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Chasing Forever is the third and final book in Kelly Jensen’s loosely-linked This Time Forever trilogy of novels in which the protagonists are all older (late thirties – fifty) men who find true love and happy ever afters. As soon as I learned this book would feature Brian Kenway, whom I met and didn’t much like in book one, I knew I had to read it; I confess to having a soft spot for reformed bad-boys, and I was eager to see how Ms. Jensen would turn him into a leading man and a character I could root for. When he turned up in Building Forever, intent on re-kindling his relationship with his former long-term partner, Simon Lynley, Brian came across as a smug, arrogant git, and I’m sure that, like me, readers were relieved when Simon made it very clear he’d moved on. Brian’s brief appearances in book two showed him in a slightly better light, although he was still living up to his reputation as an arsehole – a term he often uses to describe himself. In Chasing Forever, though, we finally get to see the real Brian Kenway – a man even he has trouble finding, buried as he is under the layers of self-protection and the smooth, glossy persona he’s constructed in the thirty-odd years since his family disowned him for being gay.
Mal Montgomery, a history teacher at the college in Morristown, has been on medical leave ever since he was hit by a car while out running and seriously injured. After months of recovery, he’s getting around on crutches and has been cleared to return to work after the Christmas break. It’s been a long and hard road towards recovery, and the fact that he may never run again – hell, he may never walk properly let alone hike or run – is weighing heavily on him. He’s having a drink at his usual bar on Christmas Eve, trying not to let his eyes stray too often to the handsome Brian Kenway, a man he knows by rumour to be a player and a total dick – when Brian slides onto the seat next to him and starts flirting with him. Mal isn’t sure how to respond; Kenway may have provided the fuel for many of his fantasies, but this is reality and a guy like Brian is completely out of Mal’s league, and would be even if Mal didn’t have two broken legs… so he deliberately ignores Brian’s subtle proposition and watches as the other man exits the bar to head home alone.
Arrived at his condo, Brian immediately knows something is wrong. There’s a cold breeze coming from the kitchen, and he discovers a broken pane of glass in the back door – but a quick survey reveals nothing moved or stolen. He’s about to call the police anyway when he enters his living room to discover a figure curled up on his couch, huddled in blankets. He wakes the intruder, who turns out to be a boy in his early teens with lips almost as blue as his dyed hair, and is stunned when the boy introduces himself as Joshua Kenway – Brian’s nephew.
Josh’s arrival is a turning point for Brian, although he doesn’t quite realise it at the time. He sees his own painful history repeating itself – Josh (who is fourteen) came out to his mother, Brian’s sister, and she threw him out – and Brian determines that Josh isn’t going to go what he went through when he was younger. He’s not at all sure how to parent a teenager (something I think most parents of teenagers will identify with completely!) and Ms. Jensen does a superb job of building their relationship complete with flaws and missteps and misunderstandings; Josh is a believable teen who is clearly adrift, hurt and in need of comfort and guidance, things Brian thinks (at first) he’s not capable of providing. But he very clearly is capable, and I loved seeing him grow into that parental role as the story progressed and his relationship with Josh evolved into one of mutual trust and affection.
Mal is a less ‘showy’ character than handsome, charismatic, troubled Brian, but there’s something about him that draws the eye so to speak, a kind of quiet, dependable authority that is second nature to him and which is very attractive. He’s reached a point in his life where he’s almost given up on having a lasting relationship; his self-esteem doesn’t seem to have ever been particularly high, but his accident and his worries about his long-term mobility have knocked it back even further, and he finds it difficult to believe that someone as gorgeous as Brian would want him. Fortunately for Mal however, Brian is determined in his pursuit and I really liked that the author gives them the time to get to know each other as friends before they embark on a more intimate relationship. Mal is quickly able to work out that the Brian he is coming to know is a far cry from the liar and cheat he believes himself to be, and that rumour paints him as, and to see the genuinely decent, caring man beneath the polished façade.
Ms. Jensen redeems Brian in pretty spectacular fashion, but does it subtly, without fanfare and, most importantly, without giving him a complete personality transplant; at the end of the book, he’s still the man he always was, but a stronger, more honest and happier version of him. The relationships at the heart of the story – Mal and Brian, Josh and Brian – are beautifully written, full of insight and tenderness; and all the characters – even the minor ones – are strongly drawn and the relationships between them well-realised. Most of all, though, I appreciated – very much – the maturity of these characters, not just because of their ages (forty-eight and fifty), but because they act like men with a lot of life under their belts who are able to recognise when they screw up and do something to put things right.
