Elin Gregory

“Oh season of mellow mists and fruitfulness!” as the poet said.

Or, as we say more frequently round here, “Oh, bollocks, it’s raining again!”.

Autumn is here – Fall, if you live across the pond – and I think it’s a good time to count the summer blessings before girding our loins for the winter blight. The “Fall Into Romance” blog hop from TRR is a grand way to do this because it allows me to pay tribute to one of the excellent books that have made this somewhat difficult summer bearable.

Here’s my choice:

Junk by Josephine Myles

Letting go is the first step to healing…or bringing it all crashing down.

The Bristol Collection, Book 1

When an avalanche of books cuts off access to his living room, university librarian Jasper Richardson can no longer ignore the truth. His ever-growing piles of books, magazines and newspapers can no longer be classified as a “collection”. It’s a hoard, and he needs professional help.

Professional clutter clearer and counselor Lewis Miller thinks he’s seen it all, but even he has to admit he’s shocked. Not so much by the state of Jasper’s house, but by the level of attraction he still feels for the sexy bookworm he remembers from school.

What a shame that Lewis’s ethical code forbids relationships with clients. As Jasper makes slow but steady progress, though, the magnetic pull between them is so strong even Lewis is having trouble convincing himself it’s a temporary emotional attachment arising from the therapeutic process.

Jasper longs to prove to Lewis that this is the real deal. But first he’ll have to lay bare the root of his hoarding problem…and reveal the dark secret hidden behind his walls of books.

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This is a delicious read on many levels. For a start I could very much identify with Jasper’s plight. I come from a family that finds it very hard to throw anything useful away, especially books, so our level of clutter is what most people would find completely unacceptable. [However, it’s noticeable that those folks with the lovely tidy minimalistic houses are often on my doorstep asking for help with school projects or the right type of fuse wire or a corset bone or two and some fossils or a book about the battle of Blenheim or ‘have you got any chain mail’.] Poor Jasper can’t say no when an unloved book says “Take me home” and has reached the point where he has rooms he can no longer enter due to book avalanches. He needs help and lovely Lewis, with the assistance of his in yer face sister, Carole, is just the guy to provide it.
Lewis has his own problems, not least one of the funniest families I’ve ever enjoyed reading. Lewis’s Mum and Dad are brilliant and his family life is one to make me curl up in embarrassment while hooting with laughter.
There are moments of pure comedy, potential danger – did you know people regularly get buried alive by their hoards? – fabulous secondary characters, genuine pathos and Big Secrets.

Comment to win a copy of Junk in the format of your choice – don’t forget to leave your email address. If the winner doesn’t want to read Junk I’ll provide an alternative but you’ll be missing out.

Once you’ve commented, click on the button below and it will take you to the next blog on the hop.