Get Started On From Out In The Cold Authored By L.A. Witt Presented As Paper Edition

my first Christmas novel this year

I had this freebie for a while on my Kindle and thought about trying it since it's getting colder and colder outside.

The blurb sums it up perfectly, I've enjoyed it even if it was sadder than I expected, I was super sorry for how Jeremy's parents talked to him, And on Christmas Day! This story felt pretty realistic, the PTSD and the flashbacks, the pain, the stress, I just wanted Neil and Jeremy to get together sooner, All that beating around the bush got me bored at times, But I'm giving it,because the last chapters and the epilogue were great! Sweet HEA ,

Oh, my, . . tears
This is beautiful, both Jeremy and Neil are not perfect, far from perfect even,
I don't think this a usual Holiday fluffy story I read during Holiday, But it works for me,

I had a hard time near the end of the book, when Neil and Jeremy at Neil's parent's house on Christmas.

You need some tissues on that part,
But it's worth it,
Two fucked up in the head, best friends since they're little boys, and losing each other, continued with their lives, and life happened.


Nothing is perfect, but that what's make this story awesome,

After a hurtful separation, fate suddenly got them together again, but it's not easy for both of them, knowing they're still have to cope with their own grief.

But they managed it and finally found what they're waiting for all this time,

I loved this story, It's just beautiful.
Read it.

Recommended. A beautiful heartfelt story, wonderfully told, Neil and Jeremy are childhood friends and past lovers, and after ayear period of time with no contact, Jeremy turns up on Neil's doorstep one cold December night.
Jeremy did three tours in the Middle East, and left the military afteryears, suffering from PTSD and has nowhere to go after his family disowned him for being gay.
Neil suffered an unimaginable tragedy and is struggling, while having a family who loves him, but doesn't want to hear anything about his life as a gay man.
We got both Neil and Jeremy's POV, and Witt does such a wonderful job of showing their friendship, their love, their fears and how they struggle to come out of their tragedies stronger, and together.
Another L. A. Witt Kindle freebie!!

I, ah, . . I, um liked it

I think I might have,



ponders

I didn't hate it, That's a step in the right direction, I guess



I thought it was going to be some angsty, epic, PTSD, sexual tension between damaged men.
And it was just a drawn out should have been novella,



Neil is suffering from not being able to come out to his family and share a traumatic event that has been driving him crazy.
. . literally. And I get his sense of guilt but he took it to an extreme at times, And he helps an estranged best friend off the street in December, recently retired soldier Jeremy, Jeremy's family disowned him upon arrival home due to being gay, :

That part was done well, And the PTSD attacks. Jeremy being so open about his issues, so quickly, . . I didn't buy. And he and Neil's whatever you call it. They barely talked to each other about their actual feelings for one another, It went from bullshit filler talk straight to "I love you",

I felt like Charlie Brown and Neil amp Jeremy were Charlie Brown's teacher:



Wah, wah, wah, wah.
For reals.

I was not a fan of Neil and Jeremy's dialogue or their relationship, I enjoyed the alternatingst POV, you don't know how many times I've wished a couple of books did that, However, it's not enough of a saving grace for me, I did like Jeremy mostly, Neil, I'm beginning to become apathetic to, I'm not going to even pinpoint why this book was closer to meh for me,

And the epilogue



WTF was that Where's my shovel to muck through that BS

Really



Everything ends so cookie cutter



Really



I like the spotlight brought to the people who serve in the military and the aftermath that can effect so many lives.
It was the best part, The friendship theme wasn't bad, even the boinking part wasn't bad,

But that last, . .

I had a very bad start with L, A. Witt's books. One of the first m/m I read was the utterly ridiculous "Unhinge the Universe" and after that I stayed away from L.
A. Witt for almost two years, But this book It had not one but TWO traumatized characters! And second chances! And Christmas on top, I had to try it,
Well I didn't hate it. I'm quoting another review here but that's about as much enthusiasm as I can express about this book, All right, there is more to say for it, It was not boring. At least the first half of it wasn't, I actually liked the first half, Then everything kinda fell apart,
It was probably that there was too much of everything I mean having Neil struggling with his grief and his loneliness and then his childhood friend reappearing in his life.
. . it probably would've already made a book, But here we also have this childhood friend Jeremy having PTSD, And Jeremy's family being infernal homophobes, And Neil's family being homophobic bigots, And some drama of Neil and Jeremy having tried to start a relatioship twice and failing both times, And

now they try for the third time and are not sure if they want it, and what, and how, . . too much. It was like my emotions were pulled in too many directions and at some moment I just stopped caring,
Okay, not completely. I hated Jeremy's family all right and really, Jeremy's conversation with them, . . man, it's obvious they wouldn't spit on you if you were on fire, why are you begging for their support Support can only be given willingly, you can't get it by whining or demanding it.

And Neil's family was just a little better, Oh yeah, they kinda realized they were wrong So now everything is dandy All right, I'm an unforgiving bitch, . . no wait, I'm not, I just don't think that saying "I'm sorry" heals all the wounds, It doesn't. Especially not the wounds that were inflicted by the people closest to you,
Well, and the part of the story that felt like a biggest problem for me was Neil and Jeremy's relationship, For one thing, I never really understood what went wrong two first times when they slept with each other, So I couldn't figure out why this time was going to be different, Another thing is we kinda get something about Neil and Jeremy being friends as kids and getting into a lot of pranks together, But then they don't interact AT ALL for five years, And even after they meet again, they don't interact much either, There is no sense of connection between them and every time I felt there should be, there was sex instead, Well, sometimes sex IS the connection, when a sex scene is written in such a way but not here, I'm sorry, here sex was skippable and I always felt disappointed with it, Like they start talking about giving them together another try, and here I'm waiting for them to talk about what can go wrong, or why it should be different from previous times, or something something to understand them.
But nope it's just sex, and then they both say "I love you", For me those "I love you" were coming out of nowhere,
Did you love Neil when you didn't contact him for five years, Jeremy Did you love Jeremy when you were with Bruce, Neil That also rubbed me in the wrong way, to be honest Neil thinking it's all right to let go of Bruce and get together with Jeremy because he always loved Jeremy, even before Bruce.
. . So what was Bruce second best for him And what would have happened if Jeremy reappeared in his life while Bruce were still alive Sorry for asking but no matter how nice Bruce's parents are and no matter how many times the author repeats that Bruce would have wanted it.
. . it kinda felt like Neil kept grieving just because there was no right guy around, And as soon as Mr, Jeremy Right is here, it takes Neil, like, a week to wrap up his mourning,
Oh well, and then there is the epilogue or was it the last chapter a year later, anyway, And that was horrible in it's own way, Should be labeled as "health hazard" with how saccarine sweet it was, Almost read like a parody but was serious, unfortunately, .