Reviewed by Valerie

TITLE: Beautiful and Terrible Things

AUTHOR:  Riley Hart

PUBLISHER:  Self-Published

LENGTH:  240 pages

RELEASE DATE: December 30, 2020

BLURB:

We were six years old when I fell in love with Gage Beaumont.

We were seventeen when he realized he felt the same.

His dad was the town troublemaker, and I was the son of a cop. We couldn’t have been more different, yet we were best friends, had each other’s backs, and kept each other’s secrets. What you are, I am, we always said.

Then one night irrevocably changed our lives forever.

It’s ten years before I see Gage again, and instantly I can tell he’s not the same boy I fell in love with. We’re both haunted and hardened by the memory of that night—of everything we did and saw.

Yet as much as we’ve changed, the connection between us lingers. Our history is so devastatingly complicated that it’s difficult to allow ourselves happiness. With every touch, every laugh, every moment we take back, the more signs I see of the old Gage resurfacing. Little by little, I’m becoming the Joey he remembers too.

But it’s never that easy. If we truly want to heal, we have to find strength not only in each other, but in ourselves. Life is filled with beautiful and terrible things, and this time, we’ll do whatever it takes to hold on to the good, and to each other.

Warning: While this is a story about friendship, found family, and two men epically in love, it also deals with difficult themes: childhood physical and verbal abuse, some violence, depression, and anxiety.

REVIEW:

I am what you are. We were forever entwined. Even when we were apart, our lives were completely entangled, as if there was no Joey without Gage or Gage without Joey.

I was deeply moved by Beautiful and Terrible Things. It’s an agonizingly beautiful look at a love that endures the worst of circumstances and prevails because of how hard two men fight for it. The heartache is intense – but so worth it – in this ultimate hurt/comfort, second chance novel.

Inevitable love. Inescapable, unavoidable, and certain – my favorite type of love story. This is Joey and Gage, best friends from the age of six. But they’re something more than friends, even. They seem fated. The boys realize they are each other’s worlds at a very young age, but only Joey – or JoJo to Gage – realizes he’s gay and in love with Gage. It’s more than a decade before Gage realizes he’s bi and has feelings for Joey that go beyond friendship.

Both boys grow up without mothers, and with neglectful or abusive fathers. Their similar family dynamics bond them closer together, and along with their good friends, Mouse and Romeo, they forge their way through high school. They just have to make it through till graduation when they can blow out of town and escape their fathers. It never happens, though. The most extraordinary night of their lives turns horrific in a moment and shatters Joey and Gage irrevocably.

It’s ten years before the men run into each other again, by chance. After a rough start, it’s apparent that establishing a friendship is certain. As before, they’re meant to be in each other’s life, despite the pain that is still so raw. But neither man knows if he can move forward beyond friendship. Joey’s existence is bleak. He’s closed off emotionally from almost everyone except Mouse and Romeo, and seeks out physical pain to dull his emotional agony. In his eyes, he wasn’t strong enough as a teen, and as a result, their lives were ruined. His childhood dreams for the future died long ago. Joey doesn’t think he can ever allow himself to care about anyone again, to open up to love. He relates love to suffering. Gage has been working to rebuild his empty life, a life marked by loneliness and despair. Like Joey, he’s hasn’t been in a relationship since they were together. For Gage, caring equals loss.

Joey and Gage fight hard to shed their pain and heal. I’m pleased that Riley Hart laid her men bare and allowed us to witness their struggle in full. They each fight a grueling battle within themselves to push past the self-blame and loathing, and instead forgive and love themselves. They learn that they need to take control of their lives if they want a future together.

This isn’t always an easy book to read; from the title it’s obvious something tragic is headed Joey and Gage’s way. I was angsting before much hardship was even introduced, just from the anticipation. Ms. Hart cut me to the quick. But the payoff of enduring the tough parts is the sweetness between Joey and Gage, who are both massively likable, sympathetic characters. The second first kiss. *sigh* I’ve never been so affected by a book kiss. This is a second chance at its very best, and when Joey and Gage share a kiss for the first time in ten years, I melted and my broken heart began its path of repair. Another high point of the book is the friendship of Mouse and Romeo, without which Joey and Gage probably would not have been able to heal themselves and their relationship. Along with Joey’s boss and his wife, they become Joey and Gage’s found family.

The epilogue gives us a glimpse five years into the future. I like that it’s realistic – all of the men’s dreams from years ago aren’t realized and their broken past can’t be erased. But they’ve recovered and live a peaceful, happy life, a life full of hope and love. Inevitably together.

Beautiful and Terrible Things is now my favorite Riley Hart book.

RATING:

BUY LINK: 

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