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Note: This review contains spoilers for the previous Borealis Investigations series.
North and Shaw are back in Indirection, the first book in Gregory Ashe’s new four part series Borealis: Without a Compass, which sees them moving into a new phase of their lives – as both romantic partners and partners in a growing, successful business. All the things I so loved about them in their first series – their crazy chemistry, their frequently hilarious (and frequently bonkers) banter, their great friendship and deeply-rooted affection – are still here, and it’s nice to see them (mostly) happy and in love while at the same time, they’re hitting the same speed-bumps we all hit when it comes to juggling the demands of work and home.
When we first met them in Orientation, their private investigation business – Borealis Investigations – was struggling. North had lost his PI license due to a complaint made against him, and work was thin on the ground. Things did start to pick up however, and they were doing better when, at the end of Declination, Shaw’s father hired them to conduct investigations for his company, and they’ve had as much work as they can handle ever since. This is exactly what they wanted – they’re turning a profit, they’re making a name for themselves … but the downside is that their personal relationship is suffering because North is working every hour God sends and Shaw is feeling a little bit left out as a result. (Poor Shaw is the victim of some very inventive cock-blocking here – which is all I’m going to say!)
He’s also not completely happy with the direction the business is headed. When he and North started Borealis, Shaw wanted to do something to help the LGBTQ+ community, to help people who often couldn’t get help elsewhere, and doing corporate work Isn’t really what he wants to do. So when the woman who runs Queer Expectations – a gay romance book convention – turns up with tales of threatening emails and begs for their help, Shaw is chomping at the bit to take the case and get out of their current rut of corporate drudgery. North isn’t wild about the idea – they’re slammed with other jobs and – but, well, he’s putty in Shaw’s hands, and of course they take the case.
As soon as they step into the hotel where the con is taking place, they’re plunged into a whole basket of crazy, from overenthusiastic and cosplaying fans to backstabbing authors. The whole thing is doing North’s head in, while Shaw loves it and wants to fanboy his favourite authors! – but they find it hard to get useful information out of anyone and aren’t convinced the whole thing isn’t going to turn out to be a massive waste of time. Until, that is, the convention’s headliner and bestselling author Scotty Carlson is poisoned during a panel, in front of a packed crowd.
Fingers are pointed and revelations come thick and fast as the number of suspects increases and several of the other authors suffer ‘accidents’; the pace is almost frenetic as North and Shaw start to dig up some unpleasant truths in what feels like an episode of Murder She Wrote on speed (but with sex and a lot more swearing!). I had no idea who the villain of the piece was – Mr. Ashe strews his red herrings around with gleeful abandon – but honestly, I was quite happy to sit back while North and Shaw did the heavy lifting and wait for them to figure it out because I was having so much damn fun reading it! They’re so well- attuned to each other that they work together like a well-oiled machine, and their roundabout conversations, where they go off at weird tangents, finish each other’s sentences and completely baffle everyone around them – are hilarious.
While the plot is huge fun, it’s also very meta. Setting the story at a romance convention gives the author a chance to poke some gentle (and not so gentle) fun at the archetypes and prejudices and entrenched views held about the romance genre, and a lot of the conversations about romance – and queer romance especially – are on topics that have been doing the rounds of the internet and social media for a while – which doesn’t in any way negate their relevance.
While North and Shaw are trying to find out who is behind the poisoning and other ‘accidents’, there’s another storyline bubbling along in the background, which was hinted at at the end of the pervious series when North’s slimy “uncle” Ronnie hinted he’d be asking North to do some stuff for him and strongly hinted it had something to do with Aldrich Acquisitions. Ronnie turns up again here and tells North he wants him to get some video or photographs of a man he knows is attacking young gay men. North wants nothing to do with Ronnie and wants to tell him to go to hell, but Shaw’s cooler head prevails, and he says they’ll do what Ronnie wants – while they figure out how to deal with him in the long term. We find out exactly what Ronnie is holding over North’s head here – and it’s not pretty. I’m guessing this will be the series’ overarching plotline – and that it’s going to get worse before it gets better.
For all of the craziness surrounding the investigation, there are some lovely quiet and tender moments between North and Shaw that continue to show just how much they care for each other, and I like that even though they’re a couple now, and even though they’ve known each other for years, they still have things to learn about each other and about relationships.
I was pleased to see Pari toned down a bit in this book. I didn’t like her in the previous series – she was forever complaining about something and never seemed to do any work – here, she’s less shouty and actually proves herself to be a good friend at an important point in the story. Who knows, if this improvement continues, I might find myself actually liking her (gasp!). Jadon is back, too, and I can’t help hoping that perhaps he’ll find a special someone as well – after all he’s been through, he deserves it!
My one complaint is that at times there was just a bit too much to take in. There are a lot of suspects and a lot of moving parts to the mystery and I had to stop a couple of times and try to take stock of who was who and how A related to B and so on. But that’s all I can really think of that didn’t work for me in this one.
Clever and exciting, sweet, sexy and often very funny, Indirection marks a triumphant return for the Borealis Boys, and gets this new series off to a very strong start. I’m eagerly looking forward to seeing what Mr. Ashe has in store for them next.
