Reviews

The Home I Find With You by Skye Kilaen

indiekay's review against another edition

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4.0

This is a really interesting book. I usually avoid dystopian stories, but this one was recommended to me and so I gave it a try. While I found the dystopian back story a little confusing at times, and wasn't a huge fan of the over all plot, I did find the characters and their dynamics with each other pretty interesting.

This isn't your average romance book - and I'm not talking about the polyamory or the dystopian stuff when I say that. No, just in terms of the average formula for writing a romance story, which this book doesn't really follow. I felt like Van and Clark barely actually spend any time together or get to know each other very much. By the 80% mark in the story, they'd had sex a few times but the actual progress they'd made in having feelings for each other or knowing each other well didn't feel like a lot - like, I'd say with normal romance books, these two would have been at the 30% mark in the story, if that makes sense?

So I was fully expecting for me to hate how this ended and to feel like the romance was not fully developed. But, it pulled through for me. By the 90% mark I could see that the importance in this book was not the two main characters falling in love, but giving themselves the chance at love. And they both do so, and venture into a new path in their life with their little found family, and I actually really loved the ending. It's a really sweet hopeful ending.

So I definitely was sceptical about this one, but I actually really liked it in the end. And I loved the polyamory, the casual representation of different races, genders, disability, etc, the interconnection between different characters.

scrow1022's review against another edition

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5.0

This novel has shaped all my post-apocalypse thinking/reading - it has become my touchstone. So lovely, how they navigate their broken world and each other, and so heartbreaking. Ultimately hopeful - it is a romance - though the world remains grim. Not unlike now.

althea's review against another edition

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5.0

4.5/5 Stars

Once again Skye Kilaen has written a beautiful novel so full of hope and love that I absolutely devoured in the space of a day! This is my fourth read from Skye, including Knock Me Down, and I can safely say that her writing just keeps getting better and better! The world building in this book was so, so great - the small, abandoned, post second civil-war town setting was developed so strongly that I could picture everything so clearly in my head as we followed the two main characters - Van and Clark. From the get go I was excited to read another romance novel about a poly relationship, and this definitely didn't disappoint. The m/m/f relationship in this book was so loving and healthy and I loved all three of them together so much (also the sex scenes were really great!)! Although the action in the book takes a bit of a backseat compared to the romance and character relationships, that's not to say that it was underdeveloped - not in the slightest. Reminiscent of Skye's first book, Glorious Day, there were some really powerful action scenes that left me on the edge of my seat!

Overall this was a great read and I can't help but hope that Skye decides to expand upon this setting in a companion novel, because I'm just so intrigued by all the side characters and the politics of this world. This is definitely a book you need to keep and eye out for on its release!

I was provided an ARC copy by the author but all thoughts are my own!

bibliophilebree's review against another edition

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adventurous emotional hopeful mysterious 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

3.0

wardenred's review

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emotional hopeful 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

4.75

Sometimes kindness made the difference between a day you could get through okay and a day that ground you into the dirt.

This is one of the most hopeful, optimistic, inspiring books I've read lately, which is hard to fathom because it's a post-apocalyptic story that deals so heavily with PTSD and living after huge losses. But I guess it just goes to show: it's all in how you handle the subject. This is a story about people in pain who gradually find healing, and it's so beautifully focused on community and connections. While it's a character-centric book first and foremost, I've got to say I got really invested in the post-war, post-apocalyptic setting, all the intricacies of the society inhabiting it, all the ways it has fucked the characters up in the past and all the opportunities it provided for them to get better. There's the kind of complete unity between setting, plot, and characters here that I absolutely dig.

I very much enjoyed how the polyamory was handled, and all the different connections formed in the community: friendships, friendships with benefits, romance, an intense emotional connection with a sexual component that wasn't in fact romantic, allyships, familiar relations. All of these different relationships felt so real and so completely human. I also loved how trauma was handled, and how clearly it was shown that interacting with the world through the lens of your trauma will lead to fuck-ups, and it's completely understandable, but it's not an excuse.

