I of course grabbed a copy of this from NetGalley when I saw the cover because it’s freakin’ adorable.* I’m also, miraculously, pushing this post on the same day it’s published which RARELY happens! Don’t get me wrong, I love the ones with abs, but a cute dog and two guys clearly dressed for fall holding hands, sing me up.
This is the story of Jack, who breaks a bone in his leg/ankle while walking his pack of dogs, and Simon, a super anxious guy who loves animals but has trouble being around, speaking to or interacting with people.
I adored Simon’s character. He was so endearing and tried so hard to just be himself and even when that was a struggle he persevered and this wonderful romance bloomed. A good portion of this had to do with Jack’s ability to know exactly when Simon was or wasn’t going to be able to speak and offering alternative ways for him to communicate. Absolute, swoon.
Being gay didn’t bother Simon. It was being attracted to boys that was the problem. Because boys were awful. They seemed intent on making his life miserable in order to make their own more amusing, and the indignity of finding them beautiful or intriguing was humiliating.
Even if he could imagine a world in which a boy wasn’t awful to him, there would still be himself to contend with. How could he do . . . anything if he couldn’t even say hello. (Chapter 5)
I was less enamored with Jack, apart from his physicality. He was embittered after a work partnership went down the drain that left him with a major creative block, but really, I was just like meh, Simon needs a lot more care and love, so get over yourself and love that man!
Of course, there was miscommunication (#1 trope for the win) and Jack and Simon both were hard headed men and if they would’ve just talked (or texted, or written a note), it wouldn’t have been so contentious, but of course there was a wonderful happily ever after that not only left me grinning like an idiot but actually had me laughing because of the pet names:
“She’s ours,” Simon said diplomatically. Then, “Actually that’s good, because given your naming habits you’d want to call her Jesus, or Santa.”
Jack secretly thought Santa was a great name for a dog, bu the just smiled at Simon.
“Or, god, you’d want to call her Box.” Simon giggled, then frowned. “Wait. Is Box actually a really cute name? No, right? Why am I asking you?”
Jack listened to Simon list every word that could be associated with the nature of the puppy’s arrival, unbothered.
He didn’t care about names. He’d started calling Bernard “The Saint Bernard” because that’s what he was, but that was too long to say every time. Mayonnaise and Pickles arrived within days of each other and in his mind he called them “The cat the weird color of mayonnaise and the cat that ate a pickle off my plate.” he’d found Dandelion, injured, in a patch of dandelions. Rat looked like a rat. Et cetera.
“Box,” Simon announced.
“Hmm?”
“Box. It’s actually really cute, right?”
“Um, yes?”
“Is your name Box?” Simon cooed to the puppy. She yipped. Simon looked pleased with himself. (Chapter 22)
Overall, I really enjoyed Parish’s writing. Her description of Simon’s eyes really hit it out of the park for me (see first additional quote) and she was able to maintain that same level of writing, especially at the little touches and the quiet moments. She was also able to amp it up for the sex scenes, of which there were plenty but not an overwhelming amount. I will definitely be looking for other works by her in the future.
Recommendation: Worth the read! I loved the quiet relationship between the two among a menagerie of pets. I felt Parrish may have wanted Wyoming to play a bigger part in the story, similar to a lot of those set in Alaska, but it really had no effect it could’ve been set anywhere and that was a little disappointing, but the characters and the building relationship MORE than made up for that. I will definitely look for more work by Parrish in the future (I might’ve already downloaded In the Middle of Somewhere from Kindle Unlimited :-D).
*I received a copy of Better Than People from the publisher via NetGalley in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.
Opening Line: “If you had told Jack Matheson when he woke up this morning that he’d end the day at the bottom of a ditch, he wouldn’t have been terribly surprised.”
Closing Line: “But for now, they just held each other in their bed, in their cabin, with their pack, as the snow fell on the roof and the trees and on all of Garnet Run, Wyoming.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read.)
Additional Quotes from Better Than People
“Then he lifted his chin and glanced up at Jack for just an instant, and Jack couldn’t pay attention to anything but his eyes. A burning turquoise blue that shocked him because after years of drawing he’d always though blue was a cool color. But not his blue. This was the blue of neon and molten glass and the inside of a planet. This was the blue of fire.” (Chapter 1)
“Simon was leaky from the moment he arrived. A little teary-eyed, yeah, but Jack could feel the emotion pouring out of him. It happened sometimes. Like Simon felt so much it overflowed the bounds of his skin and poured out into the world. It always made Jack want to wrap him up in his arms or his bed and let Simon flow into him until he could absorb whatever excess Simon was emanating. Share in the aureole of pure feeling from a man who was used to trying to hold everything inside.” (Chapter 22)
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