Here’s another installment of my favorite series. Needless to say, I was excited to read it and pretty much devoured it in two days. This one is May Shipley and Alec Rossi’s (Zara’s brother) story.
I admit, I was a little confused when I first read the back blurb, since I’d been under the impression that May was a lesbian from previous books. However, it’s clear pretty early that she’s bi (which I’m sure fits the previous books just fine).
The book opens with May catching her girlfriend of ten months brazenly cheating in Alec’s bar, The Gin Mill. Alec fortunately keeps her from actually injuring the obnoxious woman her girlfriend is cheating with. He helps her move out that night and back into her parents’ house. Which is of course, humiliating. She’s got a history of being a little unstable, especially as a recovering alcoholic. Still, she’s finished law school and has her own firm (with a partner) doing real estate law (okay, fortunately that only comes in as significant at the very end of the book—phew).
Right after that, May has a function she has to go to that the now ex-girlfriend will be at, so she asks Alec to go with her as her fake date. He agrees and afterward they surprise each other with a hookup. Their chemistry is as strong as you’d expect with Bowen writing it. They eventually decide to have a no-strings-attached fling, which is great for a while. May’s still struggling with the end of what she thought would be a long relationship and Alec’s commitment-phobic, so they’re perfectly suited.
As ever, the book has funny moments but still deals with serious issues on both sides. Alec’s full of really bad jokes and there’s an ongoing funny with May claiming to have a relationship with “Selena from law school,” who is actually Alec. But then May’s alcoholism recovery is significant, though it’s not beaten into the ground or anything. I’d say there’s even less of it than Jude’s addiction fight in Steadfast, so Speakeasy’s not as heavy a book as that one. Still, her “addiction is an asshole,” as she puts it. Alec’s problems are less dramatic, but they shape him just the same. He’s running a successful bar, but he knows he needs to expand his offerings a little to stay competitive. His uncle could help him, but the guy thinks Alec’s still the thoughtless party boy he was as a teenager.
Of course the voice and dialogue are great as usual. Alec comes across at the beginning as a carefree guy who really isn’t interested in anything serious, even though he changes dramatically over the course of the book. May thinks his attitude will help her loosen up and live a little. Again, this time without alcohol.
There was a time in my life—in college—when I ran a little wild. I like thinking that Alec can see the fun girl in me. Maybe she isn’t totally gone.
Her self-esteem’s a little down and he’s helping her feel desirable again. As he later puts it,
“I want all of this. I want the whispered late-night conversations. And the holidays where we have to touch each other quietly in a bed that’s too small so we don’t become one of your grandfather’s jokes at the table.”
…
“I want to wake you up in the middle of the night to talk. And I want to wake up and see your bedhead and drink coffee together when we’re too tired to talk. It won’t always be a party, but it will always be us”
He won’t win any awards with that speech, but it hits all the important points.
Speakeasy’s required reading for fans of Bowen and anyone else who likes substantive contemporary romance.