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A review by kaje_harper
Black John by Amy Lane
4.0
This is the fourth book in a favorite series for me. I do recommend reading in order - book 1, [b:Chase in Shadow|13423284|Chase in Shadow (Johnnies, #1)|Amy Lane|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1348129361s/13423284.jpg|18870311], is a very favorite read for me.
John ended the previous (somewhat overlapping time frame) three books as a bad guy, a man who sold out his best friend to a drug-dealing ex in order to pay for his addiction. But in this book, John's pain and his backstory are there to move him slowly from bad guy to "it's complicated" to a sympathetic figure, a man who deserves another chance. There is a lot of painful story here.
As the book opens, John is fresh out of rehab. I appreciated that his recovery wasn't shown as easy or certain. He continues to fight falling back into addiction throughout the book. Many of his issues can be laid at the feet of his first boyfriend, Tory. From the early days, Tory was his best friend and lover, but there was a deep hole of neediness in Tory that John couldn't fill. Tory turned to drugs, and eventually John couldn't stand to watch that, and wasn't strong enough to stop him. And now Tory is dead.
Tory's neighbor in his last days was Galen, once a lawyer, now a scarred and pain-pill addicted shadow of himself. But even that badly impaired, Galen is smart and compassionate and the right guy to be around as John tries to deal with being Tory's next of kin. Their relationship is fragile, made from loss and need more than a real connection at first, but it grows. Amy Lane is very good at these stories of damaged characters, oozing their heart's blood silently, fighting and losing the good fight until they find the man to stand with them.
It's a challenge to depict an addict both realistically and as a romantic MC. This book succeeds. The end is a little abrupt. It's definitely a HFN, full of hope, but bringing together two people who haven't spent much both-of-us-sober time learning to live with each other yet. Their past addictions loom over their future happiness. But there's a hint in this book of a sequel, with a possible future couple, so I'm hoping this isn't the last I'll get to see of John and Galen.
ETA: Amy Lane has given us a little free additional epilogue - just another moment with the guys that moves them closer to their happy ending - http://lovebytesreviews.com/2015/02/02/bonus-epilogue-for-black-john/
John ended the previous (somewhat overlapping time frame) three books as a bad guy, a man who sold out his best friend to a drug-dealing ex in order to pay for his addiction. But in this book, John's pain and his backstory are there to move him slowly from bad guy to "it's complicated" to a sympathetic figure, a man who deserves another chance. There is a lot of painful story here.
As the book opens, John is fresh out of rehab. I appreciated that his recovery wasn't shown as easy or certain. He continues to fight falling back into addiction throughout the book. Many of his issues can be laid at the feet of his first boyfriend, Tory. From the early days, Tory was his best friend and lover, but there was a deep hole of neediness in Tory that John couldn't fill. Tory turned to drugs, and eventually John couldn't stand to watch that, and wasn't strong enough to stop him. And now Tory is dead.
Tory's neighbor in his last days was Galen, once a lawyer, now a scarred and pain-pill addicted shadow of himself. But even that badly impaired, Galen is smart and compassionate and the right guy to be around as John tries to deal with being Tory's next of kin. Their relationship is fragile, made from loss and need more than a real connection at first, but it grows. Amy Lane is very good at these stories of damaged characters, oozing their heart's blood silently, fighting and losing the good fight until they find the man to stand with them.
It's a challenge to depict an addict both realistically and as a romantic MC. This book succeeds. The end is a little abrupt. It's definitely a HFN, full of hope, but bringing together two people who haven't spent much both-of-us-sober time learning to live with each other yet. Their past addictions loom over their future happiness. But there's a hint in this book of a sequel, with a possible future couple, so I'm hoping this isn't the last I'll get to see of John and Galen.
ETA: Amy Lane has given us a little free additional epilogue - just another moment with the guys that moves them closer to their happy ending - http://lovebytesreviews.com/2015/02/02/bonus-epilogue-for-black-john/