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4.11 AVERAGE
4.11 AVERAGE
dark
emotional
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Another hit by TJ Klune. I really loved this book. It was a book about grief, yes. But there was also intrigue, and drama, and literal fallen angels. What’s not to love?
I'm going to put this one down and not feel guilty. Those of you who know me know I worship Klune, and if one of his books was a "Meh" for me, it only makes me love and admire him more. And it gives me courage for when a fan thinks my latest is "Meh." Let us embrace the beautiful human frailty that is meh!
“For want of my father, I was lost.”
This book is…
About grief.
About loss.
About heartbreak.
About pain.
About despair.
About cruelty.
About betrayal.
About darkness.
About the river.
About giving up and drowning.
“Sometimes I float along the river
For to its surface I am bound
And there are times stones done fill my pockets, oh Lord,
And it's into this river I drown”
And this book is…
About love.
About hope.
About joy.
About faith.
About belief.
About miracles.
About humanity.
About sunrise.
About light.
About holding on and rising.
“It reminds me every day that there is beauty in the world. That even though it may feel like we are alone sometimes, we are never truly alone.”
This book is about Benji. Benjamin Edward Green.
And his love of two men.
One is his father. Edward Benjamin Green. The larger-than-life Big Eddie. The greatest man in the world.
The other is his guardian angel. Caliel Blue. Who fell from the sky. For him.
This is their story.
P.S.: While this book is about the aftermath of tragedy and the resultant emotional and psychological struggles of Benji, that's not all that it is about. It is so much more. However, even if it is (only about Benji's soul-crushing sadness), that is not anyone's place to say that he needed "to buck the f*ck up" and "the number of a good psychologist, a large bottle of antidepressants and … take up journaling." Grief does not have an expiry date. Mourning need not have a timeline. To belittle grief and its impact in such a condescending way is no less than being cruel, especially to those millions of people all over the world who suffer from crippling depression. Not even the best psychologist, the largest bottle of antidepressants, and copious amount of journaling can guarantee a cure. Readers should note that they may not like a book (for whatsoever reason), but that does not give them the right to trivialize a serious medical illness just because they can.
This book is…
About grief.
About loss.
About heartbreak.
About pain.
About despair.
About cruelty.
About betrayal.
About darkness.
About the river.
About giving up and drowning.
“Sometimes I float along the river
For to its surface I am bound
And there are times stones done fill my pockets, oh Lord,
And it's into this river I drown”
And this book is…
About love.
About hope.
About joy.
About faith.
About belief.
About miracles.
About humanity.
About sunrise.
About light.
About holding on and rising.
“It reminds me every day that there is beauty in the world. That even though it may feel like we are alone sometimes, we are never truly alone.”
This book is about Benji. Benjamin Edward Green.
And his love of two men.
One is his father. Edward Benjamin Green. The larger-than-life Big Eddie. The greatest man in the world.
The other is his guardian angel. Caliel Blue. Who fell from the sky. For him.
This is their story.
P.S.: While this book is about the aftermath of tragedy and the resultant emotional and psychological struggles of Benji, that's not all that it is about. It is so much more. However, even if it is (only about Benji's soul-crushing sadness), that is not anyone's place to say that he needed "to buck the f*ck up" and "the number of a good psychologist, a large bottle of antidepressants and … take up journaling." Grief does not have an expiry date. Mourning need not have a timeline. To belittle grief and its impact in such a condescending way is no less than being cruel, especially to those millions of people all over the world who suffer from crippling depression. Not even the best psychologist, the largest bottle of antidepressants, and copious amount of journaling can guarantee a cure. Readers should note that they may not like a book (for whatsoever reason), but that does not give them the right to trivialize a serious medical illness just because they can.
I’ve never...I’ve never read a book so frustrating that I couldn’t wait for it to end. Was this an MM fantasy romance or was it one of those god-preaching people that stand and yell on the streets and go door to door?? At every turn was another lecture about God and his lessons, blah, blah, blah. AND THE FLASHBACKS. Don’t even get me started on the flashbacks. Literally for every present day scene, there is going to be a flashback to go along with it. It just stretched the neverending story even more and did nothing productive for the plot. I was so close to DNFing as the book went on and on and on, I’m surprised I finished it. Extremely disappointed, seeing as this book has 4+ stars and mostly great reviews. I really was looking forward to a good angsty read but all I got was a lesson on God’s plans for humanity. 2 stars is a bit of a stretch for me. 1.5 stars rounded just for the fact that I had high hopes for Benji and Carl’s relationship, although generally nonexistent throughout the entire book. Gonna be brutally honest here, this book wasn’t available for Kindle Unlimited, so as I had to pay for it, I would now like a refund please.
emotional
inspiring
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
So this book made me cry. Wow. Honestly, the best review I can give for this book is that if any single part of the premise intrigues you, I would tell you to pick it up, because this book is so much more than it's parts and it is a journey worth taking.
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Whooo....what a book. I was about half way through when I came on here to read some reviews about what other folks thought about this book. I was surprised by all the 5 stars and people talking about how much they cared for Benji and about how much they cried. Because half way into the book, I personally was finding Benji a bit hard to like. But he isn't likeable for a lot of the book. He's selfish, nasty, and too wrapped up in his own grief to even momentarily think about how his father's death might be affecting all the people around him. I think that a lot of the people in the small town he's in didn't help. There was more than one time it was mentioned that sure Benji's mom lost her husband....but Benji lost his dad. So I think he had it in his mind that somehow his grief was deeper and more unbearable. So he justified treating his mother like crap with that logic. I found myself trudging through the middle to about 3/4 and then shit did all Hell break loose! The last parts of that book might be some of the most heart wrenching words put to paper that I've ever read. I went from trudging to having to stay up until the end. I went from not understanding why people talked about crying to literally having to stifle my crying so I didn't wake my husband up. It's been a very long time since a book made me almost sob out loud. I also see now how people cared so much about the characters. Now I want to know more about what happens with Benji and Cal! All in all this was an amazing read. I'm so glad I stuck it out and finished.