Reviewed by Larissa
TITLE: The Worst Bad Thing
AUTHOR: J.E. Birk
PUBLISHER: Self-published
LENGTH: 163 pages
RELEASE DATE: May 24, 2022
BLURB:
He thinks I’m worth saving. He doesn’t know how wrong he is.
Some mistakes can never be redeemed. I know that better than anyone. Last year I made the ultimate mistake—I cost someone their life. This trip I’m taking through Iceland, England, and France may look like the trip of a lifetime, but it’s not. This is a mission. I have to pay back the debts I owe the world.
Then I meet Gabriel Carrillo. Gabriel is kind, caring, and generous, and he seems to be on a mission of his own to make sure our paths keep crossing. Between sunrise swims in the Blue Lagoon and afternoon walks through Stonehenge, I find myself wanting to spend more and more time with him.
But Gabriel doesn’t know my secrets. He doesn’t know what I’m out to achieve.
He doesn’t know that my future is already set.
The Worst Bad Thing is a 44,000 word hurt/comfort romance set across three countries. It stars a former soldier and the mysterious man he falls in love with on a plane, and it features a HEA. Please see the Author’s Note for content warnings.
REVIEW:
J.E. Birk’s The Worst Bad Thing provides an emotionally powerful, novella-length story of failure and forgiveness, horror and healing. This is a hard book to read and an even harder book to review. The organic unfolding of events is an essential part of the experience of the story. Further, the linchpin of the story is the reason for Tate’s journey, and that reveal is saved until almost the end of the story (although you may figure it out earlier). Hence, writing this review without spoilers is a challenge. Know that any vagueness in what follows is intentional to preserve your reading experience.
Tate makes a terrible mistake with catastrophic consequences and bears the burden like an albatross around his neck. On his tribute trip to honor his student, Kelly, he meets Gabriel, a former Army Ranger haunted by his own ghosts and who, therefore, sees and understands Tate in a way others don’t. Gabriel encourages Tate to think about the good things that make him want to get up in the morning, not the worst bad thing to ever happen in his life.
The Worst Bad Thing is told through Tate’s single narrator, first-person viewpoint. The story reads like a travel brochure with Birk’s beautiful (albeit lengthy) descriptions of Iceland, England, and France, and the famous tourist destinations Tate and Gabriel visit in each. Tate and Gabriel immediately bond and quickly fall for each other, albeit not without some ambivalence on the part of Tate. The truth about the accident and its aftermath unfold through flashbacks that alternate with the present-day travels. The reveals come slowly and some quite unexpectedly.
The “romance” is woven throughout the journey, which holds much more significance than we are initially told. I put the word romance in quotes because there’s nothing romantic, sweet, or flowery about this story. Tate’s mind is a dark and depressing place to dwell and his intentions and state of mind create dissonance in the reader – or at least in this reader. I feel torn over Tate and Gabriel’s developing relationship. Part of me takes comfort in the redemptive power of love. The other part of me feels Tate’s selfishness and Gabriel’s inconsistency in his support undermine any burgeoning connection between them. The story does end on a high note with the romance-requisite HEA dutifully fulfilled. I just didn’t feel very fulfilled over the romance aspect of the story.
That being said, The Worst Bad Thing is an impactful, beautifully written story that I overarchingly liked. The journey isn’t easy for anyone, though – Tate, Gabriel, and the reader alike. But if you don’t mind dark, difficult content (heed the trigger warnings), you may find The Worst Bad Thing a trip worth taking.
RATING: 
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