Into This River I Drown

TJ Klune always produces a great story, but Into This River I Drown is his best book yet, and is the best book I've read this year out of any genre. This story will leave an impact on you as well. I hate to use a cliche, but it is an emotional roller coaster ride that left me in tears in some parts as well as lifting me up in others. I cannot recommend Into This River I Drown highly enough.

The author managed to create a novel approach to fallen angels plot line ;-)
Book is well written and interesting, plot line pulling reader along.
So why not all of 5*?
Well, I do not like the main character all that much. He is quite a cry baby (which is OK considering the circumstances), but making promises of eternal devotion one minute, and recanting on them the next really makes me want to clock him.....
If you say you trust someone, and believe in his good intentions (and has solemnly said so, after doubting this person abot five times before, and have been proven wrong ALL of those five times), half-information should not make you doubt this person. So, no I do not like him.
According to book he is very special, frankly I saw nothing of this, and do not consider him even fairly decent, but that is my opinion.....

SO. This is my unpopular opinion time. I struggled with this book. It has taken me four months to get through this story, and I can generally finish a book this size in about three days. But even then, it was by sheer willpower that I wanted to finish this book and just be done with it. I know many people love this book, but as it is with TJ Klune books...he does write in a variety of subgenres within m/m romance. I do love many of his books, but there are a few that just don't work for me. And this book just happens to be the latter.

This book is very depressing. I love a good book with angst, but only if there's moments of happiness to counter that every once in a while. And I don't really feel like there ever was in this case. There's a cloud of mystery hanging over the story the entire time, and that's the kind of stuff that makes me feel anxious and, quite frankly, doesn't put me in a good place. The author's fantasy series, The Lightning-Struck Heart, is my go-to story when I'm feeling down, and that book always puts me in a better mood. But guys? Into This River I Drown is the exact opposite of that story.

When Benji lost his father, he became obsessed with learning about why his father died. He's not convinced it was an accident and he's still grieving, silently and alone. His mother has moved on with the help of her sisters, but Benji only puts on a front for his mother and aunts. He's still suffering on the inside and struggling to get by in his day-to-day life.

Benji has dreams, each one seemingly more intense than the last, where it seems like he's getting pulled under the water. One day, a guy named Calliel appears. He says that he is an angel and that he is the guardian of Roseland and its people. From there, Benji and Cal develop a bond, a relationship of sorts. But, I never quite felt that connection between them. Even their sex scenes seemed a bit too much to me. I never could get behind the relationship between Benji and Cal. I don't know if it was because Cal just felt so distant to me and Benji needed anyone to be able to cling onto.

The story picks up along the halfway mark. This book turns into a bit of a suspense thriller. To the point where I questioned whether this book was really a romance at all and whether the characters would survive through to the end. That was exciting, but left me a little on edge because it just went on for what felt like forever.

The audiobook narration? Honestly, it took a while to get used to. The editing isn't that great at the beginning. I never really noticed it before until this audiobook, but you know how you take a breath between sentences? That sound is usually cut out of audiobooks, but not here. Not at first, at least. Then, there's the moment where you have first-person dialogue, but where a character is talking to themselves? I don't know the technical terms, but it's like an inner voice? Well, there's an odd choice to have those lines spoken as if through some echo or hollowed chamber in this audiobook. It's very strange to me, because I've never encountered that before with audiobooks. The audiobook did get better, and I did start to get used to it, but definitely not my fave narration.

The storyline with the angels? It does get a bit biblical near the end. It was interesting at times, and a bit over-the-top when it just went on-and-on-and-on. What I really liked was when there was more than one angel in a scene. Cal is like, the baby angel (even though he's still hundreds of years old), and then you have all these older angels. I wouldn't have minded a short with only the angels bantering all day doing nonsensical things.

I liked Benji and wished the world for him to be happy, but the journey to get to that point was a very arduous one. As I understand it, this is a standalone, so there are questions about the bigger picture (that's not related to Benji) that go unanswered. I really wanted to love this book, but unfortunately, it just didn't work for me.

FiveStars
What can say about this book... All feelings and crying this book pulled out of me. I just can't even put into words how much I loved this book!

Poor Benji I just can not even imagine everything he had to go through. He loved his father so much and you could feel how deep he hurt after losing him. I don't not even know how many times I cried while reading everything he felt, all his pain.

Then there was Big Eddie his dad.. How much he loved his wife and son and to die like he did. Even now just thinking about everything that happened in this book I am crying again.

Cal what can I say about Cal...Who could not love a big burly ginger haired angel who's love for Benji was so beautiful.

I can honestly say I do not ever remember crying as much as I did while reading a book like I did with this one. T.J. Klune he can write humor that can have you laughing so hard there are tears in your eyes and he can write serious books that have you crying so hard. Because he draws you into his story on the edge of your sit, not being able to put the book down.. Needing to know what happens next.

There was also a twist in this book and WOW!!! I never saw that coming and when it did my heart hurt for Benji so much!!! I will not say what happened just that I would never have seen that coming.

So I will leave this review with you will need a box of tissues while reading this, because OMG the feels with this book! I would definitely 100% recommend this book!

I received a free copy of this book to read and review for Inked Rainbow Reads.
Kara

"Time is a river, I've learned. Always moving forward. But for people like me, people who have loved and lost, the river is something we fight. We swim against the current, trying to get back to the way we once were, trying to hold onto anything to keep us from getting swept away. It's exhausting and eventually we tire. Still we push on." Benji Green has been slowly drowning in grief for the past five years. At the age of sixteen, the death of his father, Big Eddie, in a single vehicle crash into a river left Benji reeling from the loss of his best friend, his mentor, his rock. Benji's grief for his father is heartbreaking in its description. "For want of my father, I was lost." Five years later and Benji is at a tipping point: let his grief completely drown him, or learn to let go of it.

