Once upon a time, Casey flirted with a pretty boy at a bar, and that changed everything. Recently released from jail, he’s starting to rebuild without the family who raised him to hate himself. He’s got a new job, a room at his aunt’s, and community service hours at an LGBTQIA community center. But his biggest challenge is figuring out how to live as the one thing his father and brother drilled into him he could never be: a gay man.
Once upon a time, Brooks was a confident Dom with a particular taste for bigger men. But since his run-in with a dangerous homophobe, he’s lost his touch. Big, buff guys are hot but scary, and hurting people isn’t as much fun as it used to be.
Until he meets Casey, the big guy with the problematic past. Casey’s willing to do anything, but does his submission stem from healthy kink or from an unhealthy need to be punished? And is Brooks doling out release or revenge? Two people who share a past as violent as theirs could never fall in love. Unless, somewhere in the aftermath, there’s forgiveness.
Content warning: internalized homophobia, homophobic language, and references to homophobic hate crimes that have occurred in the past
LOVED LOVED LOVED Casey! He can get directly into my pocket without crossing "Go" or collecting $200. He's sweet, maybe a little naive but ultimately open to not only being open to criticism of his being complicit in his brother's crimes but applying that edification and paying it forward. *side mouths* He's also kind of a pain slut AND a big un AND submissive so...
It would probably go similarly for me as it did for Tormund but it wouldn't be for lack of trying!
To say the book started off great would be an understatement. Brooks was one of Casey's brother's victims who managed to fight him off and escape so Aftermath is at least adjacent to an enemies to lovers trope which happens to be a fave of mine so things were going swimmingly.
Brooks is alright. I understand where he's coming from but he can't see the forest for the trees and, quite frankly, he should've known better.
Finn is adorable. It breaks my heart that he got shorted in the parent department but he's making strides in creating his own family and I loved that as well as his spirit.
The story itself is classic Tanya Chris: unfussy with relatably imperfect characters and realistic dialogue.
Their chemistry is good. It's love at first sight for Casey and that made me...
Rightfully, it's a slower build for Brooks, one he tries to resist. Unsuccessfully.
The kink, however, is a shitshow.
That being said, Tanya Chris is my most successful 'working out mental health issues through kink' narrative to date. But still, something that gets on my last good nerve.
I'll give credit for delving into the psyche of both of these characters and really exploring the concept of redemption from multiple angles which, I think, had it only involved one of their perspectives wouldn't have been as successful nor would it have resonated as much.
I enjoyed the ending tying all the series characters together the way it did. Overall I would recommend the series and am sad that it ended on a mixed bag note. For me. YMMV.
An ARC was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.
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