There are two versions of The Story of You. The Unholy Version, available on Smashwords, which Jacquie read, and the standard version that is available on Amazon.
From the Smashwords blurb:
THEN 1984
When Mama got sick, Father crumbled with her. It was as if they depended on each other to be a whole person. I like to tell Oliver that Father placed him in my arms when they got home from the hospital, but in truth, he was an afterthought. Oliver didn’t have parents, he had me, his fifteen-year-old brother who had never held a baby before let alone looked after one.
Watching Mama wither should have been the worst of it, but what came after that shadowed her death like a cold mountainside. I was never the same.
NOW 2009
It’s natural for Oliver to be curious about our past, but watching him cry as he flips through the pages of my journal triggers all my protective instincts and I want to stuff him in my ’73 Monte Carlo and head for Canada. It stirs the punishing emotions I wanted to keep long buried.
Butterfly. Butterfly. Butterfly.
I had to leave with Oliver. Leaving was the only way to save him.
“Nothing will ever hurt you again, Eaglet. I’m not much, but I’ll become something for you.”
But I left something behind. Something so forbidden, all it’s done is burn me from the inside for twenty-one years. I have been running from this moment ever since. It has found me. More accurately, it has always been watching me.
This is a dark story with dark themes, some of taboo nature. There is horror and terror and very, very, bad things. Also forbidden things and potentially trigging things. Please heed the content advisory. There is love within the pages, but this is not a romance story.
There is also a beautiful found family of men. Beautiful gay husbands and boyfriends. Brotherly fortitude. And as always, the caretaking dynamic Mock (S. Legend) is known best for.
Jacquie's Review:
After two books, these characters have become real to me. I'm invested in their happiness, worried for their future, and so sad for their past. I feel like I know them.
I adore sweet, spoiled Oliver and his dancing around the place. His growing relationship with Julius is lovely. The way they dance together is beautiful and the bond that Oliver has with his brother/dad Silas is unbreakable. I also love the relationships he has with Darius and Simon, with Simon being a stand in mom.
Darius is so broken, and here we get to find out why. I wanted to reach into the pages and throttle Aleksander for what he did. Darius is healing with thanks to Wyatt and his ever evolving dynamic with Asher.
Silas. I don't have words for him. He loved Oliver so much that it gave their father power over him, but he doesn't resent his eaglet. I'm hoping book 3 will show how Lakshan came to be in their lives as he is part of the reason that Silas is mostly functional.
We venture back into their past via a diary, getting not only Darius' and Silas' version of events, but since he's Oliver's mom, Simon's pov too. He breaks the 4th wall to chat to Oliver, which brings some much needed levity. It was also perfect to see his and Shane's beginnings and why Simon still has a physical relationship with Darius.
There isn't much from Julius in this book, but we do get Wyatt, who opened book 1, and I adore his bond with the brothers. He's the perfect Daddy for Darius and hopefully Asher, but also acts as a big brother to "baby bird" Oliver. He and Silas just work in a strange way - it'll likely never be physical between them, but there's a lot of understanding there.
Since I got the unholy version, it details the grooming and relationship that Silas has with their father. It was so gently done that Silas believed that even twenty years later that his feelings were real. How Aleksander convinced Silas into a relationship, playing husbands, and everything in between is on page in the unholy version and likely only alluded to in the amazon friendly one.
The Story of You hops around the timelines to a conclusion I didn't see coming and I need book 3 now, thanks!
Rating: 5 Stars
The Story of You, the Unholy Version, is available to buy from Smashwords.
The Story of You, without the taboo elements on page, is available to buy as an ebook, paperback, and hardback from Amazon.
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