Into This River I Drown was haunting and beautiful and hopeful and has stayed with me in the days since I finished it. I think it will be staying with me for a while more. I'm glad about that.

Read the full review at Live Your Life, Buy The Book

Oh wow. This story is completely different from the other TJ Klune books I have read. Yet while it lacks his trademark humour it doesn't lack his supreme story-telling abilities. Nor his ability to bring his stories so emotionally to life. You will need tissues when you read this book, I warn you now.
Benji's life changes the day his adored dad dies. For five years he his swimming against a tide of grief. Or not really, he's being taken by the tide, drowning in his grief. Then Cal Blue shows up and Cal is anything but an ordinary man. In fact ordinary and man do not describe him at all. Benji's life turns in ways he could never imagine until he is given the chance to make choices - the kind of choices that are never easy.
I don't want to give away any spoilers so I won't elaborate but I would recommend this book. For those who have loved, for those who have loved and lost. For those who grieve and for those who have faith. And most specially for those who believe in love.

Wow. This book was epic. There were times when I'd laugh then I'd be crying a few minutes later. Near the end, the tears were just rolling down my face. Such a beautiful love story. Not just between Benji & Calliel, but so much love between Benji & his dad, Big Eddie.

Benji's dad, Big Eddie was killed 5 yrs ago when his truck ran off the road & he landed bottoms-up in the river where he drowned. Benji has been convinced that it was no accident & he struggles to get through life one day at a time. When he feels like he can't take it anymore, that he will drown in sorrow he calls out for help. That's when Calliel falls from the sky.

After the danger to Benji is resolved, he learns how to truly love through sacrifice & finally lets go of the grief of losing his dad. Through even more personal loss, he also discovers just how selfless true love can be.

The author deftly and skillfully weaves a sweeping tale that grabs you from the beginning page until the very end and leaves you thinking about it long after you finish reading it. The unique and very eloquent book shows a fantastic knowledge of the supernatural and blends it seamlessly into the fabric of ordinary life. The book takes a while to get through, with its wealth of detail and the length of it, but the story is well worth the time it takes. I really enjoyed the three dimensional characters and how the author brought them to life by giving them flaws and strengths to face the obstacles in their lives. I absolutely LOVED reading this glorious story and the HEA ending makes this a book that I will DEFINITELY recommend to everyone!

Trish's original 4 1/2 sweet pea review appears at mrsconditreadsbooks.com/index.php/?p=12137

There are enough words to describe how good this book is. Mr. Klune has written an amazing book. In his blog he describes this as a book about Fathers and Sons and the overwhelming power of grief to take over our lives and blind us to everything and everyone. While all that is true,it is also a story about Faith and

How I wish we all could have a Father like Big Eddie. Their are not many like him, really there is only one I can think of and if you look up and open your heart and have just a little Faith in the impossible and improbable you will find him. He is always with you, he will never leave you and he waits patiently for you.

Mr. Klune I applaud your collected works, I have yet to be disappointed. I have always come away with with something that stays with me and makes me think, makes me read between the lines of the story and see the deeper meaning. If this is your goal you have surpassed it. Thank you.

Klune is a courageous author who combines archangels, corrupt politicians, drugs, death, and sex effectively in a story about the natural (and supernatural) power of faith, love, and choice. Dramatic, heartrending, and delightfully over the top in every way. Wonderful, shameless, and wonderfully shameless, Klune tackles religion and faith, and the places where they intersect. Religion brings us a hierarchy of angels, but Klune disrupts traditional notions of what angels do, and what they are for.

No spoilers here, just feels. A lot of feels.

There is a drowning. Benjamin's daddy, Big Eddie, drowns in the river.
Then there is the drowning that Benjamin is going through, the drowning in sorrow and pain.
This story then goes from normal How to handle Loss, into strict paranormal and religious. And I hate religious. Only here? It works.

It works so well, I am astonished. I fell headlong into the story, and I fell headlong in love with Benjamin. Cal took me a moment to warm up to, but feathers aside, he was a fantastic character, true and steady.

The writing is classy, then gritty, and then downright beautiful. Never clichéd, and with very few errors. (I think I found two, which is really, really good these days).

I love how Mr Klune uses phrasing and italics, spacing and em-dashes to take us back and forth in the story, to the past, back to the present and back again. All without losing me on the way, which is some feat. (I am both easily lost and easily confused). Very clever use of the text medium to convey thoughts, feelings, dreams and reality.

Yeah, reality gets to be put on hold here for a while. And I do so very willingly, because Mr Klune just takes me by the hand and RUNS with me. This is my fourth book from him, and I keep saying the same things: I love his way of writing, words just fall perfectly in their places, and they arrive at the exact time when I need them. I drown in his words.

At the end I had a hilarious flash of a bunch of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, even if Rafael was the only name that coincided... The interaction and banter between them was exactly the same, however, and I laughed through my tears.

So many emotions going on here, both in the story and in me.

This is what a good story does, it takes me to another place, where I can live for a while, and feel all the emotions of people I have never met. It's a kind of magic.

And TJ Klune is quite the magician.

***
I was NOT asked to read this book by anyone, I paid for it with my own money, as I do for all the books I read, all the music I listen to and the movies I watch.

Thought provoking and heart wrenching, depressing and hopeful. TJ Klune runs deep, and I have fallen in love with his writing, his characters and the depth of emotion he imparts with every word. An unforgettable story of Faith, love and grief.

Loved. This went way beyond what I was expecting. Simultaneously told the story of a family in crisis, a crime drama/mystery, a supernatural thriller, and a beautiful love story. Every chapter took me by surprise but never felt out of place or awkward. Absolutely spellbinding. And now, I can go to sleep...