Book Spotlight: The Only Story by Camille Duplessis
Good evening friends, and we’re back with another new book spotlight! Today we shine the spotlight on a book that is near and dear to my heart. I know the author personally and I’m so excited to share their next book with you. If you love a good gothic setting with witches, selkies, and witch-hunters alike, you’ll want to grab this series. Highly recommend reading the first book of this series beforehand, but regardless, look for the review of this one coming VERY soon! Let’s check it out!
David Mills has always secretly yearned for the incredible. Due to his father’s dictates, he’s just settled for what’s proper. But after he makes an egregious mistake and learns his ex-lover is a selkie, everything he pretends to be starts to shatter: he’s forced to admit he’s never been as ordinary as he’s allowed others to think. Perhaps worse, he has to confront his self-built loneliness.
Achieving a dream of personal autonomy, Lennie Campling has broken away from a controlling stepfather who still manages to prey upon them financially. A pickpocket with a knack for precognition, they target David on the way out of his office – then follow him to undo the damage almost immediately. They’ve seen him in their dreams, and though the moment hasn’t happened yet, they know it’ll be important.
They hand back his effects, he passes them some banknotes… each surprises the other.
While neither Lennie nor David knows what to make of it, they’re soon drawn into ominous circumstances. Lennie needs safe harbor; David knows where to go. There could be a bit of bad blood between him and the Apollyons, but The Shuck has always housed people who are more than they seem. With luck, there he’ll start to find answers to his deepest questions – and Lennie will find the family they’ve never had.
While this is quite the opposite of yesterday’s happily ever after spotlight, there’s something about the dark and dreary that speaks to me as a reader. The settings, the wit, the melancholy of the story draws you in. The fact that the characters are part of the alphabet mafia (aka LGBTQA+) just makes it all the more amazing.
Will this be on your TBR soon?
