Melanie HansenBesprekingen
Auteur van Point of Contact
Besprekingen
“To stability. To strength and perseverance, and unconditional love.”
Damn! This book broke my heart.
My heart broke for Eliot and Loren. These two met when they were 6 years old and become best friends, then when they were 17, Eliot had a major breakdown, Loren did not know how to handle the situation and left. First forward 9 years later they met again and from there the struggle begin.
"Why do you keep me around, Loren? Why do you even care?"
"Because you took my loneliness away, El."
Loren never stopped loving Eliot and when they met again he tried to rekindle what they had and suggested they date. I loved Loren, he was patient and truly believed he could help El and it was not an easy ride.
Eliot took Loren’s cheeks between his palms. “It’s not going to be easy to be with me. When you walk away, and you will—” He put his fingers over Loren’s lips when Loren opened his mouth to protest. “When you walk away, I’m going to pray you’re the one who comes back.”
Loren pulled Eliot against him and buried his lips in his hair. “Just try for me, El,” he murmured. “Do what the doctors tell you to do, don’t shut me out, and I will never walk away.”
Eliot gave a sad smile. “That’s what they all say. Don’t make promises you can’t keep, Loren.” He patted Loren’s cheek and climbed off his lap, leaning down to brush his warm mouth against his.
Eliot oh! My God, loving him is work, he is bipolar, he runs hot and cold and sometimes does and says unforgivable things. I loved him too, rooted for him wanted him to get better and keep the black demon away.
"I'm telling you that I understand what you need going forward. Now I want you to understand what I need. Waiting for you, I can do; wondering and worrying, I can't. Don't do that to me again, Loren. Please."
This book is brutally honest, showed the challenges of being in a relationship with someone who was mentally ill. The author did not hold anything back. I felt really sorry for these characters, and to imagine that this is someone’s reality broke my heart a little more.
“When it comes to bipolar disorder, love isn’t just a feeling. It’s an action word. It’s a fucking decision.”
We get an epilogue but not the one I am used to , the epilogue too is heartbreaking, the black demon will always be with Loren and El.
“To Loren… for always seeing the moon.”
Trevor’s only son Riley joins the military after high school and is sent over seas to Afghanistan. While his father waits and worries at home, Riley bonds with his fellow soldiers and becomes close to Jesse, a strong carrying soldier. When tragedy happens, Jesse vows to be there for Trevor and for the rest of the soldiers in his platoon.
The author has done thorough research into what it is like to serve in the Middle East and the emotional and mental cost to soldiers when they return. She also understands the process a family goes through when a loved one dies while deployed. I learned a lot about the plane that brings the soldier home and the people who care for the family members. I also learned about the organizations that help grieving families and returning veterans.
Don’t get me wrong, there is plenty of sex, mostly at the end. I’m not into heavy sex scenes and I admit I skipped most of the hot and heavy stuff. The author is “the queen of the slow burn” and I found the budding romance better than the sex. The father’s grief and the best friend’s comfort and support, that eventually turns into genuine love, is the best part of this novel.
This novel was nominated for the 2019 LAMBDA Award for Gay Romance novel. It did not win. A conventional billionaire romance won. Too bad, this is such a well written novel. Don’t miss out on reading it.
Four Hearts--Debut author Melanie Hansen's "Everything Changes" is a best friends-to-lovers romance that features straight, amputee former Marine, Carey and his best friend, Former Navy medic, bisexual lead singer Jase.
Carey visits Jase in San Diego, while on vacation from his Colorado wounded warriors peer counseling job, Jase heads an up and coming band, sleeps with his groupies, and is divorced and enjoying the single life. Except for one thing,,,he's in love with his best friend. He thinks his feelings won't be returned so he continues to sleep around. Carey however, can't seem to stop staring at his friend. Their connection is built upon friendship, life & death situations, a soldier's camaraderie, experiences only they would understand. The novel does a good job of showing this through flashbacks (a good number of them, BTW).
Everything Changes is billed as gay for you but...it was slightly different. Technically, Carey is sexually attracted to his male best friend. But, it wasn't like he and Jase hadn't had sexual contact in the past. Yes, it was a stressful point in Carey's life. Yes, learning about Carey's character showed he blocks anything too emotional from his mind and analyzes at a later time. But it wasn't like it was something new that he experiences to bring the reader through his internal conflict with him. He does have internal conflict, he does run back into a woman's arms...but he had years already to do all of this. Plus, when he has sex with Jase, he wasn't protesting much. He jumped into it with legs WIDE open. (No judging because I enjoyed his legs being open) full throttle.
