wonderfully written warm and heartfelt story about two men falling in love with each other Quinn is still mourning the death of his partner of ten years and Brady, well, hes never been in love before.
As the story opens, its beenyears since Quinns partner ofyears, Aaron, has died of cancer, We meet Quinn amp Brady for the first time as they are first meeting each other, I found both characters completely endearing from the start, and was really empathizing and rooting for Quinn to move beyond his deep feelings of loss and inability to move forward with his life.
I also found myself hoping Brady wouldnt do something to cause Quinn further pain and vice versa, as Brady was clearly smitten with Quinn from the start,
The story is told from Quinns pov, which make his reactions that much more relatable, since we are in touch with his inner dialogue, Although, I must say at times it would have been interesting to know just what was going on in Bradys mind while he was dealing with Quinns ups and downs.
Dianne's full review can be found at sitelinkLive Your Life, Buy the Book This was both a heartbreaking and wonderful story at the same time, It has actually been a while since a story made me sad and happy at the same time, I felt sorry for Quinn, he was so torn between his grief for Aaron and wanting so much to have a future with Brady, it broke my heart, I was doing pretty well until the scene at Aaron's grave, that did me in with this book, As for Brady, what a wonderful, patient and understanding man, Such a perfect person for Quinn, at times, maybe too perfect and understanding, but it didn't change the way I felt about him, I loved Winston, I could just picture and he fit very well with Quinn, This was a purely wonderful romantic story that I really didn't want to end,.stars
Stock up on some tissues if you're gonna read this one, because there is no way you're getting through this book without ugly crying at least once.
This was gorgeously written but terribly melancholic, Quinn is living a veneered halflife following the death of his longterm partner, Aaron, from cancer two years before, His best friend sets him up on a blind date with the beautiful and sweet Brady, an event planner, Brady is immediately smitten with Quinn and doesn't stop pursuing him, even as Quinn can't stop talking about Aaron and leaves without saying goodbye the morning after their first sexual encounter nope, no phone call either.
Quinn isn't just grieving, He's clinically depressed and, more than a boyfriend, needs some antidepressants and therapy, His grief is so deep and intense and all encompassing, it's the Swamp of Sadness all over again Artax, noooooo!:
But this issue is overlooked and brushed off.
The two guys end up together, and one day Quinn is all better mostly, There was something too instantaneous about that for me, I adored Brady, but I couldn't for the life of me understand what he saw in Quinn, The falling in love happened very quickly this usually doesn't bother me all that much, but seeing how Quinn still had Aaron's cardigans, which he smelled on a regular basis, I didn't see him rushing into a new relationship.
Besides the Grief yes, a capital required, the rest of the story was fairly angst free, with no major drama, Brady's family is incredibly accepting, and Quinn's best friends are a happily married lesbian couple who dote on him and Brady, The secondary characters almost seemed too good to be true,
Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the story it was touching and sweet and ultimately hopeful, but the juxtaposition of the depression and the easy resolution felt off,
A sitelinkHearts On Fire
FOUR amp A HALF STARSThis was such a delightful, comforting, funny, angsty, sad, yummy, quirky, sexy and simple read.
Alex Kidwell's "After the End" is a tale of finding love after losing the love of your life, It's a story that hope can still reign supreme, I enjoyed all of the characters and the ease
of this story, I even loved Winston Churchill the cat,
Quinn O'Malley lost the love of his life two years ago to cancer they were together for a decade and has been living a kind of half life.
And after being set up by his best friend on a blind date, you kind of wonder what life would have in store the grieving man,
Well, life decided to gift him Mr, Brady Banner. Tall and blonde with the right words to say on the tip of his tongue how I like 'em, These two couldn't be more different at first glance, Quinn's so reserved while Brady is not, You'd have thought disaster was imminent, But thankfully it wasn't. These two got along together like pie filling and pie crust, read the story to get the meaning
I enjoyed this story so much, I loved the patience of Brady and his understanding and guidance on helping Quinn grieve, Quinn was not annoying and though he missed his deceased partner, it did not saturate the entire story or detract from these two falling for one another, Their road to love was a bit bumpy but worth it, Major kudos to Quinn and Brady's friends Annabeth and Tracy, . . they were helpful but far from meddling,
My one little teeny, tiny, issue was the start of Quinn and Brady's love affair, At their first date, I felt like I was in Quinn's shoes and Brady was a little too close for comfort, He already started touching and kissing him and this was Quinn's first gallop back into the dating world, But after delving into the men's background and seeing how they were, it was almost forgotten, But it still niggled in the back of my mind, And they kind of fell into love kind of quick but if I had a hot boy like Brady, maybe I wouldn't mind so much, And yes the sex scenes were pretty hot and believable
The biggest conflict for the two was Quinn accepting his past lover is gone and understanding it is okay to find love again and not feel so guilty.
