Reviewed by Dan
TITLE: Laugh Cry Repeat
AUTHOR: John Inman
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 211 Pages
RELEASE DATE: December 4, 2017
BLURB:
Wyeth Becker is a quiet man. Staid, serious, calm. A librarian. When he meets preschool teacher Deeze Long, he discovers joy for the first time in his life. With joy comes laughter, excitement, and a new way to look at the world through the eyes of the kindest, most loving man he has ever met.
When tragedy strikes and Deeze loses his joy, it is Wyeth who helps him find it again. It is Wyeth, the man who never truly understood happiness, who pays that gift back. Giving all he can of himself to the man who changed his life. Restoring in Deeze what he now so desperately needs.
But the road of their relationship doesn’t end there. The joys and sorrows of life are never-ending. As they set out to weather the highs and lows together, Wyeth and Deeze hang on to the one thing that makes all the tears and laughter worthwhile.
Love.
For only through love can life be truly savored at all.
REVIEW:
OMG. I did this review a month ago and stuck it in our ‘drafts’ section on the blog, and somehow got busy and never actually scheduled it to post! I just found it, so I apologize for the late review!
I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again. John Inman is a must read for me. I have to read his books, and woe be any reviewer on our blog who tries to claim one before me! That said, Laugh Cry Repeat was a little different for me. I’ve got some very different opinion sections below in this review, so read it all the way through to get the entire picture.
I’d have to say that the book grew on me as I was reading it. I’ll be honest, I liked it well enough from the very beginning, but it could have been a lot of other books…it didn’t wow me. I wasn’t that fond of the characters, particularly Wyeth, the quiet and unassuming librarian who definitely came across as having some heavy self-worth issues. When he meets Deeze, after his dog trips the poor guy while he is running, he is surprised to discover that the man is interested in him. He knows the man is out of his league and spends a good portion of the beginning of the story lamenting the fact that the man will eventually dump him. Honestly, I got a little sick of his internal self-worth issues and they kind of detracted from that part of the book. There were also some issues with head hopping. From one paragraph to another in one section we were in both Wyeth and Deeze’s POV, and there might even have been a little of the fourth wall involved in a spot or two. To keep it honest, I’m going to have to say that I didn’t know if I even liked the book at all at that point.
But hold on. Because then…the event happened. I knew it was coming, as will you when you read it because there is a line that says something about them not knowing that one of them would barely survive the day. I instantly was hooked and dragged into the part of the story with its realistic real-life headline type events. I have a great-nephew that is nearly 5 and in pre-school. I was picturing his little face while reading about the students, especially Jake. From that spot on, I couldn’t put it down. There were some emotions involved. I got teary eyed on more than one occasion. The characters and events were well written and I felt like I was there. Somewhere along the line, I came to like the characters, and the book finished well for them, and for me as a reader.
No more hints or spoilers. I enjoyed this one, and I recommend it. If you’re like me, you might have to push past that first half, but the second half is worth it.
RATING: 
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