Have you ever wondered about the one that got away or...

                                   maybe it was the one that you let slip away...

 

It's been 15 years since Clint last say Aaron and in all that time he's never forgotten the man that he'd planned to spend the rest of his life with.

 

Clint went off to California and Aaron was suppose to join him there. They were going to start their life together...follow their dreams and make their fortunes and all their dreams come true. But as can sometimes be the case with distance dreams fade and become little more than memories. Aaron never joined Clint in California...it was just never the right time and there was always something keeping him in Iowa. Eventually Clint decided that he needed to let Aaron go so they could both move on but neither time nor distance has changed how Clint feels about Aaron and after 15 years he's ready to go back and hopefully reclaim the love he gave up.

 

I liked that Clint was determined to win Aaron back and that he wasn't wishy, washy about it. Their relationship wasn't a one night stand or a weekend fling. They were together throughout most of college and for him to show up after 15 years of basically silence between the two of them was a pretty ballsy move and to do anything less than believe that Aaron still love  him, as much as he loved Aaron just wouldn't have been very convincing, but he was also smart enough to know that he could only push so far and his plan of them dating over the course of a year to give them a chance to become re-acquainted and re-build their relationship just seemed perfect because it also gave Clint the time to show Aaron that he was serious and committed to making it work and last between them.

 

I enjoyed the dates that Clint arranged for these two they had meaning and relevance to their shared background. I also appreciated that while Aaron didn't give in right away he also didn't play games and keep Clint dancing on pins and needles when he knew that in his heart he still loved him. He was cautious and rightfully so but he was also willing to take that second chance.

 

I also very much appreciated that both of these men were un-apologetically bisexual, yes they were both male and in a relationship but there was no instances of 'I'm gay because I'm with a guy'. They were two bisexual men who happened to fall in love with a guy. 

 

Unfortunately I didn't feel the over the top passion that I wanted to with Clint and Aaron. I really wanted to and when you have someone making the grand gestures that Clint was making I think the emotion between the couple needs to be reflective of that so for that reason this was a sweet story with little to no angst and while I really liked it. I wasn't over the moon blown away with it. But still a sweet, little second-chance story that gave me some laughs and allowed me to relax for a while as Aaron and Clint fell in love all over again, how can that be bad?

 

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An ARC of 'Dating in Retrospect' was graciously provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

 

**This book was provided by the author via IndiGo Marketing & Design in exchange for an honest review.**

Clay and Aaron meet after fifteen years of being apart and Clay wants Aaron back in his life, so he suggests his ex a year of dating, hopping to win him back in this time.

I thought I would love this book. I really wanted to. I enjoy second chances stories, mostly because of the angst that they usually contains in some point. But in this book something was... off. I could not connect with it, with them. I didn't feel it.

In my opinion, the conversations between Clay and Aaron seems unnatural, forced. And the same happens with the nicknames. They call each other "Sunshine" and "Love" since the very beginning and, personally, I think it is a little out of place, mostly since the breakup was a hurtful one and a long time ago.
Seriously, after fifteen years without any interaction, I think the terms of endearment don't fit here and, since during the time they've been separated, one of them has been married to a woman and the other has been in a relationship with another man for five years... It seems... I don't know... Weird?

Maybe the "second chance" thing didn't work for me because it was like they never had been apart. Clay left Iowa fifteen years ago choosing his career over Aaron and everyone treats him like he went on a business trip for the weekend.

I do not like to say bad things about a book. I really hate it but, this one was not for me.
Anyway, if you give this book a try it could work for you perfectly, because reading is a very subjective thing and the one above is just one opinion!

I've been meaning to read some Vonnegut for quite a while and picked this up during bout of books.  It was a super fast read about the a bunch of war things. It was really good but so sad and kind of depressing.  I really liked this book and want to read more from Vonnegut.  I appreciated that this book was hard to read, it was so heavy but war is hard and heavy and it just felt right.  

 

Maybe not an A+ book to read during a readathon because I didn't sit with this as long as I would have liked but still a really good read. 

~ Chuck Palahniuk