Reviewer: Sakabelle Signed [Report This]
Date: 05/28/17 11:54 pm Title: Chapter 71

Julie, I have finally caught up on this via putting it on my Kindle and reading it in the bath, lol. So, my apologies for falling so very behind and putting all my thoughts into one review at the end rather than throughout.

However I have to say that I have LOVED every bit of this so far! (I think I saw on Twitter that you were close to finishing it?) I love the slow burn of Nick and Howie's relationship. The drama at the very beginning was well written and not too over the top. Nick wigging out and eventually coming to terms with having HIV and Howie was really well paced. I liked that you had Lauren be supportive of Nick from the get-go. That was an interesting angle to take given that they were not (I assume?) going to end up together in the end, or at least for the bulk of the story. But I liked where you went with Nick ending things with her because he wanted to keep her free from his drama-filled life and give her the opportunity to be with someone else who didn't have the disease. I thought that was a very Nick-ish thing to do.

Howie. Oh, Howie. He is just hard to hate in this story, despite having done so many awful things. I really felt for him when he tried to kill himself, and the part where Nick listens to his message and goes to find him is just heart-wrenching. Despite all of that at the beginning, as the story goes on he really is the more stable one it seems like and he's good for Nick in that sense.

Oh yeah, and their relationship. It developed so naturally. I loved how you had things between the two of them progress through them living in the house and watching the rocket launch together. It was so sweet and came off as very real. I also like have you've added in Nick's struggles over being with another guy. I think that he'd definitely have reservations, especially after having been with women (and with Lauren) for so long, that everything he knows is now flipped upside down. I also loved the scene where the other guys find out, and Nick's conversation with Brian was spot-on. I loved that you brought it back to Frick and Frack. I think it was good Nick was able to talk to him candidly like that. Also LMAO at Leighanne walking in on them smoking and Nick's comment about banging Howie. Hilarious.

All in all I just wanted to say that I love this and I'll definitely try my best to keep up (though I am admittedly bad at that) as the story comes to a close. This was so much fun to read! Truly I loved every word. Will probably update it on my kindle once it's complete and read it again.

Author's Response: Wow, thanks so much, Steph!! It's awesome to hear your thoughts on the overall story so far. I'm glad that things have seemed believable and not too over-the-top, and I especially appreciate your comments on the slash relationship, since that has been the most challenging aspect of the story for me to write. Thanks for taking the time to catch up and review!