Orphaned Crispin Thorne has been taken as ward by Philip Smallwood, a man he’s never met, and is transplanted from his private school to Smallwood’s house on an island on the beautiful but coldly remote Horsey Mere in Norfolk. Upon his arrival, he finds that he’s not the only young man given a fresh start. Myles Graham and Jude Middleton are there before him, and as their benefactor is away, they soon form alliances and friendships, as they speculate upon the sudden transformation of their circumstances. Who is Philip Smallwood? Why has he given them such a fabulous new life? What secrets does the house hold and what is it that the Doctor seems to know?

I am an admirer of the author Erastes,
She has an eye for historical detail and story telling. In this novel,she creates vibrant characters, gothic atmosphere and a mystery that keeps you guessing until the final chapter. Sex, Romance and Mystery. What's not to like. Another winner for this author.
My only complaint is that I felt the ending to be rushed.
The author slowly had build up suspense and a creepy atmosphere gthat made sense of the very dark last chapter.
And then it was over.
I really wanted more info on Crispin and Myles's life AFTER leaving the house. I think that would make a great story.

I also have some lingering, unanswered questions answered, such as:
What about Smallwood's will, who got the House and his fortune?
What about the servant's? Were they apart of Smallwood's delusion? ( )

Erastes is truly gifted in bringing a historical setting to life. The novel overflowed with detailed description, but never felt bogged down by it. And the language was completely on the mark for the time period. Plus, the characters warmed me and the mystery intrigued me. It was not an in-your-face mystery with a dead body on the first page; it was built slowly with subtle clues and misdirection. Philip Smallwood has taken in three orphan teens as his wards, all in disgrace for being “inverted.” The three boys were not raised to privilege, so as they learn about what society expects, so does the reader. The author gave the story and the romance some unexpected twists, keeping readers guessing through most of the tale. There is some sex. It is, thankfully, not fade-to-black, but it is also not explicit. (Readers should note that there is also a scene of non-con that is directly tied into the mystery). The story has a refreshing unpredictability that is often missing in gay romance. The story is told by Crispin, the youngest of the three. As he adjusts to his new life as a young gentleman, he begins to feel that something is wrong and wonders just why Smallwood took them in.

This novel easily deserved five stars, but for one major issue. The ending was disappointing. It was unnecessarily rushed into 2-3 pages, and ruined all the carefully built dramatic tension. Not only was I left with unanswered questions, but it also completely shortchanged the romance. I felt a little cheated – this needed an epilogue. Overall though, I enjoyed it so much that I read it through in one day, and I would recommend it to fans of the genre. ( )

As soon as I started this novel, the impression was that I was reading a gothic novel, something dating back to the golden age for this genre, that was the ’60 and ’70; the gothic novel was replaced in the favour of the main public by the romance in the late ’70 and ’80, and so it’s common to find “blended” novels, with a gothic plot mixed with a romance story. That is not exactly the case for Mere Mortals; true, there is a little romance (and if you are like me, not the one you were expecting), but it’s not the main outline of the novel.

Three young guys, Crispin, Jude and Myles, all three of them orphans, all three of them without any family to count for, and actually not even any idea of their own origins, are taken under guardianship by a wealthy gentleman, Philip Smallwood. At the beginning the story seems almost a schoolboys story, like some young adult novels set in boarding schools or similar. The three young men are really naïve, raised in the secluded walls of some remote school they have no idea of the outside world, and now that they have a taste of it, they are like inebriated. Of course they are young and passionate, and almost childish relationships intertwine them, some real, some imagined, some out of love, some out of jealousy. They soon discover they have something in common, all of them found in flagrante delicto with another boy at their own school, and so it’s almost natural for them to build this strange mix of friendship, brotherhood and love.

Then Philip enters the scene; I’m sincere, I was really expecting for Crispin (that is the main character, the one of the three boys who “talks” more) to fall in love for Philip: that would have been the logical evolution of a gothic novel, the young man falling in love for the dashing older man… but truth be told, I have never felt any “attraction” for Philip, and since we were “living” Crispin’s feeling, I suppose he was the one who was not attracted by Philip. In a way there were other supporting characters, like the Latin and Greek tutor, who were more interesting at Crispin’s eyes than Philip. But Crispin is proving his age, he is more attracted to Jude, maybe even to Myles, someone who resembles his lost lover Arch, the boy his same age who he loved at the boarding school.

I have to pay my homage to Erastes, since I started to understand where she was heading well in the working of the novel; I had a suspicious that the man who would have been Crispin’s lover was not so easy to pinpoint, but sincerely, I was not expecting the “dark” turn the story took almost in the end. It was a surprise but it was also quite right, once you put together all the pieces.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/1590210433/?tag=elimyrevandra-20