The Mentor of Barrenmoor Ridge by Jackson Marsh

It takes a brave man to climb a mountain, but it takes a braver lad to show him the way.

Following the death of his lover, mountaineer John Hamilton lives an isolated existence high on wild Fellborough peak. When he rescues 19-year-old Gary Taylor from the mountain, John can't accept that the boy may be the answer to his heartache. Gary is seventeen years his junior, confused, and being pursued by criminals. As Gary helps John through his grief, the older man mentors the lad through his coming out. Both paths could lead to love, but are they both heading for the same destination?

The Mentor of Barrenmoor Ridge is the first of the Barrenmoor series of mountaineering-themed M/M romances.

Book 1
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~  Also Available with KindleUnlimited  ~

Reviews by the Wicked Reads Review Team

Sarah – ☆☆☆☆
I love the wintery mountain scenery in this book. The story of a reclusive mountaineer and the village boy he rescues is alternately warm, sweet, and heartbreaking. After the death of his partner, John retreated from the world. When John rescues Gary in a brutal storm, the younger man pulls him into the present and forces him to feel again.

John’s grief and his long history on famous mountains are as much a part of this story as his present time interactions with Gary. While the past is full of extremes – exhilarating victories and devastating losses – the present with Gary is rather more peaceful. Neither John nor Gary are easy characters to like. John is hard and unemotional when we first meet him, and Gary is an angry teen. Throughout the story, they slowly soften each other. I’m still not sure about the age gap. Gary is very young and very vulnerable while John is older and successful. I wanted to believe in the two of them, but I couldn’t quite imagine a long-term future for these two.

The plot to this story is complicated, but also very slow. Trapped together in John’s cottage on a mountain in a storm, very little happens for much of the story. However, Gary’s villainous friends and other village dramas possibly make the story more complicated than necessary. Overall, I enjoyed the book and I liked both John and Gary.

Jackson Marsh is a British born author of novels and screenplays.

Jackson has a background of theatre, cabaret and music and yet holds a social policy degree. He was born on the Romney Marshes in Kent, UK, but now lives on a mountainous Greek island. During the 1980s in London he campaigned for gay rights and performed political satire cabaret, writing song and reviews, appearing at Pride events, national venues and on television.

He moved to Greece in 2002 and married his partner there in 2017. He has won awards for his gay erotic writing, and in 2007, won a European-wide award for short stories. In 2017, he won awards for his screenplay writing.

Jackson is the author of The Clearwater Mysteries, and also writes fiction under the name James Collins.

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ARC provided by

Reviewers on the Wicked Reads Review Team were provided a free copy of The Mentor of Barrenmoor Ridge (Barrenmoor #1) by Jackson Marsh to read and review.