Inconsolable. Ainslie Paton

Inconsolable
Ainslie Paton
Published: Escape Publishing
Date: 22nd August 2015
Format: e-ARC
Pages: 279
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: from the author.

Sometimes the only way to forgiveness is through love

Foley has a new boss she doesn’t like, a flatmate who’s been known to wear odd shoes, and a car that’s ready to pack it in. She hasn’t met a guy worth lipstick in forever, and though she planned a life less ordinary, the only thing unique about her is a badly thought through tattoo.

Until Drum.

Drum wasn’t always the cliff guy, a homeless man sheltering in a cave tucked above a popular tourist beach. He wanted to get as far away from his previous life as possible. Now he wakes with the sun, runs on the beach, does odd jobs for cash to buy food, and is at peace.

It’s Foley’s job to find Drum a safer place to live, but the only home Drum wants is the one place he can never stay: Foley’s heart.

Whenever I start an Ainslie Paton novel it is with a sense of anticipation - I expect a good story and Inconsolable gave it to me again as I became engrossed in the characters and their story, within an Australian setting.

It is obvious Drum is not your average homeless person and so my question was - who is he? What has happened in his life to bring him here?  He's feeling a load of guilt - why? The blurb says his homeless life brings him peace. I am not so sure about that, although it does help him to hang on, to control the anxiety and remorse he feels.  He lives life on the edge, hangs on to nothing. Yet he shows some caring towards others and is obviously intelligent.  He is a mystery man. A man who lives by his own set of rules, setting himself up as judge, jury and jailer over his own life. He's a great example of the wounded hero who eventually just might find healing. As a reader I wanted him to find his way, to be his best self.

Foley works at the local council and as part of her job she has been instructed to get rid of Drum from the cave he shelters in overlooking the beach on a cliff.  While she is partially successful in this, she forms a relationship with Drum that grows into deep friendship and love.  She is willing to go in and bat for him, she wants to be with him, to help him.  There is a passionate spark that ignites and she knows she loves him, but does he love her or will he hurt her?

It's a romance, so the reader (me) knows it is going to be a happy ever after. However Drum must make choices and really see what he values in life.  Perhaps homelessness is not the answer.  Perhaps love, kindness, understanding, forgiveness and really seeing others are what counts.

I loved seeing the development of the two characters and their finding of themselves and each other, and sighed with deep contentment as I finished a story with characters I was invested in and desperately wanted them to find their answers, to achieve their hopes and dreams. Loved it.