This one was a weird one for me. Overall, it had a good pace and was easy to follow. I will say, this is usually not the genre of book I gravitate towards, but it did keep me engaged. As a reader, I had a good time. I wish there a little more of back story for the characters, but it does make sense the way it is written.

Small, church-going town and growing up gay in it is a topic I really like to read about. So "He" was a book I was really looking forward to reading, but after doing so, I have very mixed feelings.

Part One of the book was great both writing and story-wise: coming of age, abusive family, religion, gay awakening, first attractions & love. Jackson and Oren felt real, their backgrounds and experiences were hard, yet they managed to find love. I cheered for them for moving and building a life away from the bigots and shitty families.

Part Two was a rather big disappointment. Huge time skip but still a loving couple, both men are older, but, supposedly, not wiser. The betrayal described in the blurb came out of nowhere and completely ruined the whole story for me. (Spoilers ahead) I absolutely hated the plot twist in which Jackson cheated with Kitt, a person everyone hated and a woman on top of everything. That was so unnecessary and cruel. Also, after getting a divorce, Oren reconnected with Rio, who just feels like such a convenient character to insert in the story. It felt fake and, no surprise there, didn't last. I was really disappointed by the ending and the pseudo HEA. Why does it feel like the moral of the story is that you can forgive cheating and the other person breaking your heart just because you still love him? No, period.

The writing was great, so many lovely and rather sad quotes, but messages between Oren and Rio seemed to be between 18 year-olds, not men who were almost 60.

Great start, very disappointing ending, in my opinion.

The sex scenes are quite graphic .... if that's you're thing, then great. A mildly entertaining and engaging storyline. A quick read, though — thank goodness, since the quality of the writing is mediocre at best. Not having read any of Mr. Benjamin's previous novels I am unable to make comparisons between those and his latest offering.

I'm really not sure how to rate this book, tbh. I hate the mandatory requirement to do so anyway, since taste is subjective and a thing can't and should never be judged simply as good or bad. There are many mitigating factors that contribute to a reader forming a particular opinion.

Many thanks to the publishers and to Netgalley for the ARC.

I love epistolary style. Reading and learning about characters through journal entries or messages is something very appealing to me.

What is not appealing is cheating. It didn't even make any sense. Like, why would he do that? And with her? It kind of spoiled everything for me.

2.5 stars, rounded up because the writing is good. The book is not. I am so very disappointed.

I've read this author before, and Unbroken is probably one of my favorite books.
I was very much looking forward to this book, and I quite enjoyed it, especially the format of it being written in diary entries spanning 40 years of Oren's and Jackson's lives, their easy relationship, their building a life together, finding a group of true and steady friends, just living their best lives. I was really enjoying watching them grow up, and grow older, sticking by each other through thick and thin, and succeeding at life and love. It wasn't a typical romance novel, and I just loved how steadily and consistently they lived their lives with and for each other, how supportive they were with each other, and how very much they loved each other.

Then I reached 65%, and if it weren't for this book having been written by Larry Benjamin, I would have DNF'd this at that point. While a terrible betrayal is hinted at in the blurb, I did not expect there to be a cheating situation after 39 years together, with a woman who's described as their neighbor, and irritating and annoying and not very nice, and with whom Jackson doesn't really have a friendly relationship. I couldn't for the life of me understand why Jackson would sleep with her, even if it was only one time, when he hadn't shown any interest in ANY woman for the entirety of the book. It made no sense at all, and I don't understand why this even happened. What was the point? Why did they have to be broken up? Neither grew from the heartbreak, from what I could see, and if this was a ploy to give Oren a chance to reconnect with Rio, it was really stupid.

I still think that Larry Benjamin is a great writer, and I did enjoy the style in which this book was written, but the joy of watching Oren and Jackson's life story unfold was torn away at 65% with this unnecessary plot point, and I didn't enjoy the rest of it.

I couldn't even rejoice at the epilogue.