‘Our Black Hearts Beat As One’ by Brian Asman – Book Review

The newest work of fiction from the brilliant mind of Brian Asman, Our Black Hearts Beat As One, will be released on October 24, 2023, just in time for Spooky Season. After reading, and loving, his previous novella, Man, Fuck This House, I nearly tripped over myself running to snag this ARC from NetGalley. And let me tell you. IT. WAS. WORTH. IT.

Synopsis:

Michael Mallory’s living the dream as the lead singer of a hot, up-and-coming band, Modern Love. When a sudden breakup shatters his world, he plunges headlong into the city’s occult underbelly in a desperate bid to salve his pain. Lost amidst wayward souls and brutish killers, godlings and grotesqueries, Mike’s about to learn one incontrovertible fact:

There’s nothing more terrifying than love.

My list of favorite reads for this year is already way too damn long, but I have to add Our Black Hearts Beat As One to that list now. This weird, genre-bending, mind-fuck of a tale has stolen my (black) heart. I would be hard-pressed to pick a single genre to which I would assign this novella. It is part fantasy, part comedy, part horror, with a dash of tragedy, and a heaping helping of romance. I shudder at using the word “romance” to describe anything on my list of favorites, but at its core, this is a love story. An offbeat, fucked up, epic odyssey of a love story. And as the synopsis says, love is terrifying.

The characters and mythology of this book transform it from a simple story of a broken heart to something truly magical. Starting out on an exceptionally normal day, suddenly everything changes and nothing is what it seems. Brian Asmanweaves worlds within worlds and stories within stories that will leave your head spinning and keep you thinking about this story long after you finish reading it. This story had me so thoroughly intrigued and invested I felt like I couldn’t read it fast enough. I desperately needed to know what happened next.

I suspect the genre-defying nature of Our Black Hearts Beat As One will make it fairly divisive, with readers either loving or hating it. Either way, I just hope people are reading it, because this is way too good to be missing out on. Pre-order the ebook or paperback from Amazon today.