Rating: 
Summary: Great but......
Review: I'm quite a new fan of Gordon Merrick's novels. I've read the great urge downward and I like that book more than this one. I mean this one is too like a drama story which include details which I think sometimes isn't necessary to include in the story so I was like skipping & skipping.......the sex was hot but if comparing to the great urge downward, it's nothing. I've bought all 3 books of this series and i hope the second sequel and the final book are better. Cheers
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Summary: A gay story with a happy ending
Review: A bit of a tear-jerker but a good story. The reader will beapprehensive as he tries to anticipate what will happen next. The sexscenes were handled well. Personally, I didn^Rt like the terms of endearment. I am as homosexual as anyone could be, but I do not like to hear men refer to each other as ^SDearest^T and ^SDarling^T. I look forward to reading the other books in this trilogy.
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Summary: A Moving love story of Two Men comming of age.
Review: A love story of historic significance. Daring to bring the dark world of forbidden Love into the Light. A tale of two young men, brought togther for a summer of fun and companionship, but what grew out of that summer was a love story of epoch roportion. We were given the gift of sharing the sensation of the first touch and the inner most thoughts which accompanied it, We watched the unfolding of a beautiful, but sometimes brutal relationship, between two men. A story of Love and Passion previously reserved for "Mainstream" america but now; A story which gives hope and direction to young men growing up Gay. Thank you Gordon Merick for this offering.
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Summary: Timeless !
Review: I just reread this timeless novel and am as engross as ever in the love between Charlie and Peter. Again I find myself loving Peter but not Charlie. Perhaps because I am sentimental at heart and hates it when one half of a loving relationship abandons and betrays the other just because suddenly he could not withstand the pressure. However the satisfying ending makes up for Charlie's betrayal. Once again I feel that Charlie's and Peter's story should have just ended with The Lord Won't Mind and not continue into a trilogy. Reason being The Lord Won't Mind is perfect and complete in itself and the second and third books just spoil the enthrallment of Charlie's and Peter's love for each other.
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Summary: Gordon Merrick Then & Now
Review: I remember seeing Gordon Merrick's novels in bookstores when I was in my teens. They were softbound with provocative covers of half-naked men. I was instantly drawn. I read The Lord Won't Mind for the first time in the summer of 1991 in my mid-twenties. A man I was "bunking" with for a few days on Nantucket had purchased it (hardcover, no jacket, no images) from the library downtown for $.50. I could hardly put the book down once I started it. The material produces an arousal rather quickly. The description of its leading players, however, namely Charlie, Peter and the ever-whimsical C.B., give the reader the clear impression that there is more to the story at hand than sexual proclivities of the young and well endowed. Charlie Mills is the hero of Gordon Merrick's trilogy of male love (One For The Gods, Forth Into Light), Peter the undeniable ingenue. C.B. plays a rather due role. At the onset of the story, she is the pillar of strength to these young men; in the latter, she becomes more the object of dissention. (But do find out for yourself.) Unfortunately, I never got beyond the first few chapters of the book that summer before my "bunking" arrangement had ended and I had no further access to the book. I hunted it down in Manhattan only to discover that the heiress of its original publisher had put the material deliberately out of print. Several years passed before I read The Lord Won't Mind in its entirety, now re-published by Alyson Books. It is highly recommended reading for anyone who believes in the heart of the young, the steadfastness of true love, or just wants to read a hot novel.
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Summary: I've read it before, and will read it again.......
Review: I was 15 when I first read this book, and I have to say living in a small college town of Fayetteville, Arkansas, this book brought to me what I needed in a time of confusion and longing to know about gay love. Although it is definitely a romance novel, it is written with taste and passion. That was in 1980. I read the book again in 1989 for the second time and loved it just as much as I had before. I even wrote Mr. Merrick a letter praising him for writing this wonderful novel. In return I received a letter from his lifetime companion "Charles" informing me of the unfotunate death of Mr. Merrick. It is now 1999 and I have to say it has been refreshing to me to pick the book up again and read it for the third time. Mr Merrick wrote with compasion & detail. For example his delivery of the summer at C.B.'s house is so real to me. I can actually hear the leaves rustle, and feel the warm wind blow across my face. That was true with all of his scenarios written about in the book. I have to say that reading this book again brings back some old feelings of my youth. I am now 35 years old and it has been 20 years since I read this book for the first time. I plan on reading it again and again in the distant future.I agree, it may not be fine literature, but I will always recomend it with glowing reviews for anyone who wants to escape into the magic & passion of an innocent time for gay men.
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Summary: Surprisingly well-written for its type
Review: In college I took an English class...We had to read books by people of all ethnic backgrounds (although, naturally, there were no white straight male authors on the syllabus). Anyway,when it came time to read fiction by gay authors, this book was mentioned in a short story by a man who described a bit of Merrick's writing style (of course, his discussion focused mainly on the no holds barred sex scenes). Being a writer myself, and always wanting to ingest new forms of the art, I bought it and was surprised at how well-written it was. The story is definitely soap opera/Harlequin romance in nature, but so what? It works in the context, and Merrick's erotic passages are some of the most excellent written no matter what your fancy is.
