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A review by bookish_notes
Circle by Garrett Leigh
5.0
This book is shorter than the previous books in the series, and yet, it took me maybe the longest to read it? Things have changed since we last saw Ash and Pete in Rare. They were healing and their relationship was good. Strong. They haven't really grown apart, but in the three years since the last book, Pete's mother got ill and passed away. Pete's sister Heidi shot her husband, leaving a seven-year-old he has to win from the courts. Pete's no longer a paramedic and working as an ER nurse. It's better hours, but he's still burning himself out working extra shifts.
Ash has gotten better since we last saw him. He's done really well for himself. He's a bit of a name in the art world, and makes a pretty penny off his art. He's still Ash, and doesn't like going to his own art galley showings or flying really, but mentally, he's doing a lot better. But Pete hasn't gotten better. Pete's gotten worse, mentally, since his mother died, and his general apathy to life scares Ash to death.
Pete's no longer the happy guy we once knew. Ash and Pete have been through some tough times together in the six years they've known each other, but there's something...missing between them now. Ash doesn't know how to fix it, and Pete doesn't want to face it. And since they've never been really talkative about their own feelings, Pete knows it'll take a breaking point before anything between them will change. He knows he's the problem, but it's putting a strain on their relationship.
Circle is different from the last two books. It's a bit of a road trip. Ash and Pete have really only been in Chicago the entire time they've known each other, and spur of the moment decision to leave town has them both heading out to Oregon. Their relationship is frayed at this point, and this is almost a last ditch effort, in a way, for them to piece it all back together.
Before they left Chicago, the head doctor of the ER Pete works at, Glenn, introduced Ash and Pete to a veteran named Jed. Both Glenn and Jed were in a standalone novel, Only Love, and I highly recommend reading that book for Jed's background story. Jed and Glenn are just old Army buddies, with Jed heading back home Ashton, Oregon soon after. He left an invite for Ash and Pete to visit him and his partner, Max, and Ash took that invite to heart. And this was how Ash and Pete found themselves driving across the country to live in a cabin by the lake.
We don't really get to see much of the secondary characters from the previous books as much in this one. The characters do show up at the beginning and end of the story. Otherwise, the book is mainly just Ash and Pete, and their hosts, Jed and Max. It's really nice to check-in and see how Jed and Max are doing. They're as lovely as ever, and it's wonderful to see them bond so well with Ash and Pete.
This book was sad. The news about Maggie, Pete's mother, just broke my heart by the second page. I adored his mother in the other two books, and to just lose her this way is so terribly sad. I was okay I think for the rest of the book, even with the weight of Ash and Pete's relationship hanging in the air. The ending is a tad dramatic, but the epilogue more than made up for everything. Their HEA is hard won and a very long journey of ups and downs, but the epilogue just had me weeping. The ending is poignant and sweet and everything I could have possibly hoped for. The news about Max's dog Flo, though, that really got to me. I adore Ash and Pete's endearing way of calling each other fucker even after all this time. The ending is perfect, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to close out this wonderful series.
Ash has gotten better since we last saw him. He's done really well for himself. He's a bit of a name in the art world, and makes a pretty penny off his art. He's still Ash, and doesn't like going to his own art galley showings or flying really, but mentally, he's doing a lot better. But Pete hasn't gotten better. Pete's gotten worse, mentally, since his mother died, and his general apathy to life scares Ash to death.
I didn't want to get into the fact that he didn't seem to care about much at all these days.
Pete's no longer the happy guy we once knew. Ash and Pete have been through some tough times together in the six years they've known each other, but there's something...missing between them now. Ash doesn't know how to fix it, and Pete doesn't want to face it. And since they've never been really talkative about their own feelings, Pete knows it'll take a breaking point before anything between them will change. He knows he's the problem, but it's putting a strain on their relationship.
Circle is different from the last two books. It's a bit of a road trip. Ash and Pete have really only been in Chicago the entire time they've known each other, and spur of the moment decision to leave town has them both heading out to Oregon. Their relationship is frayed at this point, and this is almost a last ditch effort, in a way, for them to piece it all back together.
Before they left Chicago, the head doctor of the ER Pete works at, Glenn, introduced Ash and Pete to a veteran named Jed. Both Glenn and Jed were in a standalone novel, Only Love, and I highly recommend reading that book for Jed's background story. Jed and Glenn are just old Army buddies, with Jed heading back home Ashton, Oregon soon after. He left an invite for Ash and Pete to visit him and his partner, Max, and Ash took that invite to heart. And this was how Ash and Pete found themselves driving across the country to live in a cabin by the lake.
We don't really get to see much of the secondary characters from the previous books as much in this one. The characters do show up at the beginning and end of the story. Otherwise, the book is mainly just Ash and Pete, and their hosts, Jed and Max. It's really nice to check-in and see how Jed and Max are doing. They're as lovely as ever, and it's wonderful to see them bond so well with Ash and Pete.
If I'd possessed an ounce of romance, I might've figured we were made for each other, but I didn't need romance to know that shit.
This book was sad. The news about Maggie, Pete's mother, just broke my heart by the second page. I adored his mother in the other two books, and to just lose her this way is so terribly sad. I was okay I think for the rest of the book, even with the weight of Ash and Pete's relationship hanging in the air. The ending is a tad dramatic, but the epilogue more than made up for everything. Their HEA is hard won and a very long journey of ups and downs, but the epilogue just had me weeping. The ending is poignant and sweet and everything I could have possibly hoped for. The news about Max's dog Flo, though, that really got to me. I adore Ash and Pete's endearing way of calling each other fucker even after all this time. The ending is perfect, and I couldn't have asked for a better way to close out this wonderful series.