Book: SORRY by D. Lilith
Reviewed by ErikaWasReading
DNF @ 26% (108 of 400 pages)
I want to thank the author and Gay Romance Reviews for the opportunity to read an advance copy of this novel.
SORRY is the story of two men trapped in toxic relationships: Alex’s is cold and marked by distance, while Sam’s is soaked in alcohol and violence, and they find each other at the worst points of their lives. Can they overcome their individual trauma and find a future together?
I want to start by saying there are a lot of excellent pieces here. D. Lilith has a great approach to writing trauma. While the early scenes with Sam’s boyfriend are hard, nothing ever felt gratuitous. The book balances helping the reader understand Sam’s situation without ever feeling like the author is dragging it out.
The book has a lot of interesting characters, and I was curious to learn more about them. For example, Alex’s two best friends from the construction crew are fun side characters, and their interactions show that Alex is loved by his friends, even if they are goofballs.
So why the DNF? I found myself highlighting and noting paragraph after paragraph of info dumps and dialogue that was just blocks of exposition. In many places, instead of giving us insight into how the characters felt or how they interacted with the world around them, we got direct summary chunks. “We did X. Then we did Y. Next we did Z.”
This isn’t uncommon in a debut novel, which is why I read through page 100, but I found it was taking away from my interest in the characters and their story. There were also places where the writing/phrasing felt awkward. While the author is very upfront that English is not her first language, these moments didn’t feel like second-language awkwardness, but more like bumps in the writing.
That being said, D. Lilith is clearly talented, and I would definitely be willing to read their next book!