The Crosses-Boy's Counselor is a novel by Christopher Astley Thomas (Justice Reaper on this site), published on March 23, 2021. It is his first original novel.
Dover Richmond, a resident of Montego Bay, St James in Jamaica, is a divorced man who is still harboring bitter feelings three years after having caught his wife Keisha cheating on him. Because of that, he can't exactly explain why, one night, he decides to take part in a speed-dating event at his local bar. But that decision to participate seems to be the opening of a doorway for him, as during the few minutes where he begins participating, he makes a brief acquaintance of a woman named Sitara Alvan.
As it turns out, Sitara is a sex therapist and a newcomer to Montego Bay, and despite Dover's initial awkwardness, she decides she would like to get to know him better. But although there's a mutual interest, Dover now has to come to terms with the underlying anger he still feels toward Keisha, which might endanger his new relationship if he doesn't nip it in the bud.
The novel can be found here
, available in both Kindle and paperback format.
Examples of tropes in this novel:
- A-Cup Angst: Dover quips that his sister Carolyn is as flat-chested now as when she was 15. Carolyn is not amused.
- Arc Words: "Nothing beats a trial but a failure."
- Bedroom Adultery Scene: How Dover found out Keisha was cheating on him, and with his best friend at that.
- Berserk Button: Sitara confides to Dover that the estrangement between her mother and aunt is so bad, and the lack of contact with or information about said aunt so complete, that her mother will lose her temper at the mere mention of said aunt. According to her, she once asked about the aunt when she was 10 years old; her mother's response was to flog her with a belt.
- Bilingual Bonus: While the story is in English, the dialogue includes a number of words and phrases that are unique to the local Jamaican dialect. It's even present in the novel's title, with "crosses" as an adjective being used in reference to someone who is seen as a troublemaker or otherwise problematic; in-universe, it's one of Kenrick's many insults toward Dover. For another example, Carolyn unreservedly describes Keisha as a "g(j)innal sketel bitch," basically calling her a dishonest and scheming whore for cheating on Dover.
- Boyfriend-Blocking Dad: Sitara describes her father as having been this to her when she was in high school, as part of efforts to ensure she didn't get pregnant before completing her education.
- Cool Big Sis: Dover's older sister Carolyn, with whom he's been close since their childhood days.
- Does Not Like Spam: Mr. Bellamy hates yam, whole wheat bread, and milk in his coffee. That his wife has prepared those as part of their breakfast one morning, despite knowing he hates those items, serves as an example of the growing disconnect between them.
- Empty Fridge, Empty Life: The general blandness of Dover's life gets lampshaded by Carolyn when she looks in his fridge during one visit early on. The fridge contains nothing but a bottle of water, a bottle of soda, two packs of salt-fish, a jar of peanut butter, and something else that she's "not even sure was made in this century."
- Famous Ancestor: According to Sitara, her mother's ancestry can supposedly be traced back to a Spanish lord from the 1850s, who passed down a lamb recipe through the family line to Sitara's grandmother, who then passed it on to Sitara herself.
- Food Porn: This being a story set in Jamaica, the novel gets pretty descriptive about the local cuisine. For one early example, in Chapter 5, Sitara and Carolyn have a breakfast meeting at a local restaurant where Sitara is eating a traditional Jamaican meal of ackee and saltfish with boiled bananas, fried dumplings, and bammy slices, along with a cup of jasmine tea.
- Happily Married: Sitara's parents have been blissfully married for 45 years.
- The Loins Sleep Tonight: One of Sitara's clients, Mrs. Bellamy, complains that her husband no longer seems interested in having sex despite them having been married for 32 years. Sitara wonders aloud if this trope could be the reason for that, but Mrs. Bellamy counters that she knows that's not it, since she's seen for herself that her husband still has a Raging Stiffie every morning.
- The Matchmaker: If Dover's comments about his sister Carolyn are to be believed, apparently she's tried to hook him up with different people following his divorce.
- Never Be Hurt Again: Sitara correctly surmises that Dover hasn't gone on any dates in the three years since his divorce, primarily because he doesn't want a repeat of his experience with his ex-wife.
- Noodle Incident: Dover makes brief mention of an embarrassing incident Carolyn had with a rock-cake during her 14th birthday party—but before he can get into detail about it, Carolyn threatens to spill the beans about an equally embarrassing incident where Dover tried to profess his love for his sexy Spanish teacher during high school. Dover immediately tacks on that he'll be shutting up.
- Obnoxious In-Laws: Played straight with Dover's former brother-in-law Kenrick Sutherland, who had never accepted him as Keisha's husband and is still frosty toward him even three years after the divorce. In fact, Dover recalls that when the divorce took place, Kenrick got drunk at the nearest bar and went on a rant about how he'd been telling Keisha to dump Dover for all the five years of their marriage.
- Only-Child Syndrome: Addressed in a positive way with Sitara. While she admits that she wishes she had had siblings while growing up, especially after watching Dover and Carolyn interact with each other, she also says that being an only child helped to prepare her for adult independence since she had to help her parents with the household chores.
- Poor Communication Kills: From her sessions with the Bellamy couple, separately and together, Sitara concludes that this trope is part of what's degrading their sex life and, by extension, the rest of their marriage. She bases this on the differing stories they've told her about their previous approaches to sex (Mr. Bellamy thinks their sex life is okay, but that Mrs. Bellamy seems to be participating more out of obligation than desire; Mrs. Bellamy thinks he's all but forgotten what sex even is) and to marriage counseling (he says he wants to know why they should go for counseling, but that she refuses to give a reason; she says that he's insisted there's nothing wrong that needs counseling).
- Shipper on Deck: Carolyn enthusiastically encourages Dover to pursue a relationship with Sitara, much to his annoyance.
- The Shrink: Sitara's job has her working as a sex-therapy counselor for the local health department.
- Speed Dating: How Dover and Sitara first meet.
- Supreme Chef:
- Sitara is able to work wonders even with a can of butter-beans, a piece of salt-fish, a pack of fettuccine pasta, olive oil, ketchup, soy sauce, garlic powder, and an onion, as Dover attests when he tastes the end result. She got it from her father, himself a restaurant manager.
- There's also Mrs. Sutherland, Dover's former mother-in-law, who he notes has always been an excellent cook.
- Teen Pregnancy: According to Sitara, witnessing a number of girls fall victim to this during her high school years was part of her inspiration to become a sex therapist. It also happened to her aunt, her mother's sister, and it caused a divide in their family; she notes that the two older women are still estranged from each other years later because of it.
- Trademark Favorite Food:
- Kenrick regularly orders cream-cheese bagels at the same sandwich-shop Dover frequents for lunch.
- At one point, Dover recalls Keisha's favorite dish of shepherd's pie, done with a light-golden mashed potato crust and a mixture of finely diced beef, two types of cheese, green peppers, carrots, corn, and onions as the filling. He also mentally notes that it's his former mother-in-law's specialty, prepared for special occasions.
- The Unfair Sex: During their second meeting, while he and Sitara are discussing the circumstances that led to his divorcing Keisha, Dover takes offense at what he sees as Sitara's suggestion that he had a part to play in the breakdown of his marriage. In his eyes, it is sexist and biased to suggest that when a wife cheats, it's somehow the husband's fault.
- Wedding Ring Removal: When he attends the speed-dating session at the start of the story, Dover notes that a few of the men who are present have pointedly taken off and hidden their wedding rings.
