage. Within months, they begin a love affair that will never let them go. Robbie grows into an accomplished portraitist in the vivid London art world with the help of Anton's enchanting former wife, while Anton turns from his inherited wealth and connections to improve the conditions of the poor. But it is the Edwardian Era, and the law sentences homosexual men to prison with hard labor, following the tragic experience of Oscar Wilde. As Robbie and Anton's commitment to each other grows, the world about them turns to a more dangerous place."

Thanks to NetGalley and Regal House Publishing for the free ARC in exchange for my honest review. All opinions expressed herein are my own.

This is such a captivating, earth-shattering LGBT+ love story. I could wax poetic at length about how fantastic this novel was, but I’ll just say that I couldn’t put it down once I started.

DNF @ 26%. I really expected to love this book because I usually enjoy historical fiction and MM romance. I just couldn't stand the writing style. It lacked almost all description, and the sentences were choppy with little variation in structure. The characters didn't really come to life for me either, which I blame on the very wooden dialogue because I was intrigued by their backgrounds and current circumstances. I may come back to this one in the future when I'm in a different mood, but actually liking it will likely be an uphill battle.

This novel,a first for me from this author,is extremely well written. The prose is vivid and often reminded me of my favorite novels of the nineteenth century. The historical details are also very interesting. But this genre of fiction is not for me and even though I tried as I liked the writing style very much,I couldn’t stick with the book. I believe there is a market for gay historical romantic novels,and as I wrote above this is a very well-written one, But the romance genre just doesn’t work for me. Had I known in advance I would not have requested the title as it could have gone to another reader who would appreciate more than I could. I think the author and the publisher will have a great deal of success with this title if it is marketed properly. There is an audience-very large one for this style of writing but I don’t fall into that category. As mentioned above, apart from the romantic aspect of the story I think the novel is very well written. If it was just a gay historical novel it would have worked better for me.

I was ready to give this book five stars and then I got to the ending--which is perhaps realistic but, to me, unsatisfying. While I am certain the ending is intentional, it feels like the author painted herself into a corner. The ground that the author covers is covered better, in my view, in two other novels--one old, the classic Maurice, by E.M. Forster, and one new, the brilliant The New Life by Tom Crewe.

That said, the author is an excellent writer (lovely descriptions of the Midlands)--far better than what one would expect from the MM Romance genre. But of course this is not an MM romance, but rather a historical novel with an mm romance at its' center. The two MCs are a study in contrasts: Robbie. the budding young artist and Anton, the older disaffected businessman turned member of Parliament for the rising Labour Party. They find each other early on in the countryside and spend most of the novel trying to align their personal life passions (art/politics) with their passionate attachment to each other--and all against the backdrop of England at the turn of the last century. The shade of Oscar Wilde and the "love that dare not speak its name" haunts the book. And the prognosis is not good for men who love men. There is no successful male couple in the book--rather the men who identify as homosexual perish by suicide or early death in prison. The book is filled with angst and unhappiness--realistic as that is for many men who loved other men at the time.

Angst aside, I felt that Robbie's and Anton's struggles with poor choices and lack of confidence were realistically portrayed. I kept hoping they would be able to work things out despite being stymied at every turn by the exigencies of their callings and by the times. Several wonderful secondary characters add greatly to the book and provide some solace for our heroes: primarily, the wonderful vicar, George Langstaff, Anton's ex-wife, Louise, and Robbie's friend, Annie. I would look forward to reading more from this author.

A romance about two men in Edwardian England who fall in love. Anton and Robbie become devoted to each other, but they must deal with a society that will not accept their love.

This is definitely a more serious romance. I liked the premise and plot, but the writing style wasn't for me. I found it a bit dense.

I thought this book was just okay. I found that it dragged on in some places. But I liked the overall story. I don't think I will read another book by this author though.

3.75. I really enjoyed this book. Set in the early 20th century in Edwardian England, story deals with forbidden loves, secrecy, fear, ambition versus love, personal growth and challenges, and the strict moral code of the time. Anton and Robbie strike up a deep romance as young men. Over the years, the relationship experiences tumultuous ups and downs, compounded by the shame and fear caused by being homesexual in that era. Character development is good. I felt like I knew the characters by the end of the story, which is not predictable, at least not to this reader. Recommend the book.

I'm a little conflicted on this. I tend to like historical novels that explore a character's life over an extended period of time, which this does, and the narrative was very emotionally moving, but I struggled to fully connect with the writing style here. At times it felt like it was dragging, but then it would leap forward unexpectedly. However, I appreciated how flawed Robbie was; that felt authentic and non-sugar coated.

This was such a stunning and gorgeous read. Will definitely be recommending it to my friends and queer family. Thank you so much for the ARC.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ I enjoyed this book from start to finish. I was so hopeful for the characters and when they were faced with hurt and obstacles I cheered them on and no matter the result I knew this book would stick with me because its just that good. Definitely looking forward to finding more books by this author.

Rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Genre: Historical Fiction + Romance + LGBTQ

"The Boy in the Rain" is a historical novel set in Edwardian England over the course of a decade, from 1900 to 1910. It is a love tale between two men, a shy young artist named Robbie and a rising socialist speaker named Anton, as they try to establish a life together in the face of personal hurdles as well as the risks of being prosecuted under the indecency laws of that era.

The story had my attention from the very first page. This is the first time I've read a book by Stephanie Cowell, and I must say that she is an excellent storyteller. I think that everything about this book, including the atmosphere of that era, the setting, the plot, and the characters, is outstanding. I highly recommend it. Everything seemed incredibly genuine. I find that the stories that center on characters with flaws appeal to me the most. It felt to me like I was reading the autobiographies of actual people.

Reading about these characters over the span of a decade, you will notice a significant amount of change and progression in their personalities. This is true not only of the primary protagonists but also of the supporting characters as well. The tale is heavily reliant on the romantic relationship that develops between Robbie and Anton. The two had really great chemistry with one another, and I believe it will make the readers root for them. The ending was both stunning and devastating in equal measure. This book blew my mind in every possible way.

Many thanks to NetGalley and the publisher for the ARC of this book.

This sensitive historical novel. An insight into how the bonds of love are tested, broken, and re-created as two people mature; the heartbreaking impact of England's criminal laws against homosexuality, which shockingly were not fully repealed till 1967. "The Boy in the Rain" bears comparison to the films "Casablanca" and "Portrait of a Lady on Fire" in its exquisite depiction of a love that must be sacrificed to society's demands, but that will endure forever in the heart.