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A review by jewelc
Always by Kindle Alexander

3.0

3.5

This book was quite a lot different than I expected. Not in a bad way, or anything. I am used to romance novels spanning the courtship of a couple. This novel spans 40 years. It starts in the present day with Avery in the hospital and we don't know if he comes out of it ok. We hope so, but we don't know. Then we travel back to 1975 and learn about their relationship from then to the present day. I love the rewritten history of a gay couple not only being among the first to take advantage of in vitro fertilization, but also Avery's Senate win and the Vice Presidency. Throughout the book, when dates were mentioned, I would mentally say "where was I then and what was I doing?".

All through the story I found myself feeling so bad for Kane. His upbringing really did a number on him. I think that he really bought all the religion he was taught and thought he was doomed to hell. Guilt caused him to continue to give to his family even when they were so awful to him. They threw him out and disowned him, when they should have supported him. And I wish things like that never happened, but they do and that makes my heart hurt. Thankfully, Kane found Paulie and Paulie was more of a father than Kane's own one ever was, so Kane was mostly ok.

Avery has had it much better. His family has always been accepting of him and his sexual orientation. That's how it should be.

While reading Always, I cheered, I laughed, I cried. I cried a lot. I wished for more. They loved each other for Always. Again, how it should be.

I do hope that if Kindle Alexander decides to write a book about Robert, that she doesn't span the entire relationship in the book. That was intense and I'm not sure my heart could take it.

SpoilerI wanted to add a few things after having had a few days to think about this book. I still can't think about Kane & Avery without fighting tears. While I thought Always was a phenomenal book, I don't really like contemplating or reading about the deaths of the MC's. I really prefer my MC's to have long lives ahead of them when they get their HEA's. The afterlife part, while beautiful, did not mitigate the sadness at all for me. I do still think Always is a 5 star book; it's been awhile since I was so moved by a story. I do hope, however, that this particular format isn't revisited.