Bittersweet by Madeleine Urban


Bittersweet
Title : Bittersweet
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : 1615813950
ISBN-10 : 9781615813957
Language : English
Format Type : ebook
Number of Pages : 86
Publication : First published March 1, 2010

His business failing and his marriage floundering, Harrison Holden is falling apart. To make things worse, he wakes one morning to see Piers Claybrook, a man he rescued after a car crash, standing in front of him-the same Piers who'd died in the hospital the night before. Now a ghost, Piers believes he's with Harrison to make a difference in the other man's life. It's up to the two of them to find the key to living-and dying-and how to walk the line in between without being separated by it. Reprint: This novella was originally published in the Dreamspinner Press anthology Desire Beyond Death.

Bittersweet Reviews

  • Evaine

    Short and sweet. :) Those are the first words that came to mind when I sat down to pen my thoughts. Apparently this was Madeleine's first book published by Dreamspinner and I can see the difference between it and her later works. Bittersweet is an out and out romance with maybe an overtone of paranormal. The problem I had with it was that I wanted more. The main characters, Harrison and Piers, were nicely fleshed out and nicely unique in the world of m/m romance. (I was especially pleased that Harrison had a 'lightly furred' chest. I know, shallow, but it tickled - oh, bad pun - me.) There was a great plot here but I wished it had been filled out more. I wanted more interaction between Harrison and his son, I wanted more of the battle between Harrison and his soon-to-be ex-wife. I wanted to know more about Piers and the relationship he had with his best friend, Gerard. Okay, I just wanted MORE. The love scenes were hot - there was one kiss especially that was really, really well done - and despite the straying into purple prose' territory once in a while, I quite enjoyed them. All in all, a nice read for a quiet evening, but again, I think I'd have enjoyed it more if there had been more. That being said, Madeleine Urban remains as one of my most very favorite m/m authors.

  • Fangtasia

    It may sound strange to call a story involving a ghost 'believable', but this one is. The characters are described as people you might interact with daily, the story makes sense and the progress is completely natural. Heart wrenching and heart warming, funny and sad, it all happens at the right times and comes together for an ending that defines HEA. Loved it!

  • Claudia

    This felt more like an outline than a finished book to me. And a very early one, when the author doesn't know very well where does she wants the story go yet.

    I was very wary about reading this book, as I read the 'Cut and Run series by this author and only liked the first book, but I thought that being a different genre... oh, well, at least it was short.

  • Td

    I spent part of this story confused. The "ghost" might as well been a real person that no one else could see. I've never heard of a ghost that could take real showers and change into real clothes and get physical so much. It made a little more sense to me at the end...and then I was confused again. Also, head hopping like this I can usually get used to after a chapter or so but I had a hard time with this one for some reason and it kept throwing me off. Liked some parts very much and the message of the story was beautiful, but question marks get popping in my head and I wasn't able to completely let go.

  • Wendy❤Ann

    Some things cleared up at the end of the story, but I still couldn’t help feeling as if I were missing a few key pieces of the overall puzzle. I enjoyed the book despite finding it a bit disorienting. There was one moment in particular that was quite poignant, and that seemed to be the turning point in the story towards resolving the big question of how does a future become possible between a human and a ghost?

  • Jen

    Very sad but with happy ending. Warning to self that this causes an ugly cry, so don't read in public :-)

    December 2016 read it again. This time around it felt melodramatic and I skimmed through most of the sex. But, I enjoyed the concept immensely.

  • Marlobo ♥ epilogues

    Read as part of
    Desire Beyond Death: Tales of Eternal Love Anthology

  • Indigo

    I just love Ms. Urban's work !

  • OkayKim

    I liked it. Just it had a few holes in the story that I wished had been answered.

  • JD

    I sweet love story in 86 pages.

  • Allie

    Loved Piers, loved Harrison 'Harry'. Wanted so much more. Brought tears to my eyes. Wanted MORE!

  • Kittykills

    if I'd read this first before cut and run books I would have passed and that would have been tragic. luckily I did not. very short ghost, skanky cheating wife, wife's gay lover boy, HEA. idk

  • Susan65

    Not as heartbreaking as I was expecting...thankfully.