Reviewed by Taylin
TITLE: Always You
AUTHOR: Nell Iris
PUBLISHER: JMS Books LLC
RELEASE DATE: May 30, 2020
LENGTH: 40 Pages
BLURB:
Thom Novak feels like a walking cliché: the gay guy desperately in love with his straight best friend, Lee. But he’s willing to keep his feelings hidden, to do whatever it takes, as long as they stay friends forever.
Lee Conway loves sharing an apartment with Thom, his best friend since birth, and would be happy doing it for the rest of his life … no matter his current girlfriend’s opinion on the matter. But he’s never been known for being in contact with his emotions.
When something happens to upset the status quo, Lee pulls away. Has Lee learned how Thom feels about him? Will it mean the end of their friendship? Or is there another reason Lee needs time to think? A more … hopeful reason?
REVIEW:
Thom Novak doesn’t date because that person wouldn’t be Lee. Instead, he prefers his date to be a night in with Clint Eastwood starring in ‘The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly’. Lee Conway has been Thom’s best friend since birth and is straight. Lee is well known for being emotionally oblivious – he also has a girlfriend whose biological clock is ticking.
Thom and Lee have been living together since college and through their teaching careers. Thom has been in love with Lee since school. When Lee comes home behaving weirdly, Thom worries about how their lives may be about to change.
I’ll just get this out there. I found ‘Always You’ to be an absolutely delightful read. It is told in the first person, present tense, from Thom’s viewpoint. Technically, I can’t say I took that much notice because I was so engrossed by the story. Having said that, if something had stood out, I hope I would have picked up on it. So, the technical side of things must have been pretty good.
What makes this tale a success to me is that it doesn’t try to pack a lifetime into a few thousand words. So many short stories make the error of being distracted by adding too much. Where short stories are concerned, for me, less is more. ‘Always You’ focusses on one brief period, adds a little history and lets the rest play out.
Though there is intimacy, the story is not high on flames. It doesn’t need it. I was utterly sucked in by the unfolding conversations containing crossed wires, probing questions, awkwardness, and thudding hearts. At just over 10k, for such a short story, I was enchanted. My emotions were given enough of a workout, too.
If you are after something to fill in an evening. That little read to give you warm fuzzies before turning out the light, or that Sunday afternoon sat with a cuppa and biscuit – this is perfect. Though your cuppa might go cold and the biscuit forgotten – mine were.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Review […]