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Summary: Surprisingly well-written for its type
Review: In college I took an English class...We had to read books by people of all ethnic backgrounds (although, naturally, there were no white straight male authors on the syllabus). Anyway,when it came time to read fiction by gay authors, this book was mentioned in a short story by a man who described a bit of Merrick's writing style (of course, his discussion focused mainly on the no holds barred sex scenes). Being a writer myself, and always wanting to ingest new forms of the art, I bought it and was surprised at how well-written it was. The story is definitely soap opera/Harlequin romance in nature, but so what? It works in the context, and Merrick's erotic passages are some of the most excellent written no matter what your fancy is.
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Summary: I liked it...I really liked it!!!
Review: like i stated...i liked it...i loved the characters and the conflict...the loss of love and the way the main characters Charlie and Peter just kind-of "live out" of their lives after Charlie seperates them...i loved it all...i mean i am a straight woman and i have read some of those awful romance novels for so-called "housewives" and this novel was sort-of like that...but better...the only truly sad part was the end when Peter's new love gets dumped on because dense Charlie finally figures out that he's gay and wants to get back with Peter the poor wonderful boy who fell wholly in love with a greatly wonderful guy at being totally self-centered(Charlie)...and then even though Charlie finally breaks away from his crazy grandma for the sake of his relationship with Peter he still looks up to her...i found that totally disappointing...and lastly the "happy go-lucky" ending left a great deal to be desired...i mean if the love of my life just up and turned against me without a very valid reason and sends me to not only lovelessness but also poverty and homelessness for the sake of a lunatic relative that pays their way for everything...and then suddenly walks back into my life after a couple small crises that could be dealt with quickly and efficiently after a few moments of rationalism and expects everything to be "hunky-dory"(i hate that term but it was appropriate)...i don't think so...i may be one to hold a grudge but come on...i don't know anyone that forgiving and half of my friends are almost as nice as the late and ever wonderful Mother Theresa...other than the too quickly wrapped up and too 50s "happy glaze over look"...i liked it...i really liked!!!
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Summary: Was Merrick a Woman-Hater?
Review: Several reviewers have mistakenly identified this book's setting as the 1960's. The correct setting is that of World War II - or the years in which it took place. This is an important point to note as it does have a great deal of bearing on the reader in understanding the circumstances of the characters. The world in which two men loved each other was far different in 1940 than it was in 1960, 1980, or 2000. The sexual escapades of these boys is revealing in the secrecy in which they must take place. This isn't the modern era or anywhere near it. Homosexuality was considered a mental illness - one for which men were sent to mental hospitals and relegated there for life. It was a time where a man thought to be homosexual was a social paraiah and not allowed to associate with regular society. It was a time where men knew they could be put in prison for such acts. I first read parts of this book that I acquired through a "five finger discount" as a youth of 14 only several years after its publication. I couldn't really read the book for fear my parents or friends would discover it. I perused it looking for the "dirty" parts which I was certain would tell me all I needed to know about sex between men - and then I promptly disposed of it. Only recently when I purchased a copy of it and read it (as it really would be unfair to say I had re-read it), I discovered that while "The Lord Won't Mind" certainly is vivid and descriptive in its sexual depictions, it is far from pornographic as I'd imagined it as a youth. In fact, with the exception of some of its more detailed descriptions, this book is not too unlike E.M. Forster's "Maurice". The quality of the written word is quite amazing - it was a fact that had escaped me many years earlier and made me think this author nothing more than a gay Harlequin romance writer. I have not yet read any of his other books, but I do intend to do so. I can only hope that the quality that Merrick displays in this, his first work of its kind, comes through in his other works. The book is the story of cousins, one very well to do and the other no so very much so, but certainly not poor. Brought together by their grandmother, the older, Charlie, is asked to watch over the younger, Peter, and help him along in life. Soon the twenty something boys discover that they are attracted to each other and decide to act on it. However, to give Merrick more his due, these boys are quite realistically portrayed, if not a bit too fawningly at times. The story builds as the boys discover their love for each other. Of course, no decent book can allow its two central characters true happiness without a few bumps in the road - and that's what this book is about. While today it might seem trite and ridiculous for two men to broach that subject so quickly and devotedly - you must remember that at the time there were no gay bars that a respectable person would dare set foot in. There was no internet nor clubs for such men. In other words, one could only hope to find a soul mate or partner and then did so happily without the modern cruising and recoupling that takes place today. In short, this is a fine book. It is far superior to most books of its type and, I'm happy that it was as groundbreaking as it was, because Merrick got to see his books reach acclaim before he died of lung cancer. Get it, read it, and immerse yourself in another era.
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