The romance between Mal and Brian is a delicious slow-burn and Ms. Jensen does a great job of building the sexual tension while at the same time setting into motion the couple of sub-plots that provide the story’s vivid backdrop. Chasing Forever actually has quite a lot going on, but I never felt as though the book was over-busy; the author very skilfully interweaves the various storylines so that nothing feels superfluous to requirements and readers are presented with a story that feels rich and full. It’s a poignant, emotionally satisfying novel and a terrific end to this thoroughly enjoyable series.
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Grade: B+
Book Type: Contemporary Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 06/01/19
Publication Date: 12/2018
Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.
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Em
Thanks for this. I discovered Joanna Chambers following a review by Caz and loved her Enlightenment series not only because of the romance but also because it is set in the legal world in Edinburgh where I live and where I also used to practice law. Ms Chambers is so accurate in her descriptions of both that I can only assume she has lived or worked in the legal environment in Edinburgh. She is indeed the gold standard but I also love Sally Malcolm and the world she has created. I love her nods to Jane Austen and Perfect Day was just such a good reinterpretation of Persuasion.
Thanks Caz
Any recommendations you can give will be gratefully received.
Maria Thanks for the pointers. The novellas sound good so will order them. I have read one book by Annabeth Albert and loved it and Cat Sebastian is on my radar as Caz has reviewed a number of her books.
Looking forward to a busy reading year.
Kate –
I also read & review quite a bit of m/m here at AAR – but I just ran a search of reviews with my name or Caz’s (we tend to like and dislike similar books) & selected “queer” as the book type, and only a small fraction of these titles appear. I’m assuming we’ve categorized them instead as either Contemporary or Historical w/out the additional sub-category, and unfortunately, will make it harder for you to find the gems in our database w/out a title or author name.
Authors I love (and we’ve reviewed on our site) in this genre include:
Alexis Hall, KJ Charles, Joanna Chambers, Dal Maclean, Lily Morton, Josh Lanyon, Harper Fox, Annabeth Albert, Sally Malcolm, Roan Parrish, Garrett Leigh, Cat Sebastian…
The Enlightenment Series by Joanna Chamber was my entree into queer historical romance and remains – for me at least – the gold standard.
You have much wonderful reading to look forward to! Lucky duck!
Yes, most of the newer queer reviews are under their main heading of contemp, historical etc. BUT, you can search by tags – queer books should always have that in the tags field, so if you click on it, all the reviews with that tag will appear.
Oh! Good to know! I was trying to do a few too many things at once & missed that field before hitting submit. THANKS CAZ.
I love me some older heroes and heroines, so this is going on my TBR pile!
It’s a really strong series, Lisa. And I think I read on the author’s blog that she has more stories planned featuring ‘mature’ characters.
I’ve been a huge fan of Kelly Jensen since her sci-fi romance series Chaos Station with Jenn Burke. But she has several contemporaries too (obviously) and I’d recommend When Was the Last Time which is a valentine novella featuring an older male couple (partnership in trouble) and Out in the Blue, a short novella which has a 45 year old and 36 year old who meet when they sign up for a 5 day hiking trip with a gay men’s travel group. I have a few others of hers on my TBR but there isn’t anything of hers that I’ve read that has not been really good.
I couldn’t agree more. Having read your review of Renewing Forever I bought the three e books in the trilogy and read them back to back. I really loved them all. Ms Jensen really builds the relationships so well. As you say, after getting glimpses of Brian in the previous books, it was difficult to see how she could redeem him but she certainly pulled it off. And Malcolm was so well drawn too.
Prior to reading your reviews I did not think I would like m/m romance but because of your recommendations decided to give some of them a go and have been very pleasantly surprised at how much I have enjoyed all those I have read. The only problem is I now have a pretty large number of various authors’ back catalogues to catch up with. It seems 2019 will be a pretty busy year for reading these – K.J. Charles for example as to date I have only read one of hers. Nothing for it but to put my best foot forward though!
There’s some great m/m books out there and some not-so-good ones, just like in every genre, but I’ve been lucky enough to find more of the former than the latter. Let me know if you want any recs – I’ve found some great stuff in audio, too, over the last year or so.
That’s wonderful to hear Kate! Kelly Jensen and KJ Charles are two of my favorite m/m authors, but I also like Annabeth Albert (especially her Portland Heat series and Out of Uniform series), Mia West (if you like paranormals) and Cat Sebastian (historical romance).