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Grade: A-
Book Type: Romantic Suspense
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 20/03/21
Publication Date: 03/2021
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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I really enjoyed Shaw and North in this one. I liked how they had some arguments but they never escalated into “everything is ruined” territory like they tended to do in the last trilogy. And I always love their dynamic and their bickering (you know they would rather bicker with each other than have a pleasant conversation with anyone else).
I also relate to Shaw a bit too much (I too love yoga, and while I’m not a level 5 psychic I have been known to partake in some tarot) and his Pure 15 diet made me laugh. That was genius and I’m sure the Pure 15 diet will be an actual thing soon.
However, the queer romance convention seemed strange. This might be because I’ve never attended any romance conventions – but the way the attendees were presented seemed odd. Like, I don’t think there were any lesbian attendees or writers mentioned? Or any trans or non-binary attendees/writers? It didn’t really reflect my reading experience of queer romance, but maybe this is who shows up at the conventions?
I’ve never been to a convention either, but I know from people who have that things can get pretty whacky!
I enjoyed this and thought it was a lot of fun. Except for a bit towards the end, the overall tone was much lighter and funnier than the first Borealis series.
I particularly enjoyed all the Romancelandia in-jokes and thought Lars and the Twerpy Twink was hilarious!
Yes, Pari is growing on me too and I would also like some good things for Jadon. I can’t remember how soon this book starts after the end of Declination – a few months? – but I was surprised to see him back at work as normal after all that had happened to him.
Uncle Ronnie is the pits and I’m sure we’re going to see a lot more of him……….
At least we only have to wait until May for the next book.
I think it’s said somewhere it’s a few months after the end of Declination. This was such a lot of fun and the in-jokes were great… but now we know what Ronnie is holding over North’s head, I suspect things are going to get a lot darker. It wouldn’t be a Gregory Ashe series if it was all sweetness and light, would it?
Too true!
AAR introduced me to Gregory Ashe and I’ve spent the last year or so reading every one of his books that I can get my hands on. I think it was his backlist and new releases (along with Charlie Adhara’s Big Bad Wolf series) that helped to get me through lockdown and the rest of 2020! Also, the fact that he shares a free short story with almost every new release is just wonderful.
I had a lot of fun reading this one and I’m happy we’re revisiting North and Shaw. Like with all of the other couples/partnerships Ashe has created, I love the way they play off of each other and can kind of have more than one conversation going on at once. I also enjoyed that even though North and Shaw are now an established couple, we continue to get little glimpses into the early years of their friendship, which are often both sweet and funny.
As much as I’m looking forward to the next Borealis book though (as well as the next book in Ashe’s collaboration with C.S. Poe), I so want to hear more about Theo and Auggie! And, yes, I feel very greedy writing that considering all of the wonderful new releases and short stories we’ve gotten from Mr. Ashe within just the last twelve months (how does he do it?)!
I think he’s just very organised (or he’s been cloned!) I don’t have any news about more Theo and Auggie; all I do know is that I believe GA is focusing on finishing this series (which is 4 books – book 2 is out in May) and then getting back to H&S… I’m crossing my fingers there’s room in there for more Theo & Auggie.
Oh wow, I’d missed that link!
Read the Valentine’s Day short in Off Duty 2, the scene where H&S go into a classroom… GA does seem to like to link things and drop in little Easter Eggs for us fans (remember the bit in The Same End when Tean gets a Prowler match with “Billy, an actor from Missouri”?)
Yes, I picked up on Billy. He gets in all the series – I’d forgotten that he’s in the first Borealis book until I reread it last week!
I had forgotten “Dr. Stratford” is mentioned in Off Duty 2, but I just went back and saw I had highlighted his name, so I must have noticed at the time! And, the reference to the teacher as “an old friend.” Thanks for the reminder!
As you said, given the end of OD2, we might get a peak in an upcoming H&S book. I’ll keep my fingers crossed.
Knowing the way GA likes to cross his characters over I will be extremely surprised if it doesn’t happen at some point :)
LOL @ “or he’s been cloned!”
The pace at which he seems to be able write one high-quality book after another is mind-blowing, but I certainly appreciate his talent for (and dedication to) doing so! Even when I’ve had a hard time focusing on other books this past year, which has been most of the time, I’ve always been able to get caught up in one of Ashe’s books, even if it’s just a re-read for what already feels like the hundredth time. He is just so good!
I’m always up for more H&S (and I already have Misdirection pre-ordered), so that’s fantastic news. I’ll be more than ready to see more of Auggie and Theo when he is able to get back to them.
I’ve lurked on AAR for years, but this is the first time I’ve commented. I’m not sure what’s taken me so long, but this has been great!
Welcome to the fray, then! I’m glad you felt prompted to de-lurk – and to find a fellow Ashe fan. Don’t be a stranger from now on!
My vote is for more H&S with North and Shaw. Those scenes in Transactional Dynamics are priceless. I saw somewhere that H&S will be back in 2021 – so hopefully that means 2nd half. I cannot believe how much amazing content he pumps out – my favorite author right now by far.
I don’t know if there will be any more crossover between the two series, but I suspect we’ll see other familiar characters in the new H&S series.