DNF at 11%: This is very well written, which is why this animal abuse scene's sending me running.
It's five-star writing and characters, but too much ick for me to stand reading, so minus half.

CW: abuse of cows (crappy living conditions, malnutrition); homophobia, but also I suspect something worse coming in this scene that I quit in, uglier than homophobia, from the animal abuser. That's too many uglies in one place for this reader. ( )

‘Then the Stars Fall’ is a very special book and I totally adored it. The writing is emotional, almost lyrical in places, and the characters are so real, as are their issues, they seemed to jump off the page and want to wander into my life. And not just the two main characters either, but all of the secondary ones as well. True to the small town setting, where everyone knows everyone else, each and every person in this book was real, and had a contribution to make. Brandon Witt went as far as to include small vignettes in some of the secondary characters’ point of view, and I think that contributed significantly to my feeling of everyone being involved, listened to, and playing a role in helping Travis come to terms with not just his wife’s death, but the guilt that follows when he realizes he might just fall in love again.

The result is a gentle, slow-burning romance where none was expected. For me, watching Travis emerge from four years of heartbreaking grief about his wife’s death from cancer was hard going in the beginning because he was so sad and lost. Only as he began to come out of the depths of his despair did I dare hope for a happy ending for him – an ending in which his wife plays a pivotal role, even though she is no longer physically present. And the fact it takes him a whole year to deal with everything just made the book even more special.

Travis is a fascinating and complex character. Within the first few pages of the novel I learned a few of the most important things about him: he is deeply loyal to people, he has only survived the last four years for the sake of his children, and he has done not much more than go through the motions. When his dog gets sick, Travis fears it may be cancer, and all the memories about his wife’s illness start coming back. The new vet in town manages to reassure Travis, and that first contact is all it takes for the two men to become friends and then more. Travis doesn’t want it to happen, since he still hasn’t stopped grieving and is not ready to move on, but their relationship soon develops its own dynamic.

Wesley doesn’t want a relationship either, he is trying to get away from the latest failure when he moves into his grandparents’ house. He is intent on setting up a veterinary practice, all about the job and not expecting to meet many (if any) gay men in the small town anyway. Travis is a surprise, but Wesley doesn’t like the baggage he carries. Luckily, as the blurb says, “life has other plans” and Wesley begins to realize there is more to Travis, and his feelings for the widower than he expected. Life for Wesley isn’t easy, so I was very glad to see he is a patient man.

If you like emotionally intense stories about real people, if you think a story about a man coming back from the traumatic, life-destroying death of his wife to rediscover love is worth reading, and if you’re looking for a wonderful story that runs the gamut from bittersweet to deeply romantic, then you will probably like this novel. I love that it’s message is about hope as much as about the power of love, and the story and its characters will stay with me for a long time.


NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews.
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I should have known. As my third book by Brandon Witt, I should have known this one would no doubt punch me in the gut with a flood of emotions. I was an absolute mess during the end of this book. In addition to the tears, my head exploded on numerous occasions and while many of these explosions came to resolution, I was left with a kill list of 4. So we will start there...

For Norma and Willard Bennett…



For Travis…



And for our dear John Wallace…



Harsh maybe...but yeah...these people pissed me off BIG TIME!

And I have to say if I didn’t dislike the word faggot already, I sure as hell would after this book. Painful.

Now…take a deep breath, Julie…



OK…now let’s move on to the goodness that is this fabulous book. Like the other Witt books that I have read, the relationships formed in Witt’s books are not solely about a couple but involve family and here it is more prevalent than ever before. This is the love story of a wife, a husband, a sister, a boyfriend/husband, two sons, a daughter, a mother in law, a father in law, a best friend and two adorable dogs. And yes I might even throw in a rabbit and a buffalo. This family unit and the relationships formed here are some of the best I have read. And I have to say, you give me a beautiful relationship between a father and his kids and I am sold…so this one sold me hard. WOW.

In addition to the POV of our dear Travis and Wesley, we also get alternate POV’s of others which were equally amazing and once again strengthened the story of this loving family.

Now…I had settled on 4.5 stars before I read the Author’s notes at the end. And after reading that I feel like I got a warm hug and how could I not think differently on this entire story, this town and the people in it and therefore how could I not 5 star a book that impacted my heart this way.



I cannot recommend this one enough. It is rough but never was the love of this family in question.
My Travis




BR with Teri

***

Thank you Elsbeth for this one! " ( )

Small town romance about a very much out of the closet gay veterinarian, Wesley, who falls in love, or at least at the beginning, in lust for "apparently" widower, father of three, Travis. But this is not a gay for you story, Travis is bisexual, well aware of it: when he was in college, and engaged with his future wife, he was also having sexual relationships with men; he wasn't exactly cheating, his soon to be wife told him that, if it was with a man, she didn't care, but indeed, she did, and Travis, who was really in love with her, choose the path of being faithful. Then his wife died, and Travis, 4 years later, is still grieving.

I liked this approach, maybe I'm wrong, but this is what I consider bisexuality: being bisexual doesn't mean you have to be with both sexes at the same time, but that, you could fall in love with either; once you fall in love, you can be exclusive with your partner cause you love them, and not cause you choose one sex over the other.

I like basically all the characters, supporting and main, with the obvious exception of the villain. If I have to pick one favorite, it's little Mason: not sure, but I think Brandon Witt may have a nice story about Mason when he will grew up, or at least I hope so.

Nice, comfortable story, good feelings and overall warm environment, with just the touch of hardness to make it realistic.

http://www.amazon.com/dp/163216258X/?tag=elimyrevandra-20