Title: After Ben (Seattle Stories #1) Main Characters: Theo Anderson and ‘Morgan’ Author: Con Riley Genre: Contemporary Romance Length: 300 pages Publisher: Dreamspinner Press Date of Publication: July 16th 2012 Story: A year after the sudden death of his longtime partner, Ben, Theo Anderson is still grieving. The last thing he's looking for is a new lover. But as Theo soon discovers, sometimes life has other plans. While Theo experiences a powerful physical attraction to fellow gym member Peter, it's his new online friend, Morgan, who provides the intellectual challenge to make him come alive. Morgan is witty, brave, and irreverent, and Theo is ready to take the plunge... until he discovers Morgan might be half his age. Theo's late partner was significantly older-enough to strain Theo's relationship with his family-and the potential of another relationship being cut short leaves him gunshy. Theo needs to lay Ben's memory to rest, reconcile with his family, and rekindle neglected friendships if he's to start afresh with a new lover. But Theo isn't the only one with a past. His biggest challenge, in living after Ben, might not be his to face. Me and this book: If there are some of you out there that know me, then you’re probably aware that I write fanfiction. If not, then I’m telling you now. I write fanfiction for the world of kpop and even though I have taken a hiatus from that world, one of my most treasured written fanfiction is about a love that started online. It’s my favorite out of all because of the wonderful feedback that it had garnered. It was written out the top of my head and I never really thought that it was anything remotely good until positive comments started coming in. And that was the first time ever that I really experienced what it was like to write something not for my personal gain but for the readers out there. Let’s face it, writing fanfiction is nothing, you don’t get paid for it, you don’t get famous, you do it because it’s fun. And at that moment, I really felt that I belonged in the writing world. And now, realizing that this book was somewhat like that, it got me hooked really fast. That cover photo alone sold me. I wanted to see what a real experienced writer would do about a story line like that. I gotta say, I was blown away. Review: This was not the typical online relationship that I thought it would be. It was actually a journey, we were given access to the life of Theo and how he was able to live on after his partner for years had passed away in a car accident. And it took time, like any other realistic book, these things took time. The story started off one year after the accident, and we could see that Theo wasn’t really there. It was painfully obvious that he was still living his life in the past and those long flashbacks of him and Ben weren’t really doing him any good. He had cut off from his friends and family, he goes everyday only talking to those that were necessary and no one else, he doesn’t even talk to anyone at the gym. He only spends a small amount of time to social in a debate forum he had joined online, where nobody knows who he truly was. And there it seemed that there was this newbie member, Morgan, making a ruckus in the forum and in some way he managed to spike Theo’s interest. That was all it was though at the beginning, just simple chats and it was mostly about the issues and topics circulating the debate forum or more accurately it was about Morgan calling the other members idiots. That was all there was. Theo’s life still went on, slowly and slowly he tried to get in touch with the present. His family, friends and coworkers were willing to help Theo, though he might not see what it meant at that time but it helped him get back to his feet somehow, to move on but not quite yet. Morgan did his fair share of helping too without even realizing it, just like everything else, they started to slowly open up with each other, despite it being only on the web, it actually meant something to Theo in a big way. This truly was a book that will take the readers in for a journey about moving on. The readers would also go through the five stages of grief just like Theo did and it’s going to be hard sometimes. Flashbacks and stories about him and Ben were scattered throughout the book, giving that depress and happy vibe all at once. Those parts of the story were obviously well written but sometimes it can get a little too stretched, in other parts readers might find themselves wanting to get back in reality where Morgan was. But it was all good. And even though Morgan did not appear much in the first half of the book, his significance in the story was not overpowered. He was like the lifeline that Theo needed to hold on to keep himself from drifting back to the past where Ben was alive. Emotion-wise, this book was full of it. Left and right, we could see all the rises and falls of Theo’s life. Theo was not perfect, he in fact was just human so his actions may it be good or bad in the perspective of others, they were all real. Real emotions and real problems could affect people in more ways than one. And that was one of the reasons why I praise this book, it wasn’t all uphill when Morgan arrived in the picture. No, it was balanced, the good and the bad. And what’s more amazing was that we got to see how Theo managed to handle it all. |
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February 2016
"Without a doubt, there was no place, nothing as exotic or rare, as that moment right there with him. Never again could I claim miracles didn't happen." |