At War with a Broken Heart

I'm being a generous grinch

I'm guessing I should've really liked this much more than I did but I can't lie. Or shouldn't.

*I loved the cover. Look at it! It's lovely ❤️❤️❤️

*I loved the idea: three people, adults, overcoming different struggles and coming together to make each other whole, better versions of themselves.

My problem is that it didn't read organic, at least not to me. What I mean is that the characters seemed picked to illustrate the point of ‘different' people finding HEA which is nice but ... Likely I'm wrong.

Davet and his brother Fraco are autistic with different degrees of coping with society and have fled to England to escape awful parents. The awfulness of said parents is only scratched at, we never find out how or why. We are reminded of this at every turn of boy's neurodiversity: “the young autistic” this or that. I found it ... distasteful?

Fie and Sid are veterans who fought in Afghanistan and came back home after harrowing experiences in the war. Sid has dealt better with his grief, becoming a Detective Inspector for the local police force. Meanwhile Fie has become a virtual hermit, shouldering unwarranted guilt and PTSD. Previously Sid and Fie had a one night thing which of course they never talk about.

Tragedy strikes and it brings the three men together deepening a connection that's been percolating for two years. All three deal with personal family issues that have festered for years and in time the relationship between the men morphs into a sexual and later romantic one. It was fine? But I never felt anything. It was all pretty much like something that's good for you, doesn't taste horrible so you drink/eat it. Almost didactic: autistic people can have meaningful relationships too, people who suffer from PTSD can thrive given support, space, and time etc.; being gay is fine, living as a throuple isn't weird.

FYI:There's an age difference between Sid & Fie and Davet but it's irrelevant, there's a death but no real mystery, and the sex is mostly off page.

Likely my opinions are all wrong and I wouldn't dissuade anyone from reading this. YMMV

Simply Excellent. This is a gay polyamorous romance wherein each of the three men in the relationship have different reasons to be broken, and the author does an excellent job of showing all the warts yet also showing how they heal each other. Truly an excellent romance, even without my next points.

One of the three men in question is Autistic, as is this reader. And this is one of the better representations of Autism I've ever seen in a novel. The author understands Autistics in such depth that she either is Autistic herself or has a very close relationship with an Autistic - I've never known anyone else to understand us this deeply. Her discussions of meltdowns and personhood in particular sound identical to what many Autistics describe, including myself.

Overall a truly remarkable work, and I look forward to reading more from this author.