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That loving a person means letting them change when they need to. And letting them go when they need to. And that doesn't make them any less of a home. Just maybe not one for you. Or only for a season or two. But that doesn't diminish the love. It just changes forms.Mike and Benson are aware things are not going as smoothly between them anymore. So, when Mike spontaneously decides to fly out to Japan to help his sick father, his mother, who herself just flew in from Japan to visit her son, is left alone with the barely-boyfriend Benson.
Loved this. I don't wanna start every review of a gay book by saying it's not like other gay books, but I loved how flawed the characters in this one were. Benson is so emotionally repressed (at least in terms of his relationship to Mike) it hurts. His family history has left some scars, after he was more or less kicked out after testing HIV-positive at a younger age. Nevertheless, they keep in touch, the way some families still do, especially since his alcoholic father requires babysitting. On the other hand, Benson is a caring daycare worker, with a great support system in his work friend, and potential lover Omar. It was interesting to see him toe the line as he was trying to figure out whether the relationship with Mike is 'worth it' anymore.
Mike himself is shown to be flawed in his own way. His family history has left some bruises, too. As an immigrant child with history of domestic abuse, with not enough money to go to college so he had to find his passion in food and cooking. To be fair, I found his part of the book slightly more 'boring', but that's more so due to the nature of his story, largely centred around bridging the gap between the father who abandoned him as a child, and the one who is dying right in front of him.
I do think this book had something interesting to show about relationships. In terms of how much pressure we put on relationships these days, evaluating from the start how high the chances are of things "working out" when in the end, as stated by multiple characters in this book, you don't really know until you try. Trying, I feel, is the main takeaway from this book. Trying, but also letting go.
Overall, another great gay novel with great rep. There are some instances of racism, both from Ben, and from Mike, which I feel like you don't always see in 'romance' novels. I did tear up by the end of it, so for that alone I couldn't NOT give this a five star review.