So all in all, a lovely read and happy ending that left me with a huge smile on my face,
Don't you just love stories like that I do,
Hope you will as well, After the End I thought this would be dark, sad, tearjerking, but no, Despite its serious subject mattercoming to terms with the loss of a loved one in regard to the actual romance, this book was surprisingly conflict free, A good surprise, actually, no contrived misunderstandings, no putup drama, Which was good, because Quinn was so wrapped up in his grief and struggled so much with the loving memory of his last partner vs, his budding feelings for Brady, any more outward drama might have gotten him admitted, What I didn't say this was angstfree, only the relationship was lowconflict, It was just, Brady was so incredibly good, so understanding, so accepting of Quinn's strugglecaught in his grief and guilt, Quinn all but used Brady, but Brady just kept coming back for more.
Which made him a very likable character, being EXACTLY what Quinn needed, and a veritable knight in shining armor, However I couldn't help wondering what he saw in Quinn, A maiden to save A quest to win This question threw a certain shadow over their HEA even though almost the entire last third of the book was dedicated to showing how happy they were together and how perfect a match.
This was a very wellwritten book, the language could almost be called prose at times, I liked Quinn's narrative voice a lot in fact, I liked Quinn, period, His emotional dilemma, his slow awakening to new life were intense, but so well done he never came across as pathetic, It was the beautiful writing that kept this book from sliding into the trivial, Despite the tale of sweet domesticity the ending of this book was, it wasn't saccharine, just a positive and pleasantly entertaining book, A comfort read if there ever was one, The two I gave this book are only because I liked Brady, I found Quinn insufferable. When he wasn't crying over Aaron or sitting around feeling sorry for himself, he was waiting for Tracy and Anna to pump his ego and tell him how great he was.
But, back to Brady. From the first chapter, I admired Brady's tenacity, He wanted Quinn and he was determined to get him, But why he chose to hitch his wagon to such a hot mess is beyond me, Quinn needed therapy. I found it hard to believe that no one else could see this, I guess Quinn's lesbian friends were spending too much time telling him what a great artist he was and Brady was too lovestruck to suggest he seek professional help to work through the grief he was suffering over the loss of Aaron.
After the End was just a little too sticky and sweet for me, Too many entwined hands and cashmere scarves, I like a little grit with the good, Also, where did these folks live where everyone seemed to be accepting of homosexual relationships and a person could earn a living running a comic book store with employees Maybe Quinn had money from Aaron's life insurance or something or maybe I was just overthinking this.
.
Quinn lost his love, his partner of over a decade to cancer and although it's beenyears, grief doesn't have a time limit,
He still goes to work, he owns a comic store, but he's quit painting, his muse died so his need to create died with him,
His best friend Tracy and her wife Anna are his best friend and supporters and set him up with a blind date, Brady,
Brady is very different from Quinn's deceased partner Aaron, in looks and personality, which I think is a good thing,
I was very happy that the author didn't fall into the trap a lot of these stories do, where the new partner is : never been like this before, . . stuff like that! As a matter of fact, this story makes the point of saying it isn't better or worse, or less or more, it just is!
Quinn feels guilty, guilty for wanting Brady, guilty for moving on with his life without Aaron, for wanting Aaron back but also wanting Brady.
There are some very sad and touching moments but the times where Brady's patience and understanding for Quinn's rollercoaster feelings were just as powerful,
Quinn's realization that he can love both men, he doesn't love Aaron any less and missing him doesn't mean he doesn't love Brady or want him, both feelings are possible and reconcilable.
And despite the sadness and melancholy of this story it is not overwhelming and is even out with the hopefulness and healing of the new love,
On a side note, I really liked Winston Churchill!,
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Alex Kidwell