 
 
From the publisher:
Can one man’s crowded, messy life fill another man’s empty heart?
Raising a family was always Adam Mills’ dream, although solo parenting and moving back to tiny Garnet Run certainly were not. After a messy breakup, Adam is doing his best to give his young daughter the life she deserves—including accepting help from their new, reclusive neighbor to fulfill her Christmas wish.
Though the little house may not have “the most lights ever,” the Mills home begins to brighten as handsome Wes Mobray spends more time there and slowly sheds his protective layers. But when the eye-catching house ends up in the news, Wes has to make a choice: hide from the darkness of his unusual past or embrace the light of a future—and a family—with Adam.
Review:
I’ve been a huge fan of Roan Parrish’s books ever since I read The Remaking of Corbin Wales, which really showcases the power of Parrish’s prose and word craft, as well as her ability to write unconventional characters with deep wounds who are nonetheless ready and open to love when it arrives.
This entry into the Garnet Run series does not disappoint.
The Lights of Knockbridge Lane is a holiday romance, much in the spirit of Corbin Wales without the magical realism. The novel features Alex Mills, who has moved back to Garnet Run after a brutal breakup with his partner, Mason. Alex is accompanied by his daughter, August (or Gus), who is in reality his sister’s daughter whom he has raised together with Mason since she was a baby. However, when Mason decides that he no longer wishes to co-parent Gus and prefers an unfettered, single life, Alex returns to Garnet Run, and his sibling, River, who promises to help Alex care for Gus.
Wes Mobray is the town’s boogey man, a recluse around whom stories of every kind have been spun to explain his unconventional way of existing – mostly at night, in a house with windows that have been papered over. The novel cleverly introduces him in chapter one via his reputation, a device that skirts the info dump trap that is nonetheless required to understand him.
Gus’s shenanigans are the reason for the meet-cute. Alex has to bail his too-curious daughter out with his neighbor after she breaks into Wes’s basement. Gus, who is quirky and brilliant in her own way, has found a kindred spirit in Wes, and serves as the impetus that brings Alex and Wes together. Gus’s characterization is one of the bright spots in this already lovely novel, a precocious eight -year old who speaks and acts like a precious eight -year old. I spend much of my life surrounded by children of all ages so young characters in novel who ring true are a delight for me. Parrish also doesn’t shy away from showing the challenges of single-parenthood, from the scarcity of money to constantly arranging for child-care, making Alex’s situation feel more realistic.
Wes turns out to be a bit of a scientific genius who carries very real PTSD from a childhood spent overexposed to the scrutiny of others. For a sensitive introvert, he has substantial reasons for protecting his anonymity. He finds a fitting counterpart in Alex, who is the beating heart of this novel, a man who feels his emotions deeply and loves Gus with a passion that makes you want to curl around him and protect him from the world. Wes and Alex’s coming together is a real meeting in the middle, two opposites who find commonality in their kindness and in their ability to accept each other’s quirks, allowing understanding to segue into love.
The central tropes unifying the The Garnet Run series are hurt/comfort and opposites attract. Each novel sets up these characters along a series of binaries – physical vs. ethereal, logical vs. emotional, practical vs. artistic – and in those binaries, there are intersection where these supposed opposing spirits meet and heal each other. Each character in this series carries deep wounds from their pasts, wounds that isolate them, whether by design or circumstance. Parrish makes an astute observation about the nature of trauma – it isolates people, making them feel strange in a world that refuses to accommodate them. The heart of her series is how love bridges the loneliness created by trauma and pulls disparate people to create the kind of community they need to thrive. In Alex and Wes’s case, they bring each other out of the isolation caused by their respective traumas through sensitivity and understanding, with a hefty side of passion.
As a holiday novel, there is also the side plot of Alex fulfilling Gus’s wish to decorate their house with all the Christmas lights they can, a promise Alex makes in an effort to give her a bright Christmas that will compensate for his ex’s abandonment. As you can predict, this promise takes on a life of its own that I won’t spoil, but it is perfectly threaded into the black moment and the resolution of the novel. The Lights of Knockbridge Lane also has the distinction of being the first m/m romance in the Harlequin Special Edition Line, and it is a worthy groundbreaker. Parrish’s writing style, themes and heat level are a continuation of the work she started with Carina Adores, but shortened to fit the length requirements of Special Edition. It’s perfect for this contemporary category line, with its emphasis on varied queer representation, found family, and the power that love possesses to bridge the darkest traumas and bring light, both literally and figuratively, into the lives of people who open themselves up to its power.
It’s a perfect romantic read for any season of the year.
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