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A review by endemictoearth
Starter Home by Hannah Henry
emotional
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
4.75
Uh, I frickin' LOVED this. I'm going on vibes here, and it's a banger for me. Are You Ready For A Ramble?
This is the best friend's brother/brother's best friend trope, but it's not just that.
Hunter's background is messy, but he always had his best friend Quinn there for him growing up, and became a de facto member of the family (after Quinn's oldest brother Jonathan had moved away). Quinn got married, and they remained best friends, but their relationship has changed a lot and Quinn is now divorced, bitter and clinically depressed. He and Hunter band together to buy a duplex, but despite sharing a wall, Quinn seems further away than ever.
If this book is about Hunter and Jonathan, why am I going on about Quinn so much? Well, he is inadvertently a factor in how and why H and J get together. Hunter buys his half of the house hoping that he can reconnect with his platonic soulmate BFF, but when that doesn't happen, Jonathan starts spending more and more time with Hunter. This book got the 'friends who don't need a reason to hang out, they just default are always in each other's spaces' vibe so well, despite the fact that that all happened before the book even stars. In fact, the specificity and nuance of this book is way more than it had to be.
I've read a lot of books that were trying to be this book, I think. And actually, maybe we needed a hundred plus books that were kind of like this to allow this book to be what it is. I've been reading books where the Ostensibly Straight character has a crisis about feeling feels for a gentleman since I started reading m/m and queer romance back in 2018/2019 . . . I think they were necessary in the past. I've read stuff published in the mid aughts and early 2010s (you know, the annals of history) and we've come a long way. Yes, we needed stories about people struggling to accept their sexuality, or feeling unsafe to come out, and it's still a problem today, but I'm so happy to find a few books where it doesn't have to be that way. I was working out my many muddled thoughts about this book and decided that it's very Schitt's Creek in its attitude of homophobia isn't gonna be the issue, and "I like the wine not the label."
This book even does a thing I usually don't like, but in a way I didn't mind at all. (Thing being calling the Ostensibly Straight MC [Insert Other MC's Name]-sexual.) In this book, Jonathan doesn't call himself Huntersexual, well . . . not until his friend suggests it. But he doesn't adopt it as his identity, he just thinks that he's aware of the almost infinite number of terms to define one's sexual identity and none he's come across yet feel right. He's wonderfully secure in this area of his life, while also being a fully realized character with insecurities and fears.
Late, when Quinn finds out that Hunter and Jonathan have been seeing each other (and fucking each other, that's specifically what he finds out), he gets real pissed. Normally, I hate this sort of aggro possessive shit, but that's not really what this was. He's struggling hard. Admittedly, he's not doing much to stop the struggle, but he's really having a bad time and even though he wasn't being a good friend, he was kinda terrified he was losing his best friend. So, he lashed out at Jonathan, who takes it almost too calmly. But he knows how important Quinn and Hunter's relationship is and he would never try to fuck that up.
I don't know, I really am rambling, but this book hit me just right. Nothing pulled me out or made me skeptical, and all the ways the relationship between Hunter and Jonathan grew and developed just made me all gooey and smiley. I read it on KU, but went ahead and bought it for rereads, because I will be revisiting this one, for sure.
Plus, if for no other reason, I'll be rounding my 4.5 star rating up to 5 stars for the me-coded moment where Hunter says he needs an Emotional Support Baja Blast from Taco Bell, bc Very Same. I have gone through the drive thru line and ONLY gotten a Baja Blast.
This is the best friend's brother/brother's best friend trope, but it's not just that.
Hunter's background is messy, but he always had his best friend Quinn there for him growing up, and became a de facto member of the family (after Quinn's oldest brother Jonathan had moved away). Quinn got married, and they remained best friends, but their relationship has changed a lot and Quinn is now divorced, bitter and clinically depressed. He and Hunter band together to buy a duplex, but despite sharing a wall, Quinn seems further away than ever.
If this book is about Hunter and Jonathan, why am I going on about Quinn so much? Well, he is inadvertently a factor in how and why H and J get together. Hunter buys his half of the house hoping that he can reconnect with his platonic soulmate BFF, but when that doesn't happen, Jonathan starts spending more and more time with Hunter. This book got the 'friends who don't need a reason to hang out, they just default are always in each other's spaces' vibe so well, despite the fact that that all happened before the book even stars. In fact, the specificity and nuance of this book is way more than it had to be.
I've read a lot of books that were trying to be this book, I think. And actually, maybe we needed a hundred plus books that were kind of like this to allow this book to be what it is. I've been reading books where the Ostensibly Straight character has a crisis about feeling feels for a gentleman since I started reading m/m and queer romance back in 2018/2019 . . . I think they were necessary in the past. I've read stuff published in the mid aughts and early 2010s (you know, the annals of history) and we've come a long way. Yes, we needed stories about people struggling to accept their sexuality, or feeling unsafe to come out, and it's still a problem today, but I'm so happy to find a few books where it doesn't have to be that way. I was working out my many muddled thoughts about this book and decided that it's very Schitt's Creek in its attitude of homophobia isn't gonna be the issue, and "I like the wine not the label."
This book even does a thing I usually don't like, but in a way I didn't mind at all. (Thing being calling the Ostensibly Straight MC
Late, when Quinn finds out that Hunter and Jonathan have been seeing each other (and fucking each other, that's specifically what he finds out), he gets real pissed. Normally, I hate this sort of aggro possessive shit, but that's not really what this was. He's struggling hard. Admittedly, he's not doing much to stop the struggle, but he's really having a bad time and even though he wasn't being a good friend, he was kinda terrified he was losing his best friend. So, he lashed out at Jonathan, who takes it almost too calmly. But he knows how important Quinn and Hunter's relationship is and he would never try to fuck that up.
I don't know, I really am rambling, but this book hit me just right. Nothing pulled me out or made me skeptical, and all the ways the relationship between Hunter and Jonathan grew and developed just made me all gooey and smiley. I read it on KU, but went ahead and bought it for rereads, because I will be revisiting this one, for sure.
Plus, if for no other reason, I'll be rounding my 4.5 star rating up to 5 stars for the me-coded moment where Hunter says he needs an Emotional Support Baja Blast from Taco Bell, bc Very Same. I have gone through the drive thru line and ONLY gotten a Baja Blast.