The best part of the story? The sex. It's vanilla but sweet Cheesus do they pound it out. They are sucking, fingering, frotting, jerking off, rimming, and fucking for a good part of this book. Their sexing never got old with all that they did.
*stares into space remembering all the scenes*
I devoured this book in hours. I just...they...the dirty talk. Oh, the dirty talk is really nice.
And the thong. Did I mention one of the main characters wears a thong? There's a little thong play in one of the scenes and it--
*stares off into space again*
Did the guys get in between sheets fairly quickly? It seemed so. Even though it was emphasized that they knew each other for four years a lot (like really a lot) and there were plenty of flashbacks to make that point, it still seemed Carey got into bed like a lightening bolt was attached to his ass. But the scenes were so hot, I didn't care as much after awhile.
I was hooked by 8%. All the chips were in, my heart opened a tiny crevice to accept this book's landing. The moment slutty Jase's feelings for Carey are shown and the reader knows he couldn't do anything about it? That was super solid. I believed it. I enjoy those moments in romance.
But...there were a few issues:
Sometimes the main characters would have the same thoughts/tone: Yes, they're best bros but it read like they were the same person for a few parts. They got a little lost from being distinct characters.
The heavy handedness: The four years of knowing each other. The shared love. The wounded veterans. The sugary epilogue. Sometimes the point was made and then it would be driven over again and again. I got it the first time. Don't need to lay it on so thick. I can tell the author did the research especially with wounded veterans but it could've been a little lighter when trying to play the sympathy card. Having an author's note about the charities and projects dedicated to this subject (which certainly does deserve advertisement) could have been just as effective as pouring it in the book...maybe even more so.
The last 15-20%: Forget that both men seemed to be able to communicate their needs (except the most major one) to each other without much problem. Once their dicks got heavily involved, their brains must have taken a slight trip to the moon. Maybe from all the coming? They sure did jizz tons. The miscommunication/ignoring each other/ minor dramatics crap came out and kinda tarnished the solid beginning 80%. It got slightly soap opera-y with the lower key MANtrums going on in the last 20%. Thankfully, it was brief but still worth a mention because I couldn't rate this book 5 hearts no matter how much I enjoyed it. It's reread worthy-ish but I know I'll go straight to the steamy bits and skim some of the flashbacks and definitely ignore the sugar.
And that epilogue? Too long, too sugary and not necessary, IMO. We get a solid finish and then that gets added in the epilogue? Didn't really add to the story. They were already each other's perfect match, it could have been left alone as that.
I'm not going to discuss the tears bits. I can't stand water pots, no matter the gender.
Overall, I was entertained. I thought it was a solid debut. Love the cover, think it fits the story perfectly. I recommend this story for best friends to lovers fans especially. The GFY was a little wonky but it wasn't the worse I've read.
Definitely keeping my eye out for more of this author's work in the future. "
Chapter 1 (and no I am not going to take this chapter by chapter but this particular chapter needs special recognition)
It’s a gut buster of an opening. As my update indicates, I am not sure I have ever read an opening chapter that impacted me as much as this one did…my goodness I was a fucking mess. And that takes talent. As readers we are just being introduced to Jeremy and within just a few pages I was so distraught by what this character endures I just could not help but feel for him, to become connected to him, to want more for him. Jeremy experiences losses that no one should have to go through but these losses only made me fully understand why he built up these walls around himself...why he ran. Who wouldn’t?
Melanie writes some heartbreaking characters and characters you want to console, to love and to fully embrace. And for me, I love broken men…men who have these emotional walls that need to be torn down, men that aren’t afraid to lose themselves in emotion, to cry on the shoulder of the ones they love and to come out of the shadows of despair and reenter life for love. Gaaahhh…just push me over. I fully connected to these two men and found this connection wonderfully written.
