Book Talk Review; The Other Side of Here

 

This book gave me all the feels 

“I’m a man of regrets, my love. I can always think of a thousand ways I could have done things better. But I don’t regret him.”

Married for nearly two decades, Luca and Sebastion know what they want from life and from love, but they certainly don’t expect the shake-up that is Alexander Thomas. Their marriage has been open since the start, but it’s not until Luca sends a wrong text that they realize there might be room for something new. Something a little bit more permanent. The only problem is, Xan’s already taken, and the man he’s with is dangerous.

Xan’s life has been off the rails since his parents died, and with his current relationship turning toxic, he’s not sure he wants to inflict his chaos on the lives of two men who don’t deserve it. Luca and Sebastion are worthy of so much more, and Xan isn’t sure he’ll ever deserve the chance at their unconditional love. After all, he’s been engaged to a man who can’t stand him for two years, and he still can’t find the courage to leave. But when things go from bad to worse, Xan knows something has to give, and he realizes then the only difficult step to take is the first one.

Some relationships are meant for moments, and some are meant for forever, but none of these men know how their story will end until they’re standing together, on the other side of here.

The Other Side of Here is a MMM stand-alone romance with a happily ever after. Please see forward for content warnings.

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This book has EM Lindsey's beautiful signature writing, amazing, loveable characters, and a storyline that will tug at all your heartstrings. 

I love M/M/M books. Open relationships, throuples, and the like are my favorite type of books to read so I was really looking forward to this one. 

Sebastion and Luca have been together for close to twenty years, they have a bit of an unconventional relationship, one that doesn't always make sense to their friends. Through it all, they have each other. You can see that in the notes that they write to each other at the beginning of each chapter. The love between these two bleeds off the pages. It's that love that helps them fall for Xan. It might not make sense, but after reading the book, it's clear that if Luca and Sebastion didn't have the love and respect for each other that they do, they wouldn't have been able to open their hearts to Xan. 

Poor Xan, my heart absolutely broke for him. He needed so much love and care. I hated seeing what he was going through. I'm not going to lie, reading books with this subject matter is hard for me. Until you live it you don't actually know how hard it is to do what Xan ultimately does. He not only removes himself from a very difficult situation, but he opens his heart once again. 

This book hurt. A lot. Not only Xan's situation but the love these three have for each other. It's beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. Because sometimes love isn't enough. Sometimes love isn't forever. Sometimes it's not the right time for love. I really love how EM Lindsey handled all the turbulent emotions in this book. They could have easily made everything better by the power of love and the magic of sex, but they didn't. It's one thing I appreciate the most in their books. The emotions are real and they're not just brushed over. 

I loved every single second of this book. Luca, Sebastion, and Xan don't have a perfect relationship, they've all been hurt and haphazardly put back together, but that's what makes them all great together. The Other Side of Here is a beautiful book about love and life and finding yourself at the right time in the right place.

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"You deserve the world. And we can't give you everything, but we can give you whatever we have." 

"He was the man with the phoenix tattoo, and Sebastion was one half of him. There was room for more, in the shape of a little conqueror with some much potential that Luca's heart ached to think about it. And he hadn't been lying when he told Xan that no one else could ever fill that space. Because no one else would ever fit."  

"The one thing you two taught me was that I can always keep hope, even if I let everything else go." 

"He was ready for something real, something good. Something permanent. It might not be what he was hoping for, but he had to believe it was exactly what he needed."