Breakaway Books

Authored by Samantha Allen; Published December 2024; Fantasy/Romance

⭐️⭐️⭐️ / 🏖️

If you think dragons and heaving bosoms when you see that a novel is fantasy/romance, let me be clear: that is not Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet. It’s more like a dead-end romance facilitated by inexplicable supernatural phenomena.

In Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet, ex-Mormon gay author Adam is getting close to throwing in the towel on his writing career when his agent calls him with an offer. One of the most famous actors of his generation, verified action hero Roland Rogers, wants Adam to ghost-write his memoir. Why? Because Rogers is gay, and he wants to come out. When Adam arrives at Roger’s’ house in California, though, it is immediately apparent that something is wrong. There is no Rogers to be found, except for a disembodied voice emanating from various pieces of technology. Turns out, Roland Rogers is, well, a ghost.

This is not a typical love story, and that is evident right from the start. There is no possibility of a happy ending or even a happy middle. I struggled from start to finish with the idea of a relationship between Adam and Roland, partially because, despite the fact that Roland is without a body, so much of the evolution of this relationship seems to be about physicality and lust. We see much less of their emotional development as it happens; it seems like the narrative skips over the weeks that build up their emotional bond straight to the end of Roland’s ghostly existence. It was difficult for me to understand what actually connects these two humans beyond the vulnerability that Adam forces out of Roland to be able to tell an honest version of his life story. Adam’s persistence in this quest strikes me as understandable, especially his frustration at Roland’s perpetually superficial answers that leave us all unable to understand the choices that he made.

Adam’s story is both heartbreaking and complex. Excommunicated from the Mormon church because of his sexuality, he is cut off from his family, writes his own memoir, and becomes an advocate for gay rights. But the narrative goes so much deeper than that, peeling away layer after layer of Adam’s struggle: his wondering about whether he has already fulfilled his purpose in life, his shame related to food, the spiral he is sent into about the afterlife by the whole experience with Roland. His battle with mediocrity as a writer with has to be one of the most realistic descriptions of trying to make a career as an author that I’ve ever read. Adam, alone, is a relatable and fascinating character—I just don’t get his relationship with Roland.

Roland Rogers Isn’t Dead Yet is a unique take on coming out with a supernatural twist. It’s probably not exactly what you picture when you think of romantasy, but don’t let that stop you!