The Rebuilding Year by Kaje Harper
Narrated by Gomez Pugh
It took losing nearly everything to discover what they can't live without.
A few excruciating minutes pinned under a burning beam cost Ryan Ward his job as a firefighter, the easy camaraderie of his coworkers, his current girlfriend, and damn near cost him his left leg. Giving up, though, wasn't an option. He fought and won the battle back to health, over a painful year. Now, choosing a new profession, going back to school, and renting a room from the college groundskeeper should be simple.
Until he realizes he's falling in love with his housemate and things take a turn for the complicated.
John Barrett knows about loss. After moving twice to stay in touch with his kids, he could only watch as his ex-wife whisked them away to California. Offering Ryan a room seems better than rattling around his empty house alone. But as casual friendship moves to something more, and emotions heat up, the big old house feels like tight quarters.
It's nothing they can't learn to navigate, until life adds in unhappy teen kids, difficult family members, and mysterious deaths on campus. Rebuilding will be far from easy, even for two guys willing to open their minds, and hearts.
A few excruciating minutes pinned under a burning beam cost Ryan Ward his job as a firefighter, the easy camaraderie of his coworkers, his current girlfriend, and damn near cost him his left leg. Giving up, though, wasn't an option. He fought and won the battle back to health, over a painful year. Now, choosing a new profession, going back to school, and renting a room from the college groundskeeper should be simple.
Until he realizes he's falling in love with his housemate and things take a turn for the complicated.
John Barrett knows about loss. After moving twice to stay in touch with his kids, he could only watch as his ex-wife whisked them away to California. Offering Ryan a room seems better than rattling around his empty house alone. But as casual friendship moves to something more, and emotions heat up, the big old house feels like tight quarters.
It's nothing they can't learn to navigate, until life adds in unhappy teen kids, difficult family members, and mysterious deaths on campus. Rebuilding will be far from easy, even for two guys willing to open their minds, and hearts.
The Rebuilding Year is the first book in Kaje Harper's series. I've owned this book for a while but never found the time to read it, so I jumped at the chance to listen to the audio and I do not regret that decision! Well, except that I would have liked to listen to all three books in the series at once, but instead I ended up buying the next two books so I could finish Ryan and John's story with no long delay!
I loved that this story was about two men older than their 20's. I'm not going to call them "mature" men, because it makes them sound ancient. But, this isn't a story about two 20 year olds. This is about two men who have lived life, life threw them curveballs and they're living a new life. John is a divorced man with two children. He loved and married his childhood sweetheart. Now he fights to get to see his children. He works for a local college and really lives a quiet life. He's very unassuming. Ryan was a firefighter injured on the job, so he's moved on to the next part of his life and has gone back to college to pursue a career in medicine. Ryan is a ladies' man, but since his injury, he has been more reluctant to let someone seem him sans clothes. Ryan liked the adrenaline rush of being a firefighter, and will enjoy it as a doctor. On a day when he's struggling, he meets John who helps him out. And so begins a very, very slow going friendship. These two men are nothing more than acquaintances that see each other on campus. Then they become roommates when Ryan is looking for a place. Then they become friends and way, way, way into this story they become something else.
Something that I liked about this story was that these men were not perfect. John frustrated me regarding his inaction with his kids. He didn't want to make waves so he let his ex-wife dictate everything, even not allowing visitation with lame excuses. And, I know a man exactly like this in real life. It drives me nuts regardless of where it happens. These are your children and while it's important to remain a decent person, they're your children. Maybe John was just beaten down from life, but I kept saying, they're your kids, do something! And though neither man fell into a relationship easily, Ryan's need to keep everything secretive annoyed me. But, that's also what I liked about this story. This was two every day guys that didn't have all the answers and didn't always make the right decisions the first time around. They were real.
The narrator is Gomez Pugh. He did a terrific job bringing this story off the page. His narration had good diction, a good pace, no weird pausing or word uses. The narrator gave each character individual voices and really just brought this story to life for me. The focus of this narration was on the story and characters, as it should be. Though this is the first time I've listened to this narrator, I look forward to hearing more from him!
Even though I have very, very strong feelings regarding stories that leave "cliffhanger" type endings, I didn't hold this ending against the author. It has a HFN type ending. You know the men are together but nothing else is settled in their lives. Plus, I was able to just go ahead and read the next two books without a long wait, so that helps tame my hatred. :) I highly recommend reading this series, and having all books on the ready once you start reading! And do listen to this audio, it's fantastic and one I will relisten to again in the future!
Overall: 5 stars!
Performance: 5 stars!
Story: 5 stars!!
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