Wonderful and authentic

More than most novels of this type, this one had a genuine feel of authenticity more like it was a set of biographies than of fiction. The characters seem real, the incidents are believable, and there is no sugarcoating the many difficult things that are typical of real life experiences.
Personally I struggled with the character of Victor and still don’t find his lifestyle credible for someone his age, and while that might be a major flaw in most books, this one is too good to let it get in my way. It is simply a wonderful. ( )

Jace Holden knows what it means to lose hope. He has in fact given up on it entirely and is ready to end it all. But when things don't go as planned, he gets the second chance he quickly realizes he wanted all along. And when he meets Victor, a rebel with a capital 'R', he begins to think that he might even be able to hope for more than he'd ever imagined. But he soon learns that people want different things out of life and it's not just about finding someone you love and who loves you back, but someone whose life is completed by having you in it.

This is the story of Jace before he met Ben in Something Like Summer and overlaps some with the events of that book.

I...don't even know where to begin. I've read the previous two books so I knew how Jace's story ends, but this is such an adventure that I was gripped to every page and every word as I read it. It was great to get a deeper understanding of Jace, since we really only see him through Ben's eyes (and a bit through Tim's) and don't get to see his perspective previous to this. And understanding his past, his history with Victor, and everything else, adds a layer to his story with Ben that isn't there in the previous installments.

Content warning: suicide ( )

It didn't matter that I knew a part of Jace's story. It didn't matter that I knew how it ends. It still hurt so fucking much.

But, you know, a good kinda hurt and all that.

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It's taken me 6.5 years to finally screw up my courage and read this second book in the series. Jace's death in the first did me in totally!

Even knowing how it ends, my heart is shredded... again. ( )

Man.....
What a lovely book.

Three months ago I've read Something like Summer and ended up with a raging fury and a broken heart. Now, Jace's life story and POV for the events from Something like Summer were like a balm.

If I were to compare the two books, Something like Summer was like a storm, while Something like Autumn was like a single violin playing in the moonlight.
Just like Jace's personality.
And the song I kept hearing was Kreutzer's Violin Sonata No 9.

He was always my favorite. #TeamJace

Forever.
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