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2022 Lambda Literary Award Finalist - LGBTQ Erotica
It’s a hot summer down under and everyone’s got sex on the mind.
Eighteen year-old James has had a tough year. Having lost his mom to cancer and fought through grief to finish high school, he’s now got secret desires to contend with.
It’s Christmas in Sydney, and he’s ready to cast his worries aside for the summer holidays, a time of poolside parties, bush walks and ocean swims. But who is the seductive young man who’s moved into the spare room?
In this steamy coming-of-age novel, James and the men around him discover transformative new desires with the power to up-end lives or, possibly, unlock a brighter future.
This promising debut explicitly captures rites of passage in an era of fluid sexuality and elusive masculinity. In this short kaleidoscopic novel, four men act on new sexual desires, and in doing so, clarify who they are, who they want to be, and perhaps even what they stand for. With an authentic voice born of lived experience, Levi Huxton deftly and movingly portrays how sexual desire can lead us to come of age and re-invent ourselves, however old we may be.
Author: Levi Huxton
Paperback Published 24 January 2021 173 pages
Read and Recommended by Hendri:
"Full of unabashed steamy sex, this genre-defying novel unfolds an unusual tale of sexual awakening during a long, hot summer in Sydney, Australia. James is a shy, good-looking, eighteen-year-old who has just finished secondary school but feels unprepared to enter adulthood. He lives with his twin sister and his father, Frank, who is still coping with the loss of his wife. One day at the park, Frank bumps into a handsome and well-built man, Cary, and invites this enigmatic stranger to stay in the spare room. The arrival of Cary into the family home quickly morphs into a series of erotic encounters that involve first Frank and then James. But when Frank’s best friend, Mack and his son arrive from Paris to stay, the situation becomes even more uninhibited... Cary is a force of nature who pushes these (straight) men to move beyond rigid societal constructs of sexuality and manhood, and open themselves up to previously unthinkable possibilities. This erotic journey of self-discovery unlocks deeply-buried longings and enables these men to explore a more fluid sexuality. Brief in length and sexually explicit, Levi Huxton offers a rare reading experience: erotic, sexy, and intellectually engaging."
"Erotic and honest, readers will be wrapped under the spell of the main character, who has all of the others in his grasp. Authentic characterizations remind readers that life is frequently about letting go and embarking upon new adventures. The author capably creates emotional depth, making the conclusion especially impactful. A poignant and thoughtful storyteller." – The 2021 BookLife Prize
"The Lodger, That Summer is Mr. Huxton's first published work. While brief in length, it is intellectually challenging and shows great promise for the future." - Rainbow Book Reviews
"This book is not a romance and it is not intended to be one. It is, however, many other things. It is a highly charged erotic tale, a coming out story, a coming-of-age story, and a sexual awakening, but it also drives deeper to target and expose those hidden parts of a man’s soul. It is great to have found a new voice in author Levi Huxton with this debut book. His candor creates not only a melancholy spirit to parts of the story, but also an atmosphere that is tinged with tension, anticipation, and hope."- Joyfully Jay