{"id":20128,"date":"2022-07-22T15:52:02","date_gmt":"2022-07-22T19:52:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/?p=20128"},"modified":"2026-03-22T09:17:09","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:17:09","slug":"after-the-scrum-3","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/20128","title":{"rendered":"After the Scrum"},"content":{"rendered":"

After the Scrum<\/a><\/em> (2016) Dahlia Donovan<\/a><\/p>\n

\"After<\/a>Although there are occasional issues with this series that could have been solved with stronger editing, this remains a series that has lodged itself in my brain and keeps popping up at random times.<\/p>\n

Francis is an interior designer who lives with his grandmother. He’d gone away to college but returned home to recover, and has been slowly rebuilding his confidence.<\/p>\n

A few drunks outside of a gay club in Vauxhall had taught him a rather bitter lesson about the dangers of alcohol and being out of the closet. They\u2019d cornered him in an alley and beaten him rather badly.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Caddock lost his career and his brother in a very short time frame, and is now the guardian to his young nephew.<\/p>\n

Taking on his nephew had forced him to take a crash course in cooking. Before now, the best he could manage would be toast with eggs that slightly resembled scrambled.
\n…
\nSo after many, many long nights of reading cookbooks and burning his way through a few pots and pans, Caddock could manage most of the basic recipes. He\u2019d never be a brilliant chef. Devlin didn\u2019t need him to be a gourmet. Avoiding poisoning the both of them would be sufficient.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Sometimes in books the way kids are written ranges anywhere from problematic to awful. This story actually does a fantastic job having a four year-old sound like a four year old, and the relationship between uncle and nephew is lovely.<\/p>\n

\u201cAWFULS!\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s waffles, you deranged child.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The thing about this story is that it’s got huge, dark themes running underneath: death of a sibling, a child dealing with the death of a parent, homophobia. But it does such a good job dealing with this topics that it never becomes too much. Too dark. Too depressing.<\/p>\n

Yes, Devlin is shown struggling with the loss of his father, but it’s not written to be sensational, but instead as a recognition of something that happens and that can be worked through. Most of the other stories also have dark themes, but the focus is on the healing rather than the pain.<\/p>\n

But the relationship and interactions between Caddock and Francis are also lovely. <\/p>\n

\u201cI plan on kissing you.\u201d Caddock towered over him by a few inches. His eyes glinted with what could only be desire. \u201cNow would be the time to punch me for being such a forward bastard.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

It’s just a lovely story, and I enjoyed this reread possibly more than I did the first time through.<\/p>\n

Publisher: Hot Tree Publishing<\/p>\n

Rating: 8\/10<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After the Scrum (2016) Dahlia Donovan Although there are occasional issues with this series that could have been solved with stronger editing, this remains a series that has lodged itself in my brain and keeps popping up at random times. Francis is an interior designer who lives with his grandmother. He’d gone away to college […]<\/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":[12,30,668,292,207,196,148,41,26,56,934],"tags":[50,544,212,532],"class_list":["post-20128","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-8-10","category-british","category-comfort-read","category-ebook","category-mental-health-rep","category-novella","category-queer","category-reread","category-romance","category-sexual-content","category-trigger-warnings","tag-boinking","tag-mm","tag-ptsd","tag-sin-bin"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/piQkW-5eE","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":14163,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/14163","url_meta":{"origin":20128,"position":0},"title":"After the Scrum","author":"Michelle","date":"March 31, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"After the Scrum (2014) Dahlia Donovan (Sin Bin) Caddock Stanford lost his brother, lost his place on the national rugby team, and became the parent to his young nephew. So he wants a place to start over, to make a new life for himself and Devlin. \u201cLooe\u2019s a brilliant place\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/After-the-Scrum.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":18324,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/18324","url_meta":{"origin":20128,"position":1},"title":"After the Scrum","author":"Michelle","date":"October 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"After the Scrum (2016) Dahlia Donovan Francis Keen is perfectly happy living in Looe with his grandmother. He doesn't want to leave her alone, and if it helps his anxiety, that's not a bad thing either. And since he is a somewhat successful interior designer, it's pretty good. He hated\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "8\/10"","block_context":{"text":"8\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/8-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"After the Scrum","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/After-the-Scrum.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1070,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1070","url_meta":{"origin":20128,"position":2},"title":"A Taint in the Blood","author":"Michelle","date":"April 5, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"A Taint in the Blood (2004) Dana Stabenow I'm always on the lookout for new mysteries--especially ones I think my grandmother will enjoy. I've read two supernatural mystery series edited by Dana Stabenow, so I decided to pick up one of her books. As you have probably noticed, I prefer\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Female"","block_context":{"text":"Female","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/female"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/04\/Taint-in-the-Blood.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1629,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/1629","url_meta":{"origin":20128,"position":3},"title":"The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity","author":"Michelle","date":"February 21, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"The Unwritten: Tommy Taylor and the Bogus Identity (2010) Mike Carey, Peter Gross After the disappearance of his father, Tom Taylor has been surviving by going to convention and doing book signings for the series he father named after him. Because Walter Taylor disappeared--and there is no proof of his\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "British"","block_context":{"text":"British","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/british"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2010\/02\/tommy_taylor_bogus_identity.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":21495,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/21495","url_meta":{"origin":20128,"position":4},"title":"Partners in Crime","author":"Michelle","date":"January 30, 2023","format":false,"excerpt":"Partners in Crime (1929) Agatha Christie (Tommy & Tuppence) A set of intertwined Tommy & Tuppence short stories. A Fairy in the Flat A Pot of Tea The Affair of the Pink Pearl The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger Finessing the King The Case of the Missing Lady Blindman\u2019s Buff\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "7\/10"","block_context":{"text":"7\/10","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/7-10"},"img":{"alt_text":"Partners in Crime","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/01\/Partners-in-Crime.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":13983,"url":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/13983","url_meta":{"origin":20128,"position":5},"title":"Fire Water","author":"Michelle","date":"February 15, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Fire Water (2015) Jaye Wells (Prospero's War) This is a short story prequel to the Prospero's War series. Prospero is finishing up at the academy, her final week of shadowing. She's also trying to find a new place for her and her little brother to move into, which is possibly\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "eBook"","block_context":{"text":"eBook","link":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/archives\/category\/ebook"},"img":{"alt_text":"Fire Water","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/02\/Fire-Water.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20128","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20128"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20128\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20128"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20128"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/klishis.com\/reading\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20128"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}