A review by jjfey
The Gospel According to Gray Collins: A We Burn Beautiful Prequel by Lance Lansdale

5.0

The first few chapters are sugary sweet with Kent and Gray meeting. Gray is such a beautiful, innocent soul, and I was literally awwing over that Baby Spice conversation:

““The blonde one!” I said with too much force.

He smirked. “Baby.”

I whimpered. Why the heck did I whimper?””

But oh, my heart broke for Gray when he saw Kent and his girlfriend, Kate, together. The way he asked God what he’d done wrong and if he was still worthy? I was not okay.

The first 60% of the book was pure warmth and heart-melting sweetness. I had all the warm, fuzzy feels. Kent and Gray are just so beautiful together. And then… it got intense, and I was devastated for them both. I don’t have a lot to say about this book except that it’s beautiful, it’s heartbreaking, and it’s well worth a read.

There’s no HEA or HFN here - if you need that, read We Burn Beautiful for the happy ending. Also, check the TWs before diving into this one.

Wow, can Lance Lansdale write!? The talent it takes to write  something like this as well as his hilariously unhinged books is incredible!

The basics:

Angsty

First-person, single POV

Low spice

Novella

Slow burn

Prequel to We Burn Beautiful

What to expect:

Best friends-to-lovers

Homophobia

Religious families

Set in the late 90s / early 00s

Small-town