The story begins with a short chapter in the "present" and a full circle once you read the next one, back in 1986 when it all began. Josiah "Joe" Daniels finds Casey in the middle of the road, cold, hungry and damaged. He offers to take him home to feed him, get him a shower and a place to sleep and though Casey eventually agrees he still isn't sure this guy isn't going to rape him and abuse him like the others did. But Joe intend to do exactly what he promised, in the order he promised. What he did intend to do and never actually did was call social services the day after.. It was just strange circumstances that made Casey stay that day, and then the next one and the next one as Casey and Joe somehow made it work. The two of them, together, taking care of each other though it was mostly Joe being a guiding hand to Casey, wanting him to grow up and have a good life he enjoys. A rather strange companionship is formed between the two. While Joe originally wanted to be left alone in his isolated home, with Casey it was somehow right. He enjoyed his company, their friendship and Casey himself.
For Casey it was somehow different. Joe was his savior, Joe was the first person to see goodness in him, and brought that goodness out. He believed in him and made him believe in himself. Joe was everything to Casey, but one thing he wasn't a "father figure". I guess in the beginning it was mostly gratitude for Joe, but in Casey's eyes it was always love. The kind of love Joe refused over and over again. While Joe was in fact bisexual, he wasn't interested in a kid and when they met, in Joe's eyes, the 16 years old kid wasn't someone he can look at and think of a man, of someone he wants to be with, not to mention he partied enough in his life so at 27 he was looking for a person to settle with. A man, a woman, it didn't matter to him, but he wasn't about to abuse this kid especially as he came to cherish their friendship. While Joe loved Casey for years, it took a sort of extreme for him to FINALLY, years later, succumb to the attraction he hasn't even realized he had toward Casey. Casey was about to give up, but he also didn't want to give up on what they DID have together. The home they build together.
The book was told from both their POVs which gave us the full story the years they spent together. Most of the story takes place between 1986 and 1995 with glimpses in the first chapter and epilogue into the "future"/"now" in 2011 - 25 years from their initial meeting. The connection, the friendship, the companionship and the love, everything build up beautifully, I didn't feel any rush to get to them together though I wanted that, I enjoyed the journey both of them had to see each other as his equal. It was a mental change for Joe to see a man and not the kid he rescued, as well as Casey needing to grow up more and have more experiences, life in general in a supportive environment before the relationship he forms with another can be a mature one (though he felt VERY matured even as a teenager..).
Both Casey and Joe went through quite a lot in their life, together and apart. Joe losing his favorite sister when he was little, making him the person he is today, helping anyone in need the best way he can. Casey struggles with his family's reaction to him being gay (first reaction being throwing him out..) then meeting Joe's family and finding a way to make a place for himself there with a lot of acceptance (they raised Joe didn't they?) yet a little resistance as well. Though Joe is bisexual he did mostly see himself settling with a woman since he REALLY wanted kids, and this is something that set heavily on Casey's shoulders, he won't be the person to hold Joe back from something he wants so much and he is sure he is going to be amazing at. Every turn, every struggle was so human and touching. The way life is. Though we totally get a Happily Ever After, there were sad little stories along the way (like meeting a terminal AIDS patient) making this book as perfect as it can get.
I loved everything about this book, including the fact that the chapters are named after songs of that time (I'm a child of the 80s, I could totally relate :)). I've read a lot of romance novels in the past two years. Took me a while to admit to myself I enjoy the genre (I'm the most NON romantic and cynic person I know..) and while I was fortunate to read a lot of GREAT ones, most are shorter in the span we get to see and experience the couple forming their emotions and building a relationship . There is something so different with an EPIC romance like this one, of 25 years together of fighting against the odds. Making this book so special to me. I was touched by both of them. Unlike most of the novels I've read I don't have a favorite MC. I love them both to pieces. But what I was trying to say is this novel isn't long, less than 300 pages yet it had EVERYTHING we needed for it to be absolutely perfect.
I've only read two EPIC romance novels - "Special Forces" by Aleksandr Voinov and Marquesate and the spin off "Deliverance" of a couple mentioned in "Special Forces". Both were an amazing read yet they were as far from this one as one could go. There is no war keeping them apart, only themselves. There was no real need for a lot of "background noise" it wasn't a thriller or a suspense novel. It was just a beautiful touching love story that had it all. I"m not trying to say anything negative on "Special Forces" or it's spin off!! I loved them both! I'm just pointing out that sometimes life, simple or complicated as it can be is enough for a touching yet gripping love story.
A MUST READ.
Additional Details: Kindle Ebook, 270 pages, 7-9 May 2015 / On GoodReads
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