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A review by jsncnrd
This I Promise You by Jordon Greene, Kalob Dàniel
4.0
I am a huge fan of the Noahverse books. I have loved every single one of them, and this was no exception. While nothing will ever be able to top A Mark On My Soul -- which will forever be special to me -- This I Promise You comes in second.
Here’s what I loved.
I loved Easton. He was sensitive, he was human, he was strong, and he was adorable. I was so intrigued by the plot line of him starting to understand his relationship with sex and intimacy and his body / whom he shared it with / why. We got to watch him grow and begin to love himself. We got to watch him break the cycle of self-loathing and being ashamed of having MS. Having struggled with neurological issues myself, Easton was very, very special to me. I loved seeing this representation in a queer book. Also, Alexa -- play "cowboy like me" by Taylor Swift.
I loved Paul. Initially, he was obviously perceived as unnecessarily angry, overly reactive, and difficult to be around. And that was the point. Watching Paul’s journey as he learned how to live with the deep-rooted and complex trauma that had controlled his life was something so powerful and moving that it brought me to tears. When we found out just how terrible the events he went through were, I cried. I cried as Paul had a panic attack and trauma response because it broke my heart. I cried as Easton and Huxley sat with Paul as he came down from that panic attack because it put my heart back together. We got to watch Paul break the cycle of the power that trauma has over humans and begin to heal. I understood WHY Paul was angry. His character arc was beautiful because he learned how to live with and control that anger and start to accept the fact that he was worthy of love.
The Noahverse is filled with characters that I absolutely love. Huxley? Queen. Aidan? I would die for him. Tyler, Jacob, Skylar, Noah, and all our returning supporting cast? I was so beyond happy to see all of them together on the same pages in the same book.
Overall, this book did a lot of great things. It explored painful, difficult topics. But it also addressed, debunked, and destigmatized those topics.
A few things I want to make a note of that I have seen in some reviews. I don’t think some people have a great grasp around the fact that trauma survivors can develop severe anger issues that cut to the bone. Swearing is something that can manifest in anger. And while it may be ~ too much ~ for some people, the continued use of the word "fuck" really didn’t bother me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I see some attacks on Paul’s character overall, especially his fallout with Easton. My understanding is this – Paul felt betrayed because he opened himself up completely about his past traumas and felt that something huge was kept from him by Easton. I agree that it was Easton’s story to tell when he was ready, but again — Paul had severe anger issues that he was working on. And while he was cruel in the moment, he immediately realized that what he had said was the wrong way to react. You know, when he CALLED RIGHT BACK TO APOLOGIZE. The entire remainder of the book focused on reconciliation and building trust, and that was catalyzed by this conflict. The level of hostility in some of the things peoples have in reviews is just .... excessive sometimes.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and that is completely fine! I do, however, see a lot of black-and-white thinking in reviews and thought it was worth noting the above. There are also productive ways to criticize versus hateful bashing.
ANYWAYS. Perhaps this book won’t resonate with everyone. But it resonated deeply with me for a great number of reasons and personal experiences. I appreciated and admired the vulnerability, brutal honesty, emotional weight, and overall meaningfulness of This I Promise You. Jordon and Kalob are talented writers, and together, they have crafted an introspective tale of found family, love, and hope. Two great humans wrote a great book!
"Life is emotionally abusive, and time can't stop me quite like you did. // Are we falling like snow on the beach? Weird, but fucking beautiful. // It's coming down, no sound, it's all around -- like snow on the beach."
- Snow on the Beach / Taylor Swift + Lana del Rey
Here’s what I loved.
I loved Easton. He was sensitive, he was human, he was strong, and he was adorable. I was so intrigued by the plot line of him starting to understand his relationship with sex and intimacy and his body / whom he shared it with / why. We got to watch him grow and begin to love himself. We got to watch him break the cycle of self-loathing and being ashamed of having MS. Having struggled with neurological issues myself, Easton was very, very special to me. I loved seeing this representation in a queer book. Also, Alexa -- play "cowboy like me" by Taylor Swift.
I loved Paul. Initially, he was obviously perceived as unnecessarily angry, overly reactive, and difficult to be around. And that was the point. Watching Paul’s journey as he learned how to live with the deep-rooted and complex trauma that had controlled his life was something so powerful and moving that it brought me to tears. When we found out just how terrible the events he went through were, I cried. I cried as Paul had a panic attack and trauma response because it broke my heart. I cried as Easton and Huxley sat with Paul as he came down from that panic attack because it put my heart back together. We got to watch Paul break the cycle of the power that trauma has over humans and begin to heal. I understood WHY Paul was angry. His character arc was beautiful because he learned how to live with and control that anger and start to accept the fact that he was worthy of love.
The Noahverse is filled with characters that I absolutely love. Huxley? Queen. Aidan? I would die for him. Tyler, Jacob, Skylar, Noah, and all our returning supporting cast? I was so beyond happy to see all of them together on the same pages in the same book.
Overall, this book did a lot of great things. It explored painful, difficult topics. But it also addressed, debunked, and destigmatized those topics.
A few things I want to make a note of that I have seen in some reviews. I don’t think some people have a great grasp around the fact that trauma survivors can develop severe anger issues that cut to the bone. Swearing is something that can manifest in anger. And while it may be ~ too much ~ for some people, the continued use of the word "fuck" really didn’t bother me. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I see some attacks on Paul’s character overall, especially his fallout with Easton. My understanding is this – Paul felt betrayed because he opened himself up completely about his past traumas and felt that something huge was kept from him by Easton. I agree that it was Easton’s story to tell when he was ready, but again — Paul had severe anger issues that he was working on. And while he was cruel in the moment, he immediately realized that what he had said was the wrong way to react. You know, when he CALLED RIGHT BACK TO APOLOGIZE. The entire remainder of the book focused on reconciliation and building trust, and that was catalyzed by this conflict. The level of hostility in some of the things peoples have in reviews is just .... excessive sometimes.
Everyone is entitled to their own opinion, and that is completely fine! I do, however, see a lot of black-and-white thinking in reviews and thought it was worth noting the above. There are also productive ways to criticize versus hateful bashing.
ANYWAYS. Perhaps this book won’t resonate with everyone. But it resonated deeply with me for a great number of reasons and personal experiences. I appreciated and admired the vulnerability, brutal honesty, emotional weight, and overall meaningfulness of This I Promise You. Jordon and Kalob are talented writers, and together, they have crafted an introspective tale of found family, love, and hope. Two great humans wrote a great book!
"Life is emotionally abusive, and time can't stop me quite like you did. // Are we falling like snow on the beach? Weird, but fucking beautiful. // It's coming down, no sound, it's all around -- like snow on the beach."
- Snow on the Beach / Taylor Swift + Lana del Rey