Reviewed by Sadonna
TITLE: The Other Side of Here 
AUTHOR: E.M. Lindsey
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 298 pages
RELEASE DATE: March 30, 2021
BLURB:
“I’m a man of regrets, my love. I can always think of a thousand ways I could have done things better. But I don’t regret him.”
Married for nearly two decades, Luca and Sebastion know what they want from life and from love, but they certainly don’t expect the shake-up that is Alexander Thomas. Their marriage has been open since the start, but it’s not until Luca sends a wrong text that they realize there might be room for something new. Something a little bit more permanent. The only problem is, Xan’s already taken, and the man he’s with is dangerous.
Xan’s life has been off the rails since his parents died, and with his current relationship turning toxic, he’s not sure he wants to inflict his chaos on the lives of two men who don’t deserve it. Luca and Sebastion are worthy of so much more, and Xan isn’t sure he’ll ever deserve the chance at their unconditional love. After all, he’s been engaged to a man who can’t stand him for two years, and he still can’t find the courage to leave. But when things go from bad to worse, Xan knows something has to give, and he realizes then the only difficult step to take is the first one.
Some relationships are meant for moments, and some are meant for forever, but none of these men know how their story will end until they’re standing together, on the other side of here.
The Other Side of Here is a MMM stand-alone romance with a happily ever after. Please see forward for content warnings.
REVIEW:
Xan is a grad student. His parents were killed when he was still in high school and he was still working on healing when he met Max when he was a sophomore in college. He’s now living with his fiance, but he’s miserable. Max has his own life, his job, work friends and Xan is finally able to admit, probably even more that that. He’s systematically cut Xan off from any other relationships, friendships, and even tries to interfere with one of his only remaining family members in his cousin Allie. While Max hasn’t hit him, he’s made him feel like he’s nothing and that no one would ever want him and that he couldn’t survive with out him. He won’t allow him to come out with Max’s work friends, or really anything else. Xan has tried to leave before, but he just hasn’t been able to make it stick.
Luca sends a text to a potential dog walker – but he gets Xan by accident. He realizes something is wrong pretty quickly. He offers to help and after they meet, he realizes there might be more there that just being his friend. He has shared all this with Sebastion. They’ve always had an open marriage, but that was for something hot and fleeting, not necessarily something more permanent. But he thinks this might be different. Then things go from bad to worse with Max and Luca feels like he needs to help Xan. He recognizes a lot of what he’s seeing because Sebastion had an abusive ex in the past – and he didn’t have any support. Luca wants to be sure that Xan doesn’t try to take everything on by himself. But he may not be ready to accept what they are offering.
Xan does need Sebastion and Luca to help him extricate himself from his relationship. But he also realizes that it’s time that he takes steps to heal himself so that he can be ready for a real relationship. And he’s definitely not in that place. He’s got a lot of work to do on himself, but he never forgets how the two men that he met because of a wrong number text made him feel. He knew he was seen and understood. But he has to be in a place where he’s not just taking, but also has the ability to give.
This was really beautifully written. My heart broke over and over for Xan. He’s been through so much in his young life. He was just ripe for grooming by his abusive fiance Max. I was so happy when he made friends with Luca first and then with Luca and Sebastion. I knew that they would be able to help him. Then my heart broke again – for all of them. Sebastion and Luca’s relationship is lovely to see also – their level of honesty and understanding was beyond admirable. They have built a very solid foundation, but Luca’s heart really is so big and he has so much love to give. It takes a little bit of time for Sebastion and Luca to get to the same place, but they both realize that Xan could just make them more.
While some might object to how long it takes before the three of these men are in the same room, to me, it felt like the natural and frankly only believable pace at which this relationship could actually work. I loved the way the author conveyed their history, feelings and motivations without some big info dump. Their pasts are revealed in a way that is organic to the story. The sharing of their histories made me believe that the three of them could make this work and that no one would get lost in the shuffle. That isn’t to say that there weren’t challenges and obstacles to overcome and certainly nobody is perfect. But they met them with honesty and communication and I think that’s the key to any successful relationship between any number of adults 🙂 I really just love a good story where all of the principals share what they want and need and there isn’t any judgement and they all care for each other. In this case, their love just evolves in a way that works for them. That is what is so well done with this book. Highly recommended – especially for fans of believable, tender and triumphant polyamory stories.
RATING: 
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