Review: A slow buildup to a sweet, quiet conclusion
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 08 13, 2013
Warning: This review might contain what some people consider SPOILERS.Rating: 8/10PROS:- I liked the writing. There are sentences throughout that pack quite an emotional punch. They're not unusual or particularly sage or witty. They're just...true.- Aedin does a great job of exploring not only the grief of having lost a loved one, but also the guilt at finding oneself attracted to someone else.- Chance/fate/luck plays a fairly large part in bringing the men together, but the story doesn't rely entirely on chance encounters. I believe in fate, but sometimes when a story employs it too heavy-handedly, some of the magic dims for me. Now, fate combined with Facebook? THAT I can get behind.- I loved the pace of the story. Time moves along at a crawl: the men get to know each other slowly, the anticipation builds, and they act on their attraction in good time, when both are ready for it.CON:- I found myself wishing often that I could see scenes from the non-narrator's point of view. What is it that Dustin sees in Stuart? When does he start to fall for Stuart? Etc. I really wanted to see whether Dustin was thinking about Stuart as often as Stuart was thinking about him.Overall comments: This is a wonderfully sweet story. There's an unusual premise which is sad but manages not to wallow in self-pity, and both of the main characters are flawed and felt like real people to me.