{"id":13394,"date":"2020-09-03T20:23:46","date_gmt":"2020-09-04T00:23:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=13394"},"modified":"2022-09-30T09:38:20","modified_gmt":"2022-09-30T13:38:20","slug":"better-than-people","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13394","title":{"rendered":"Better Than People"},"content":{"rendered":"

Better Than People<\/a><\/em> (2020) Roan Parrish<\/a> (Garnet Run)<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I’ll be honest–I’ve been wanting nothing but comfort and fluffy reading right now, and Roan Parrish is generally the last author I’d turn to for that. Her other books–while excellent–have been extremely angsty. But reviews said this was NOT full of angst, and one of the characters has a house full of rescue pets, so I decided to try.<\/p>\n

This wasn’t all fluff, but it also wasn’t angsty.<\/p>\n

Jack had a good career as a children’s illustrator, until his partner and best friend screwed him over. Several months of wallowing in self pity were then followed by breaking his leg, and no longer being able to walk his dogs.<\/p>\n

Username? He hated usernames. JackOfAllDogs<\/em>, he typed. Then, with a guilty glance at the cats, he changed it to JackOfAllPets<\/em>. Then he decided that looked too much like Jack off<\/em> and changed it to JMatheson<\/em>.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Simon has severe anxiety. That part of the story–seeing Simon try and manage his anxiety and sometimes failing to do so–was at times hard to read. But Simon’s issues were longstanding and although he didn’t succeed at being in public, he had coping mechanisms and was obviously doing as best he could. Except for the whole having friends things.<\/p>\n

This part was always the hardest. The moment when he could see the person he would have been\u2014 the connections he would have made\u2014 if only he weren\u2019t like he goddamn was.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The story is how while walking Jack’s pets, Simon slowly comes to talk to, and eventually trust, Jack. And how the two fall in love.<\/p>\n

\u201cI worked at a c-company before.\u201d He shuddered. \u201cIt was awful. Cubicles and p-people and no one would leave me alone.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat\u2019d they do?\u201d Jack asked, preemptively furious on Simon\u2019s behalf. <\/p>\n

Simon turned to him, eyes wide with horror. \u201cTalked to me! Had b-birthday cakes and\u2014 and holiday parties.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Oh, Simon has the best grandmother.<\/p>\n

\u201cDon\u2019t make the mistake of letting fear convince you that you already know the end of the story.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So a little bit of angst, and a lot of work as the two try to navigate what Simon could and could not manage. But it was sweet, and dealt with grief and anxiety and pain in a real and honest way, that faced these issues, and made it clear they weren’t just things you could “get over” if you tried hard enough.<\/p>\n

Publisher : Carina Adores
\nRating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Better Than People (2020) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) I’ll be honest–I’ve been wanting nothing but comfort and fluffy reading right now, and Roan Parrish is generally the last author I’d turn to for that. Her other books–while excellent–have been extremely angsty. But reviews said this was NOT full of angst, and one of the characters […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[12,24,207,148,26,56],"tags":[210,402,50,213,544,224],"class_list":["post-13394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-food","category-mental-health-rep","category-queer","category-romance","category-sexual-content","tag-anxiety","tag-baking","tag-boinking","tag-grief","tag-mm","tag-roan-parrish"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-3u2","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":13476,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13476","url_meta":{"origin":13394,"position":0},"title":"Raze","author":"Michelle","date":"October 1, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"Raze (2019) Roan Parrish (Riven) Huey has spent a decade focusing on being sober, and helping others by being a sponsor. But in building his life, he hasn't allowed anything unplanned or unexpected. I liked the dishes to be done in a particular way, and the routine was important to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Raze","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/Raze.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":22184,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/22184","url_meta":{"origin":13394,"position":1},"title":"The Pride of Garnet Run","author":"Michelle","date":"August 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Pride of Garnet Run (2022) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) (H)is brain was very loud, and he needed to put thoughts into music to quiet them down. \"This place was built in 1927. This all used to be bigger, but they turned it from one screen to three in the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Pride of Garnet Run","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The_Pride_of_Garnet_Run.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13674,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13674","url_meta":{"origin":13394,"position":2},"title":"The Remaking of Corbin Wale","author":"Michelle","date":"December 16, 2020","format":false,"excerpt":"The Remaking of Corbin Wale (2017) Roan Parrish Alex Barrow broke up with his boyfriend and lost his job so he has headed back to Ann Arbor and taken over his parent's coffee shop--turning it into his dream bakery. The best bakeries had a cohesive vision. You didn\u2019t want a\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Remaking of Corbin Wale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/12\/The-Remaking-of-Corbin-Wale.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21114,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21114","url_meta":{"origin":13394,"position":3},"title":"The Rivals of Casper Road","author":"Michelle","date":"November 6, 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"The Rivals of Casper Road (2022) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) This is the fourth book in the Garnet Run series (actually the fifth, because there is a novella in there as well) and the characters from those stories all make appearances here. Every year, the residents of Casper Road have\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7.5\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7.5\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-5-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Rivals of Casper Road","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/The_Rivals_of_Casper_Road.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21428,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21428","url_meta":{"origin":13394,"position":4},"title":"The Holiday Trap","author":"Michelle","date":"January 1, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"The Holiday Trap (2022) Roan Parrish Greta has had it with her family. She may love them, but that doesn't change things. \"I know it\u2019s Chanukah and I know your family, but I must introduce you to my friend Boundaries, and her best friend, Also Boundaries.\u201d Truman needs to get\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"The Holiday Trap","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/The-Holiday-Trap.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14045,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14045","url_meta":{"origin":13394,"position":5},"title":"Best Laid Plans","author":"Michelle","date":"March 1, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Best Laid Plans (2021) Roan Parrish (Garnet Run) Charlie Matheson cares for people. It's what he's done since his parents died and he became guardian for his brother and took over the family business. Rye Janssen has spent his time bouncing from place to place, never finding a home. 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