I came for the romance, but I honestly stayed for the entire cast and all those connections. It was beautiful to witness the story of such a diverse community made up of flawed yet genuinely kind people striving to do good by themselves, each other, and the broken world they inherited. Absolutely every relationship/interaction held my complete interest. Like, I would never expect myself to be so fully invested in the plot thread about the romantic lead sorting out things with his ex who wants them to get back together when things between the two LIs are shaky, and yet here I am.

I also randomly want to note the way Clark's chronic pain is handled, all those ways, big and small, in which it impacts various areas of life, and how at the same time that pain never defined him, outside of the moments when he semi-consciously chose to define himself by his disability. This was awesomely written and so, so relatable. Also, I love Hadas and her dog. And all those times I wanted to give Van a hug and a shake at the same time? Good times. Plenty of feels.

There was a tiny bit of rockiness here, too, like a bunch of scenes feeling kinda... summarized and stilted, and the two POVs/plotlines not always intersecting in the smoothest of ways. But honestly, these flaws were super easy to overlook in favor of all the beauty and kindness this story provides in spades.

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cleo_reads's review

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4.0

B/B+
Immersive, compelling queer/bi/poly mm romance in a unexpectedly hopeful post-apocalyptic world, set 12 years after the end of the 2nd American Civil War and the collapse of life as it used to be. The author calls this hope-punk and that seems like as good a term as any.

I loved the messy protagonists and their emotional journeys. I was completely swept away while I was reading it but when I put down the book I noticed a few holes in the plot and world building.

trillium9's review against another edition

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My favorite of Kilaen's books, I loved this vision of how we can be kind and care for one another in a near-future world with more violence and poverty than our own. 

The kink scenes were a little basic in comparison to erotica or more professionally published books involving themes around dominance and submission....but they were probably better than what I could write and not the only focus of the book. 

mobooks's review

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emotional hopeful 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

4.75

emmalita's review against another edition

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4.0

It was profoundly strange to read a dystopian romance set in a United States after a climate change and racism driven civil war while my city and state were going through a climate driven disaster exacerbated by racist policies. If it had been written by another author, I probably would have put it aside as too close to home, but Skye Kilaen writes with such kindness that it was a balm to read about her characters working together as a community to survive.

Set in a small town outside of Denver, The Home I Find With You centers on Van, who took over as the head of town security when his wife died fighting off a group of thieves, and Clark, newly arrived in town looking for a fresh start after an accident. Climate change and the aftermath of the war are making the town a hard place to survive. Everyone has trauma, whether it’s from the war or from the hardships in a post war landscape. The town operates on cooperation within and also with other local towns. As a new resident, Clark wants to make himself valuable and be considered reliable. He also wants Van, but just for fun. Van has partnered with Hadas, but their relationship is open. The romance between Van and Clark is a slow burn, though they do have a couple of unsatisfying sexual encounters. Everyone here is traumatized, whether from the war or life after. It makes sense that they would be emotionally guarded. Kilaen puts the ingredients for emotional intimacy in the crock pot and lets them slowly come together into a lovely polycule relationship between Clark, Van and Hadas.

The idea of war or some other apocalypse returning us to a small community, quasi-agrarian/hunter-gatherer life has been a popular prompt for story telling. Very often it’s based in regressive ideas about the virtues of a simple life and a return to “traditional” gender roles. Kilaen turns all that on it’s head and instead tells a story of people who are scarred by violence and seek to heal with kindness. There is no room for traditional gender roles when everyone is trying to survive, and at least one character is nonbinary. As with Kilaen’s other books, her characters feel like solid people who would probably stop to help you change your tire on a cold, rainy night.

The Home I Find With You is out March 3. I received an advance reader copy from the author in exchange for an honest review.

vanoralawless's review against another edition

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5.0

The Home I Find With You combines an interesting post-apocalyptic setting with a beautiful romance and amazing chatacters. It's a beautiful love story between multiple people trying to survive harsh conditions.