After the End

By: Alex Kidwell

Narrated by: Gregory Salinas

After Quinn O'Malley loses his partner of ten years, Aaron, to cancer, he withdraws from everything. In a single tragic moment, he goes from an artist with a loving partner and a future to an uninspired comic book store owner who barely exists. He hides behind a shield of grief, refusing to let Aaron go. He feels guilty for even trying to imagine a life apart from what he'd had.

The charming party planner Quinn's best friend insists he meet on a blind date isn't someone he's ready for. Brady Banner walks into Quinn's small frozen world and turns everything upside down. For years, Quinn has focused on endings, but as Brady begins to thaw his existence, Quinn realizes that one moment can do more than stop a life - it can also start a new one.

©2013 Alex Kidwell (P)2014 Dreamspinner Press

Aaron ~💙~ (Quinn💖Brady)

Any additional comments?

A beautiful compelling tale of a true love that was lost yet given a second chance to find it again.

I fell so head-over-heels in love with Aaron because of how much Quinn was in love with him. The author did such a fabulous job of including Aaron in this love story for Brady and Quinn. And I just adored Brady!

The scene where Quinn walks in on Brady in this kitchen of chaos yet to Quinn, Brady is this King orchestrating everything with this beauty of calmness. I was just so overwhelmed with emotions because the entire scene was described so beautifully. -tender sigh-

I appreciate so much that this was truly a Love story not a lust story. When Quinn and Brady make love, it's a part of the story but doesn't take over the story. And for me, I consider that a magnificent skill of writing. Beautiful story, just beautiful!

Not what I expected

Before starting this book I, actually read the blurb – for once. I also fully expected the story to leave me an emotional and sobbing mess. So I put it off, kept reading others before this one. Until now where this was the last one left on this particular list. I need to be in a certain mood to fully appreciate highly angsty books. I love them, but I also need to be ready for them.

Almost immediately I realised I was not going to be crying or sobbing. I just wasn’t connecting to this story or the characters. In general I did not really feel this book, there was a wide distance between us. And not all of it was due to the reader/listener being told about events and feelings instead of being there and feel them with the characters.

This story opens up in the middle of a blind date between Quinn and Brady. We weren’t there for the introductions or the basic get to know you part, so our main characters have a bit of a head start. I think that might be one of the reasons for my disconnect. Because supposedly they’d met for the first time only that night. Yet based on some of their interactions and comments it almost seemed like they knew each other and well. I mean Brady knew how Quinn would react in any given moment this innate knowing that comes from knowing someone inside and out – well part from the ex-partner thing. Which was also kind of strange. None of it felt genuine, it felt off somehow.

I did appreciate that the author showed that everyone grieves differently and on different time tables. At the same time Quinn’s grief felt too raw and fresh sometimes, especially for two years having passed. Personally I feel that someone who’s still that deep in grief is not ready for something serious. I mean Quinn basically had shrines dedicated to Aaron, still had all of his things and clothes, and thought of him constantly. It didn’t feel healthy. I could get behind moving forward and starting to live again, but doing it by starting to date didn’t feel sound, especially since it wasn’t his idea or step in the first place.

I was also not really fond of the narrator, or rather reader Gregory Salinas. There was no natural flow of the words, there were too many small pauses for that and it ended up sounded choppy and mechanic. There was no way for the listener, or at least me, to be swept away and be immersed in the story. I also missed and hint of real feeling or change in tone or intensity in his narration, so all in all this was a bit of a miss for me.

After the End could have been a beautiful and moving story about love and loss and starting over. Sadly it fell short in both the execution of the story and the narration.

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

An Emotional Story of Moving Past Loss

Filled with the angst of overcoming loss and moving on through life, this love story clutched at my heart. Quinn struggled after the loss of his longtime partner but when he meets Brady, he's finally tempted to find happiness. The author smoothly juggled both love stories so that readers felt the connection between Quinn and Aaron as well as his new love for Brady. There was the perfect blend of reflection back on Aaron and Quinn's hopefulness for a bright future with Brady. The secondary characters, friends and family, added dimension to the men and rounded out the story.

I enjoyed this story as an audiobook. The narrator used his voice to express the emotions behind the words. At one point, it was almost as if he was sighing and crying along with me as I listened. This highly emotional, angst-filled story is a great listen.

SPELLBINDING STORY!!

What did you love best about After the End?

This is a captivating story about overcoming tragedy and learning to live and love again! Quinn will twist your heart in knots and you will both cry and rejoice with him! Grab this book and join Quinn's journey of second chances, second love, and learning to be whole again! Grab the kleenex, you will need em!

What about Gregory Salinas’s performance did you like?

I love the inflection and pain that Gregory projects into his voice, his sells the story as his own, and that is what you want from a top rate voice performer!

Maybe better in book form?

Quinn was in love with Aaron. Aaron got cancer and died two years ago. Quinn is very, very sad about this. He finally agrees to go out on a blind date set up by his BFF and meets Brady.

Brady is a saint.

Really, he is.

Brady listens, understands, and even fights for Quinn, despite the constant pressure of Aaron’s figurative ghost in the room. (No, this isn’t a paranormal story!)

I both really loved and really didn’t love this book. Especially in audio format. There were times when if felt like HOURS of internal dialog about how much Quinn missed Aaron and how unfair it was to Brady and how much he missed Aaron and how unfair that was to Brady… you get the idea. These bouts of doubt were interspersed with Brady first just getting through to Quinn then their relationship slowly growing. But it was a little, one step forward, two steps back, for awhile.

At the mid point we finally got some momentum and the relationship began to get its legs under itself and move forward. The couple had some nice romantic times and I really started to enjoy things much more.

The narrator did a nice job, though sometimes his intonations felt a little “soap opera” in the laying on the drama too thick.

I think that I would give the book a 4 of 5 stars, because I really, really liked the story, the characters and the happy place it ended. But, it needed a lot of editing and in book form you can skim a heck of a lot easier than in audio form.

Because the narration was good, but not great and the inability to skim very well, I’d knock the narration down to 3.5 of 5 stars.

So, overall, as a listening experience I’d give it 3.75 stars, but really, I’d recommend reading this over listening. It’s just too long and the story is great, but you might want to skim the first half to get to the really nice second half.