After reading Anyta Sunday’s adaptations of Jane Austen’s novels I knew I wanted to try one of her other contemporary novels without the Austen framework so when this arrived in my inbox I requested a copy of it.*
Tell Me Our Story is the tale of uptight, heavily burdened Jonathan, who stayed in his hometown to care for his younger sibling (gender-neutral, never clearly stated but doesn’t have to be) after their parents died, and David O’Hara, who fled town when they were younger because of his dad and, as we ultimately learn, Jonathan. They’re in some sort of social media competition and that’s the premise of the novel.
I struggled a bit to get into this one mostly because of the framework of the novel. It started almost mid-sentence, mid-scene, and mid-story and it took me quite a few chapters to find my stride because of this. I’m not sure if this social media competition is a common/well-known thing where Sunday is from, but the book would’ve been a lot easier to get into with a bit more of a prologue/primer on WTF was going on.
That being said, this was a solid read where Jonathan and David were wonderfully awkward/adorable/beautiful characters. They balanced each other out with seriousness and humor, steadiness and (seeming) flightiness. Sunday also included a matter-of-fact gender-neutral character, Jonathan’s younger sibling, Savvy. It probably would’ve been helpful to mention their coming out, but Sunday jumped right in with gender-neutral pronouns and this happened at one point:
The song ended and Nate—rather confident for almost-sixteen—announced that they had one more song. ‘This one’s for my’—Jonathan froze, stomach clenched. Significant other? Partner? Lover?”
‘—Joyfriend.’
Jonathan let out a long breath, which O’Hara noted judging by the sudden heat boring into his profile. He raised a finger in warning, not looking at him.” (Chapter 6)
And, honestly, I really loved that Sunday didn’t have to write a whole long scene about Savvy and Jonathan discussing pronoun usage, because any should be accepted without question, it just added another complex element to the beginning of the story that kept me from getting into it faster. I must admit I LOVE the gender-neutral less serious than lover/partner label 😀
The story was a solid read and Sunday’s always done a great job with slow-burn simmering romances and this was no different. The few sex scenes, well past 3/4 of the way through, were well written and bordered on comical, but she managed to restrain herself. I could definitely see her reference to the veiled sex scenes in older more conservative novels and that’s the only reason it worked.
Love is balancing on a thin wire bridge. It’s a long way down, the river below is a violent current. One misstep and it will rip you apart. You want to hurry to safety. You want him to stay and tell you he’ll catch you if you fall. (Chapter 15)
There were so many OMG swoon moments as Jonathan FINALLY came to terms with why David left and the fact that they were meant to be together. The rowboats, the bridge, every one of the social media challenges as they fell more and more in love, but the one that took the cake by far was totally expected but 1,000,000,000% worth it, was when they ended up having to spend the day and night in each others’ rooms because they didn’t communicate and tried to surprise each other. So much was revealed during that scene and those immediately following I could just feel all the emotions bubbling to the surface.
Recommendation: This one was slow to get into, but the payoff was worth it in the end. I think a couple of minor changes to provide a better framework for the story before diving into the middle of everything would definitely help a lot! Sunday is a master of slow-burning romance and simmering until the climax (pun intended) of the story. Even though this one isn’t a must-read for me, I’ll still keep an eye out for more works by Sunday.
*I received a copy of Tell Me Our Story via Gay Romance Reviews in return for my honest opinion. No goods or money were exchanged.
Opening Line: “Jonathan leaned against a shelf of regency romance, worn spines and elusive happily-ever-afters pressing into him.”
Closing Line: “. . . and they lived happily ever after.” (Whited out to avoid spoilers, highlight to read)