RATING 5 out of 5 stars
A year after the sudden death of his longtime partner, Ben, Theo Anderson is still grieving. The last thing he’s looking for is a new lover. But as Theo soon discovers, sometimes life has other plans.
While Theo experiences a powerful physical attraction to fellow gym member Peter, it’s his new online friend, Morgan, who provides the intellectual challenge to make him come alive. Morgan is witty, brave, and irreverent, and Theo is ready to take the plunge… until he discovers Morgan might be half his age.
Theo’s late partner was significantly older—enough to strain Theo’s relationship with his family—and the potential of another relationship being cut short leaves him gunshy. Theo needs to lay Ben’s memory to rest, reconcile with his family, and rekindle neglected friendships if he’s to start afresh with a new lover. But Theo isn’t the only one with a past.
His biggest challenge, in living after Ben, might not be his to face.
After Ben is one of my favourite books in the mm genre and the first audiobook (in English) I listened too, even if my English isn’t good enough for it. I have no clue how many times I read this novel and each time I am overwhelmed by the emotions I get. And here lays the reason why I love the author, and all her works, so much: the feelings she puts in her stories are always so strong and real. In particular, as you can understand from the blurb, After Ben is not exactly a light story, there is a lot of grief and hurt to manage, Theo needed time to process and try to overcome the death of his beloved Ben. He’s not sure how to do it, still he’s trying, some days more than ever. Until a moment, where different events happens all together: the meeting and sudden attraction with Peter, the long chats online till late night with Morgan, the changes at his day job. And then it’s time to say goodbye to Ben while trying to reconcile the past with the present.
Although it’s not a light story, it was still a pleasure to read, cause the plot, the scenes, the characters, are all so well done the reading didn’t become heavy or too stifling. I could feel an air of positiveness and joy for the future, that ease the important themes the book tells.
I can’t recommend After Ben enough, you won’t be disappointed. And be sure to check Con Riley works, all of them are awesome.
The cover art by Natasha Snow is lovely and fitting, this artist is a guarantee.
BOOK DETAILS
Kindle Edition, 2nd edition, 344 pages
Published October 5th 2019 by Amazon Digital Services (first published July 1st 2012)
ASIN B07Y6ML8CN
Edition Language English
A lovely addition to the Clean Slate Ranch series, this story features Shawn, the assistant cook at the ghost-town saloon who helped Miles when his abusive ex showed up in Saddle Up, book three. Robin, one of the ranch hands, befriends Shawn after an initial minor hostility due to the fact Shawn looks like Robin’s former husband, Xander, who died in a rodeo accident three years before. But once Robin gets to know him, the resemblance takes a back seat because Shawn is a completely different personality: shy, sweet, virginal, and reclusive. Shawn has kept the fact he lives in his car a secret for two years, but now that it’s out in the open and he’s given the cabin next to Robin’s, the two slowly become friends, and then more. 
Art historian David Webster left his childhood home of Saugerties, New York ten years ago and hasn’t looked back. Intelligent, successful, and proud of his sexuality, David has built a comfortable, if lonely, life in Chicago. But when he learns his father has suffered a debilitating stroke, he decides to leave his prestigious museum job and move home to care for his dad. Until now David has never questioned his devotion to academic and professional success. Suddenly he’s forced to confront and reevaluate his desires, chief among them, his former best friend Nick.
What a wonderful story! And the audiobook made it even better with the fantastic performance of Joel Leslie, who brought Dylan, Gabe, and the rest of the cast of characters to life. Listening to a book narrated by Joel is like watching the story unfold on the big screen. The voices become real characters. There’s drama, humor, tears (he does crying scenes so well!) and every voice is so distinctive that there’s never a doubt of which MC is speaking.
Quinton Mann and Mark Vincent are settling into a relationship that shouldn’t be possible. After all, Quinn is CIA, while Mark belongs to the WBIS, an agency labeled by others in the intelligence community as being staffed by sociopaths. Somehow, in spite of that, they seem to be making it work.
At only thirty-two, Bishop Stockley has lived a hard-knock life. His gang was his family, the streets his home. Until the crew he’d always called his brothers betrayed him. After doing five years in a federal prison, Bishop is back at his dad’s trailer and working for his landscaping company, thrust into a legit world where he’s no longer the alpha—a world where a criminal record is the least of his disadvantages, because Bishop can’t read or write. Illiteracy had never been an obstacle for him on the streets, he didn’t need to know how to read Moby Dick to survive, he needed to know how to read people… and that was a hustle he’d learned hard and fast. Now, he had to change his life.
Scattered Thoughts and Rogue Words 