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A review by readwithellie
Ache by Marley Valentine
2.0
this book was a lot. so much happened while precisely n o t h i n g happened.
im basically gonna split this review in half— the first half recapping the first half of the book, aka, the novella while the second half is all the new material.
the first half, aka, the novella:
so after reading the Regrets and Resolutions novella back when it was released in December 2020, i wanted to pick up Ache to see how Jordan and Gael’s story concluded.
now... was i expecting the full length novel to pick up where the novella left off? absolutely yes i was. the MCs despite finally getting together after years of denial, still had a lot of obstacles to overcome and bridges to mend— mainly confronting Elena about Gael and Jordan having an affair and Gael calling off their wedding. as well as dealing with the fall out of their family too since Gael cheated on Elena (who the family adored) with Jordan.
but i wasn’t expecting Marley Valentine to rehash the entire plot of Regrets and Resolutions with some tweaks and improvements incorporated into Ache... then continue where the novella left off.
i planned on skim reading it, but the author included new information and delved deeper into some characters we’d barely got to know from the novella— namely Elena. she was kinda the faceless, female lover of every straight-boy-turned-gay-or-bi-for-his-life-long-bestie which all MM best friends to lovers seem to have. it’s like authors aren’t allowed to write a MM best friends to lovers if one isn’t openly gay and pining for his supposed straight best friend, who in turn has unexplored feelings for said openly gay best friend.
the *straight guy* always has a girlfriend or fiancé just for shits and giggles, and she’s literally just a plot device and usually a monumental bitch to justify the impending cheating. Elena was definitely the faceless, plot device back in the novella, but here, she was explored a bit more with more personality and back story just within the first few chapters. so i did appreciate that... but then it meant i couldn’t skim what id already basically read since Marley Valentine had included just enough new info that if id have skimmed, id have been confused af.
so rehashing the entire novella wasn’t something i vibed with... and it kinda made the whole book even dumber than the original bcos in this Gael has openly admitted to Elena in the past that he was in love with Jordan.
while in the novella, Gael is very closed-lipped about his feelings and barely acknowledges them, so his reasoning for not being with Jordan made a lil more sense, you know? but having him openly admit and acknowledge those feelings by telling Elena just made everything more real and thus dumber bcos Gael admits he suspects and even knows Jordan is in love with him too...
this is at the 16% mark:
so... Gael knows Jordan is in love with him, while also being in love with Jordan... but does precisely nothing? huh. yeah. makes total sense. even later on after the *plot twist* Gael admits that he sees the “unspoken worry and fear and always love shining in” Jordan’s eyes, “the love he didn’t know I saw, the love I hated him hiding.”
sooooo... am i making sense? that these fuckers are dumb? bcos Gael knows Jordan loves him. Jordan knows Gael used to have feelings for him... but Gael is engaged to Elena? and Gael and Jordan aren’t together...
so the reason they weren’t together made zero sense to me.
*Cardi B screaming what was the reason??*
i mean, Jordan thinks Gael is straight since he openly identifies as such and has never indicated otherwise (other than a kiss they drunkenly shared a decade ago) so naturally he would never suspect Gael’s feelings and make a move. if the relationship is to progress, it kinda needs to be Gael who makes the first move.
so the full-length book just made me think both Jordan and Gael were even dumber than their novella counterparts bcos here there was just SO MUCH known information they never bothered to utilise and a fuck-tonne of miscommunication. at least in the novella they came across as naive and too timid to cross the line into a romantic relationship. and being a novella, i don’t expect deep-diving into countless plot lines bcos there simply isn’t the time. but a full length novel has time... so i expected more.
but here they were just two giant dumb fucks.
it felt like they weren’t together for the sake of angst and furthering the plot. not bcos there was an actual, justifiable reason. so hence, dumb fucks. a major pet peeve of mine in romance is when the MCs both have feelings for one another and they know it, but still aren’t together. the reason they’re not together never seems to make any sense lmao. and it was the case here.
other than the fact Jordan insisting he knows Gael’s feelings better than Gael does and convincing Gael he doesn’t actually have feelings for Jordan. i–
im basically gonna split this review in half— the first half recapping the first half of the book, aka, the novella while the second half is all the new material.
