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red3horn 's review for:
The Worst Bad Thing
by J.E. Birk
This book is much deeper than I expected. I am not sure how much to divulge in this review but the first page, hits you hard and really makes you sit down and take notice. It makes you take notice and it intrigues you to know more.
We meet Tate O’Reilly on an Icelandic shuttle headed toward the Blue Lagoon. Tate seems to be on a vacation but that’s not really what he is doing. Tate is on a quest, a quest to attempt to make things better through a primary motivator, if only he can. On this shuttle, he meets the handsome and ridiculously charming Gabriel Carillo who takes it upon himself to infuse himself into Tate’s day.
It was great how these two met. I liked that it was purely a “let me show you how cool this place is” to the men truly finding camaraderie with one another and wanting to explore that once they realize they are both headed to London and oh how sweet the flight to London was. Sigh.
Tate and Gabriel are wonderful tour guides. Taking us through first to bits of Iceland and the gorgeous Blue Lagoon that it felt like we were there with them. From touristy sites in London, to Stonehenge and even a ride on the London Eye, we experience these places as the men do and learn about who Tate and Gabriel are, just as they do. I love this way of storytelling though there is something the reader knows ahead of time and it’s the why of Tate is on this trip.
I felt for Tate. I cannot imagine the worst bad thing that has made him take this “vacation.” Each time the reason is mentioned, each beginning to each day, each time the thinks to the Tumblr page and how it would have been posted seeing, The Globe in London or any other landmark, I got sick to my stomach. I wondered how he would be able to tell Gabriel his secret and when.
Gabriel, I love that he had an instant attraction to Tate yet he took his time with it. He found someone during his work travels that he wanted to spend time with and took the attraction at an instinctual pace with Tate and I LOVE that he was the first person Tate called when, well when things happened.
We get a glimpse into the worst bad thing Tate was involved in before each day of his trip. It outlines not only the tragedy but it details the aftermath. I again, don’t know how to tell you what happened and if I do tell you would it be a spoiler… which I believe it would… so I won’t BUT you get it immediately and just, goodness. So much hurt.
Gabriel, he is a mystery when we meet him and yet as his feelings grow for Tate over the short but emotionally intense days they share, we get into his past as well. There is SO MUCH dark and intense emotion in this book that I am truly at a loss to describe it but it’s all so beautifully written.
This book really makes you think about guilt and the right to move passed it and on with your life. It focuses on loss of life, even by accident, that burdens someone so much that they don’t know how to move forward and when they do, IF they feel happy for a moment and forget the past… are the allowed to feel that way? Ugh. This was such an emotional read for me. It went to places I didn’t expect and while the end was swift, I thought it was handled well.
The Worst Bad Thing, as I mentioned is a pretty dark and emotional read but under all of it there is a light of hope. A hope that the worst bad thing could lead to the best good thing you’ve ever found, if only you allow it to happen.
* * * TRIGGER WARNING * * *
See Warning under the spoiler tag
Spoiler
I am not one who reads and thinks of situations in a book that could be problematic because for me, reading is subjective, but I am learning. I feel I need to state this as a trigger as it was VERY unexpected for me. This story deals with PTSD and the planning of a suicide. Though the actual subject of suicide is not revealed until you are about 80% into the book, it came at me out of nowhere and shocked me. I did not think that is where the story would go or how the PTSD would be dealt with and yet it’s there. It’s intense and the planning is talked about with the details - read with caution.We meet Tate O’Reilly on an Icelandic shuttle headed toward the Blue Lagoon. Tate seems to be on a vacation but that’s not really what he is doing. Tate is on a quest, a quest to attempt to make things better through a primary motivator, if only he can. On this shuttle, he meets the handsome and ridiculously charming Gabriel Carillo who takes it upon himself to infuse himself into Tate’s day.
It was great how these two met. I liked that it was purely a “let me show you how cool this place is” to the men truly finding camaraderie with one another and wanting to explore that once they realize they are both headed to London and oh how sweet the flight to London was. Sigh.
Tate and Gabriel are wonderful tour guides. Taking us through first to bits of Iceland and the gorgeous Blue Lagoon that it felt like we were there with them. From touristy sites in London, to Stonehenge and even a ride on the London Eye, we experience these places as the men do and learn about who Tate and Gabriel are, just as they do. I love this way of storytelling though there is something the reader knows ahead of time and it’s the why of Tate is on this trip.
“But I don’t think it’s the same thing—what you’ve done and what I did.”
“Probably not… But it’s all ghosts and skeletons that live in our closets, no matter how they got there.”
I felt for Tate. I cannot imagine the worst bad thing that has made him take this “vacation.” Each time the reason is mentioned, each beginning to each day, each time the thinks to the Tumblr page and how it would have been posted seeing, The Globe in London or any other landmark, I got sick to my stomach. I wondered how he would be able to tell Gabriel his secret and when.
Gabriel, I love that he had an instant attraction to Tate yet he took his time with it. He found someone during his work travels that he wanted to spend time with and took the attraction at an instinctual pace with Tate and I LOVE that he was the first person Tate called when, well when things happened.
We get a glimpse into the worst bad thing Tate was involved in before each day of his trip. It outlines not only the tragedy but it details the aftermath. I again, don’t know how to tell you what happened and if I do tell you would it be a spoiler… which I believe it would… so I won’t BUT you get it immediately and just, goodness. So much hurt.
Gabriel, he is a mystery when we meet him and yet as his feelings grow for Tate over the short but emotionally intense days they share, we get into his past as well. There is SO MUCH dark and intense emotion in this book that I am truly at a loss to describe it but it’s all so beautifully written.
Guilt is a strange thing. I’ve felt it dividing me from others, constantly leaving me separated from all those who don’t carry its weight. And then there it is, all of the sudden, connecting me to this stranger I’ve only know for a few days. And the connection is stronger than any I’ve felt in years.
This book really makes you think about guilt and the right to move passed it and on with your life. It focuses on loss of life, even by accident, that burdens someone so much that they don’t know how to move forward and when they do, IF they feel happy for a moment and forget the past… are the allowed to feel that way? Ugh. This was such an emotional read for me. It went to places I didn’t expect and while the end was swift, I thought it was handled well.
The Worst Bad Thing, as I mentioned is a pretty dark and emotional read but under all of it there is a light of hope. A hope that the worst bad thing could lead to the best good thing you’ve ever found, if only you allow it to happen.
