Life, Some Assembly Required

The Rebuilding Year, Book 2

De: Kaje Harper

Narrado por: Gomez Pugh

Duración: 12 h y 2 m

Resumen del Editor

Finding love in the ashes was easy. Building a life together? Not so much.

After spending the first part of his life chasing pretty girls, love has finally come to Ryan in the form of John, a tall, lanky, red-headed landscape architect with wide shoulders and a five-o’clock shadow. For the first time in Ryan's life, love feels easy. Hell, he even ran into a burning building for John and his son, and he’d do it again if he had to. But telling his father and brothers and classmates “I’m gay. I’ve met a man”? That’s going to take nerve of a different kind.

For John, loving Ryan is as natural as breathing. Now if only the rest of his life would fall into place. Dealing with his teen son is complicated enough, but with his ex-wife causing trouble and his daughter wanting to move in, John’s house - and his relationship with Ryan - threaten to split at the seams. Is one month without a new surprise knocking him upside the heart really too much to ask? Unfortunately, the answer seems to be yes.

©2015, 2017 Kaje Harper (P)2018 Kaje Harper

✫✫ 4 Stars ✫✫

John and Ryan's story picks up right where it left off in book #1. I loved getting the rest of their story. Their relationship just continues to grow and the maturity of them both and the way they handle issues is refreshing. This is a beautiful love story with a real feel to it.

The narration is Perfect! Gomez Pugh has moved up my narrator list very quickly!

OKAY.

The 1st installment was better.

I guess I went in with such high expectations because the 1st one was so amazing.

This was just okay. We get to know more of they're life together, but I could have stopped on book 1 and been content and not felt like I wasted my money.

Don't get me wrong, if you need to know more about their everyday lives after the intensity of falling, then it's a great content.

Naration was great.

Enjoyable

I enjoyed the 2nd installment of John and Ryan’s story. I especially liked how realistic it was - messy, complicated, and imperfect - while still being hopeful and romantic.

What a wonderful life!

This book picks up just after The Rebuilding Year ends. With Mark and Ryan and John dealing with nightmares from the fire. Dealing with the aftermath of it all. It's really a continuation on everything that started in the first book, and they need to be read/listened to in order. Otherwise you'll probably be lost. And you will definitely miss out on a great love story - at least the beginning of it.

This book is all about family in every possible way. The new one Ryan and John is creating with Mark and Torey. But also coming out to parents and siblings, dealing with homophobic relatives. Coming out to friends and colleagues. And not the least dealing with John's ex-wife unexpectedly showing up on their doorstep announcing she's moving back to town... Add in some teenage angst and drama and this book is packed to the brim. Though, without having the feeling of too much to it.

Ryan and John are solid together, their relationship is solid. Not perfect but not that work in progress either. They know where they stand - at least with each other. The rest of the world needs some working up to. And telling your family about your bisexuality, a recently discovered one at that is far from easy. I have to say that they handled it in a great way.

As mentioned above, their relationship is so tangible, so credible that you can't help but believe in them. They are flawed, insecure, sometimes jealous and irrational, in short, they are wonderfully human and loving them is easy. I also have to mention the love between Ryan and John... you could almost see the connection between them. It was solid and strong and almost had this fairy tale "conquer all" feel to it. I loved how their relationship wasn't perfect or always easy. It made it felt real and their struggles felt real.

I was so excited for this audiobook. I've been looking forward to it ever since finishing The Rebuilding Year. I loved Gomez Pugh in that book, he was truly phenomenal. So I had some pretty serious high hopes going into this book. And maybe that's on me; it's the danger with expectations and all that. In any case; the narration lacked some of the shine, the magic from the first book and I can't say I was as ecstatic this time around. That being said Pugh’s efforts with this book were really good, probably even great, it's just those darn expectations that mess with my head.

I loved that there is no unnecessary drama or things blown way out of proportion in this book. It was, just like the title says; Life. And a great and wonderful one at that. Now to top it off, I’m going straight to the happily ever after and Building Forever

A copy of this book was generously provided by the author in exchange for an honest review for Love Bytes.

Great love story

I am totally in love with both stars in this book, but I would go for a John!! What great real life story. I am looking forward to the next book on the series

The voice for John is so comforting

I enjoy the voices created by Gomez Pugh, especially the voice of John. John and Ryan are good people and Cynthia doesn't deserve their goodness.

Address so many things from book one.

I really enjoyed this 2nd book!! I really enjoy following the characters come into their own.

Amazing sequel!

First, this is the sequel to The Rebuilding Year, and you must have read it before for this lovely novel to mean anything to you.

We left off with Ryan just telling his dad he’d met a man… This is the story of how to build a life with someone AFTER the initial blush of romance.

And that’s just it – it takes work. John and Ryan have to work at their relationship. They have to battle John’s crazy (seriously crazy) ex-wife Cynthia for John’s kids and their sanity. They have to battle Ryan’s homophobic brother and his Dad’s less than warm welcome. Ryan has to continually battle his pain.

What they don’t do is battle each other. That was a really nice touch. Sometimes – in sequels – the couple separates and we have to fight to bring them back together again, almost like a new story. In this case John and Ryan’s love for each other is strong and pervasive. The world throws them curve balls and they work as a team to hit them out of the park.

I loved the emerging personalities in John’s kids. Torrie is a force to be reckoned with and I loved her teen-age angst and thought it felt very authentic.

This wasn’t as “hot” as The Rebuilding Year – not that there isn’t plenty of great sex – there is – but the sexual tension was less and the book focused more on the emotional growth of the relationship at the same time the couple “experiments” with their newfound sex life.

The Rebuilding Year was one of my all time favorite books and it set an extremely high bar. I loved catching up with the guys and learning more about their lives. Kaje Harper is an amazing writer and she crafted another excellent story here. For me, it wasn’t quite as amazing as it’s predecessor, but it was still wonderful and a must read for her fans and fans of the first book.

4.5 of 5 stars

Audio

I love listening to Gomez Pugh. He does a really nice job for John’s voice, deep, a little older, definitely sexy! He does a great job giving us unique voices for the other characters including the children and the female characters.

I find listening to him soothing and he really allows the story to shine through.

Highly recommended!

5 of 5 stars

Overall 5 of 5 stars

yay!

The second book is just as good as the first book - the rebuilding year. thank you for releasing this!

Some assembly required and also patience etc....

4.5 stars, Class A narration by Gomez Pugh (he even gets Cynthia's upper Midwestern twang).

The main reason I love Kaje's books is because they are so real and a lot of them cover a long term relationship with all the ups and downs and boring details of life. I love that I get to revel in John and Ryan's lives. I love to hear about how they adjust and change due to life's proclivity to constantly throw curve balls their way. Sometimes John's "slow and steady" drives me nuts that he can take things so calmly. Other times this approach to life is just what the situation needs and I am grateful his demeanor cools the situation. I more closely identify with Ryan who tends to let his emotions rule what he says.

There were a lot of situations in this book that were WTF, like any scene with John's ex wife Cynthia. She makes me grind my teeth and I wholeheartedly am on Ryan's side in this. In reading the blurb for the next book in the series, I see that her attempt at getting John back (she says that's not what she is trying to do, but......) never works, but just the idea of her makes me nuts. Her second husband comes in second as being an ass.

Kaje brings all the little and big things in life together to weave a complete life. From all the things you hate to the things you love and the responsibilities you have accepted and must follow thru with. She is just that good that even the mundane are things I look forward to reading about.