the first half, aka, the novella:
so after reading the Regrets and Resolutions novella back when it was released in December 2020, i wanted to pick up Ache to see how Jordan and Gael’s story concluded.
now... was i expecting the full length novel to pick up where the novella left off? absolutely yes i was. the MCs despite finally getting together after years of denial, still had a lot of obstacles to overcome and bridges to mend— mainly confronting Elena about Gael and Jordan having an affair and Gael calling off their wedding. as well as dealing with the fall out of their family too since Gael cheated on Elena (who the family adored) with Jordan.
but i wasn’t expecting Marley Valentine to rehash the entire plot of Regrets and Resolutions with some tweaks and improvements incorporated into Ache... then continue where the novella left off.
i planned on skim reading it, but the author included new information and delved deeper into some characters we’d barely got to know from the novella— namely Elena. she was kinda the faceless, female lover of every straight-boy-turned-gay-or-bi-for-his-life-long-bestie which all MM best friends to lovers seem to have. it’s like authors aren’t allowed to write a MM best friends to lovers if one isn’t openly gay and pining for his supposed straight best friend, who in turn has unexplored feelings for said openly gay best friend.
the *straight guy* always has a girlfriend or fiancé just for shits and giggles, and she’s literally just a plot device and usually a monumental bitch to justify the impending cheating. Elena was definitely the faceless, plot device back in the novella, but here, she was explored a bit more with more personality and back story just within the first few chapters. so i did appreciate that... but then it meant i couldn’t skim what id already basically read since Marley Valentine had included just enough new info that if id have skimmed, id have been confused af.
so rehashing the entire novella wasn’t something i vibed with... and it kinda made the whole book even dumber than the original bcos in this Gael has openly admitted to Elena in the past that he was in love with Jordan.
while in the novella, Gael is very closed-lipped about his feelings and barely acknowledges them, so his reasoning for not being with Jordan made a lil more sense, you know? but having him openly admit and acknowledge those feelings by telling Elena just made everything more real and thus dumber bcos Gael admits he suspects and even knows Jordan is in love with him too...
this is at the 16% mark:
“You think he’s in love with me,” I say, repeating the words Julian has said to me since the first time he met Jordan.
“You know he is,” he says with conviction, and I don’t bother arguing, because I feel like I’ve known it for a long time.
so... Gael knows Jordan is in love with him, while also being in love with Jordan... but does precisely nothing? huh. yeah. makes total sense. even later on after the *plot twist* Gael admits that he sees the “unspoken worry and fear and always love shining in” Jordan’s eyes, “the love he didn’t know I saw, the love I hated him hiding.”
sooooo... am i making sense? that these fuckers are dumb? bcos Gael knows Jordan loves him. Jordan knows Gael used to have feelings for him... but Gael is engaged to Elena? and Gael and Jordan aren’t together...
so the reason they weren’t together made zero sense to me.
*Cardi B screaming what was the reason??*
i mean, Jordan thinks Gael is straight since he openly identifies as such and has never indicated otherwise (other than a kiss they drunkenly shared a decade ago) so naturally he would never suspect Gael’s feelings and make a move. if the relationship is to progress, it kinda needs to be Gael who makes the first move.
so the full-length book just made me think both Jordan and Gael were even dumber than their novella counterparts bcos here there was just SO MUCH known information they never bothered to utilise and a fuck-tonne of miscommunication. at least in the novella they came across as naive and too timid to cross the line into a romantic relationship. and being a novella, i don’t expect deep-diving into countless plot lines bcos there simply isn’t the time. but a full length novel has time... so i expected more.
but here they were just two giant dumb fucks.
it felt like they weren’t together for the sake of angst and furthering the plot. not bcos there was an actual, justifiable reason. so hence, dumb fucks. a major pet peeve of mine in romance is when the MCs both have feelings for one another and they know it, but still aren’t together. the reason they’re not together never seems to make any sense lmao. and it was the case here.
other than the fact Jordan insisting he knows Gael’s feelings better than Gael does and convincing Gael he doesn’t actually have feelings for Jordan. i–