After Ben

3.25 stars. This was a hard book to rate. There were a lot of things I liked about it. The portrayal of grief, and the slow recovery from a devastating loss, was movingly captured. I truly felt how much Ben had meant to Theo and his struggle to redefine his life after the initial shock had worn off. The connection with Morgan, especially after they met face to face, was intense and passionate. I appreciated the fact that once Theo decided he was all in, he was fully committed without lingering guilt or doubt. And I also found Theo's relationship with his parents to be well crafted and developed, demonstrating that it's never too late to forgive and change. But the writing style at times got in the way of the story for me. There was a lot of telling instead of showing, especially in Theo's initial online conversations with Morgan. We're told that they had lively debates about a variety of topics but we never actually see evidence of them. And while I found the flashbacks to Theo's life with Ben to be poignant reminders of how much they loved each other, the author also has a weird habit of starting a chapter and then flashing back to something that just happened a few hours or days ago. It made the story feel much more passive to be reporting on something instead of engaging in it as it happened. Theo isn't always an easy character to like. He is inappropriate bordering on creepy with his young interns, and he totally takes his amazing assistant Maggie for granted. Morgan too has his faults, including a tendency to be judgmental and moody. But that's actually a plus for me; love and romance shouldn't be reserved for perfect characters only. In a way it's more meaningful to find myself rooting for two people who I don't always like; it means they feel real to me. In summary, this book was a mixed bag for me, but it was very emotionally impactful in several places so I'd rate it as slightly above average. I had a similar reaction to another Con Riley book, [b:Must Like Spinach 32712654 Must Like Spinach Con Riley https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1476974816l/32712654.SY75.jpg 52701614], so I guess I would include her in my list of Maybe I'll Take a Chance On Their Next Book authors.

This was precisely the type of book I was in the mood for, so I really enjoyed it. It was mature (i.e. serious) yet still had plenty of steamy scenes, and it was well written. The author did a wonderful job of demonstrating how grief affects the daily life of someone who has suffered such a profound loss. I do think this could have still been achieved with fewer/shorter flashbacks, and I'd have preferred to read less of Theo's monotonous day to day activities and more of his relationship development with Morgan. I wish I'd gotten to read more about Morgan and his past. I found the length of time it took Theo to connect the dots about what had happened to Morgan extremely hard to believe. You'd have to be beyond oblivious not to realize what was going on based on his behavior and the things he said. When you're writing from a single POV, in order for your MC's surprise to feel genuine, the reader should be surprised as well.

Anyway, despite those issues, I was pretty much glued to the pages until I finished. It was nice to read something quite different from my usual books. I'd like to read more from this author, but I'm not sure I want to continue this series, considering the fact I really didn't think much of Peter. He made me uncomfortable with his pushiness because he said one thing while doing the opposite. I'll probably give it a try just to see if he comes across differently in his book.