Reviews with content warning for Suicide attempt - In the Middle of Somewhere

Reviews tagging 'Suicide attempt'

In the Middle of Somewhere by Roan Parrish

12 reviews

zachzakku's review

emotional lighthearted medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

There's almost no plot to this book, but it's exceptionally sweet. Rex is obviously the most perfect human. Meanwhile, there's a whole cast of lovable side characters (I'm really hoping there's a book starring Will) and Daniel's internal monologues are full of hilarious ramblings.

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piperclover's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious tense slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.5

This isreally intense and emotional and reminds me of Raze by this author a lot. Both Daniel and Rex in this book and Huey and Felix in Raze are all emotionally stunted with incredibly thick exteriors to avoid being hurt again. Both couples in both books have very halted emotional actions and reaction. It's incredibly difficult for any of them to be emotionally vulnerable so the progression of their emotional intimacy is done in fits, continuous stopping and starting again.

Both Daniel and Rex are used to being unwanted but in slightly different ways. Daniel is used to being neglected both physically and emotionally so he has very little idea how to communicate emotions or even have them because he's so used to being hurt and scared. He uses academia as validation and out of spite but doesn't know how to be real in any kind of relationship. Rex on the other hand is isolated both physically and emotionally. He steers clear of emotion altogether to avoid being left behind.

They make such a precious but painful couple. The amount of angst in this book is heartbreaking. I adored the scenes of cuddling, domestic bliss, and pure happiness from both characters. Watching them both settle into this relationship and into themselves was utterly delightful.

I am concerned though about Will and Leo as a couple happening in the future. While I enjoy age gap romances, I don't enjoy the younger person being barely legal so it makes me really nervous. Also because Leo is 18 I find it weird that Rex and Daniel both beat around the bush when talking to him about Will. He's plenty old enough to have a real conversation about dating people much older than you when you're so young and it bothered me that no one did that.

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chris_reads's review against another edition

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emotional funny hopeful reflective sad fast-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? No
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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galleytrot's review against another edition

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Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

READ: Aug 2023

FORMAT: Audio

BRIEF SUMMARY:

In this contemporary romance, Daniel is traveling to an interview for a position in quiet Northern Michigan when an accident runs him off the road and into the care of Rex, a gentle giant of a man who is equal parts shy and intimidating. Months after their heated but awkward encounter, Daniel moves in from Philadelphia and goes through the culture shock of small-town-living. The moment he and Rex cross paths once more, their chemistry is electric, but old traumas and insecurities mean trust doesn’t come easily and relationships can die before ever really beginning.

ENTERTAINMENT VALUE: 4.25 / 5⭐

This book was a fascinating turn in tone from the other books I’ve read from the same author. It’s quite a bit older than the others I’ve enjoyed, though, which might explain the unexpected level of angst. By no means was this a bad book, it was just far rougher than I had anticipated, and it wasn’t an especially great match for my mood at the time.

Daniel is a city boy born-and-raised, the youngest son in a family of mechanics owning and operating a garage. When his interests wouldn’t align with his family’s ideals of masculinity and he eventually came out as gay, he would face years of derision subject to the butt of his brothers’ jokes, along with a father who didn’t know what to do with him. Despite his disadvantaged upbringing and a lack of support system, he forged his own path towards his education majoring in American Literature, and the job in Michigan is meant to be a stepping stone in his path to further success.

Rex was raised with the understanding that everything is temporary – from the few fleeting people in his life (friends, family, lovers), to his home and location, to his work and education, everything can change at the drop of a hat and without any warning. A quiet and guarded man as built as he is tends to deter trouble as a rule, but can also have a harder time connecting with people, making friendships a rare commodity. When Daniel stumbles into Rex’s life, brilliant and beautiful and maybe a little bit dazed and in shock, Rex is certain that he will be temporary, too – but when Daniel reappears again six months later, maybe temporary has a chance at becoming something more.

TECHNICAL / PRODUCTION: 4.5 / 5⭐

Parrish’s storytelling is very strong in this book. There were many developments and reveals that surprised me throughout, including a particularly big one concerning Rex that was certainly set up throughout the story leading up, but never hinted at strongly enough for me to catch on that it was coming. A particular storytelling technique that I loved to see used was done within dialogue, where one character would give another their backstory using details already revealed to us, with the addition of new anecdotes we were unaware of to support and strengthen their objective. It really brought home the world-building, and fleshed out the characters’ backstories in surprising ways while avoiding redundancy.

I’m having a hard time picking out the last book I read that paid this much attention to establishing the character’s motivations, and this treatment isn’t limited to our main leads, either. Side-characters, who in other books would be included simply to say the book has more than just two characters, are each given a respectful amount of handling and backstory of their own. They contribute, they do things, they have things happen to them in this book; they don’t just exist to get the main characters back on track when things get dicey. There is also a lot of setup being done for the later books within the series, and not all of it was as clunky or out of place (as can often happen in romance series).

Nieman might be this book’s biggest downfall within the scope of this book’s production – his narration felt a bit under-practiced, with some of his choices in tone or inflection landing on the awkward side, but I could see potential in him to be an excellent narrator some day. The biggest issue was his lack of distinguishable voices, or dropping out of the few voices he did do back into his default. Secondary came issues with inconsistent pacing and volume; I had trouble picking a listening speed for this book and sticking with it, and there were some occasions where it sounded like Nieman would lean away from his microphone for a little while.

FINAL THOUGHTS - OVERALL: 4.25 / 5⭐

I enjoyed this book, even if the overall tone was darker than I was expecting or in the mood for from Parrish. My experience with the author is largely limited to the Garnet Run series, which while still handling some heavy themes, takes a much more light-hearted approach in its storytelling. I don’t know if I would be able to handle the next book in this series – if I’m being entirely honest, the next character’s book promises to be especially heavy and potentially heartrending, and I just don’t know if I could take that degree of anger and emotional whiplash on for myself.

This book has representation for gays. Multiple characters are described as non-white. A side-character is Jewish. There is representation for a learning disability.

The following elaborates on my content warnings. These may be interpreted as spoilers, but I do not go into deep detail.

This book contains: strained family relations; homophobia ranging from mild to extreme; toxic masculinity; infidelity; car accident; an animal in distress (broken bone, hit by car); alcohol use, mentions of alcoholism; classism; bullying; assaults/physical violence/fighting, past mugging; abortion jokes, mentions of pro-life protests; vomiting (alcohol, stress, grief); unintentional ableism; past hate crime resulting in serious injuries and death; past gaslighting; mention of past suicide, implied suicide attempt; mention of drug use; and, deaths of parents, past and present (heart attack, pancreatic cancer, other unspecified causes).

Content Warnings