As part of this story, we are also introduced to Kai’s best friend, Loren, and what an impact he has on this story. An unconventional relationship, and one that while very open, is never threatening. Loren and Kai share a love that can never be replaced. Loren pulled Kai out of his own shadows of despair and in that he will always be a part of Kai’s heart, much like Brent will always be a part of Jeremy’s. Love has no limit…our love doesn’t diminish because we love more than one person.
“Look, when I was sixteen, my mom was pregnant with her seventy-trillionth kid. And one of my little sisters asked her if my mom would still love her when she had the new baby. I’ll never forget what my mom said, about love being like the flame of a candle. It glows brightly, but yet it can light many more candles, a roomful of them, without losing its glow. And the other ones it lit glow just as bright without taking one single thing away from the original candle.”
Loren is a glowing candle in Kai’s heart, his security blanket and their love and friendship is just amazingly heartfelt. Loren gets his own story next and I will eagerly be awaiting this.
Now as for Jase and Carey (one of my favorite couples ever btw)…they make a cameo in this and dammit, it only makes me want to reread “Everything Changes” AGAIN!!! My Review Here.
Kai and Jeremy's story is just beautifully rich and powerful and one that I look forward to revisiting one day soon. Highly recommended.
BR with my girls Susan, Momo and Els"
So where the hell to land?? I guess I will land at 3.5 as this really lands in the middle of 2 and 5 for me. LOL...yeah I am still in a funk. Oh well.
If you have read the other two books in the series then you really should dive into this too but I will warn you...it is not a fun journey. Grab plenty of kleenex and a bottle of your favorite alcoholic beverage...you will need it. Melanie Hansen holds nothing back.
Other Books in this series (Note that both of these made it on my Best of 2015 list of MM Reads):
Everything Changes (Review)
Signs of Life (Review)
"
****
So it has been a while but I finally had a one on one BR with my girl Elsbeth...and boy did she pick a good one.
This was just my kind of book (and I went in essentially blind which made it all the better). Gaaahhh...I am still on high and actually may have to reread a handful of scenes today before moving on to something else.
This is a friends to lovers story. A story about two Veterans, one of whom lost his leg in Afghanistan. I could go on and on with descriptions of this book...but honestly you need to just read it yourself. *insert gif here* It's hot, it's touching, it's beautiful. And while there is a slight touch of angst at the end...I got it..I understood. These two were just...just...
And what I loved most was the desire not to label this relationship as anything more than two people who love each other.
“See, here’s the thing, Carey. I’ve had sex with men, I’ve had sex with women. I’ve never felt like this about a man before either, so do I call myself gay because I’ve fallen in love with you? I feel this way about you because you’re… you. Not because of the parts you have. It’s just you, Carey. It’s everything about you. Why do we need to label that as something or other? Why can’t it just be Jase in love with Carey? Me in love with you?”
Yeah...stick a fork in me...I'm done.
My Carey and Jase
"
Onze site gebruikt cookies om diensten te leveren, prestaties te verbeteren, voor analyse en (indien je niet ingelogd bent) voor advertenties. Door LibraryThing te gebruiken erken je dat je onze Servicevoorwaarden en Privacybeleid gelezen en begrepen hebt. Je gebruik van de site en diensten is onderhevig aan dit beleid en deze voorwaarden.
Ok, so no one is going to be surprised that this is an intense look at grief, not only from a parent’s perspective but that of a best friend. Hansen seems to specialize and thrive on these sorts of tough topics, and I’ve always appreciated her well thought out, sensitive handling of such.
Upon hearing of his son’s death, Trevor is absolutely undone by the what if's and the what could never be’s. Trevor had plans and hopes for the future with newly adult Riley on his return from the front lines in Afghanistan. When that is taken away from him, Trevor’s paralyzed with anguish, thinking he never truly knew the man that Riley had become in the short nine months of being a soldier.
Jesse in turn, is not only coping with the loss of his best friend but his own issues of coming home to civilian life. Through fraught, deadly situations, he had formed a unique bond with Riley, each relying on the other for support, each becoming an integral and necessary part for survival. It’s that shared past that Jesse brings to Trevor that allows both these men to slowly heal.
Again, Hansen deftly puts the reader through their paces. She handles every situation, every setback, and every small minute win with thoughtfulness and grace. It’s only inevitable that as these two grieving men comfort one another, that they would naturally fall in love, eventually embracing life again to honor Riley’s memory.
An affecting very difficult read, but well worth the effort.