Back of Book: 

Namid

I may not know where I come from, or who I am, but I’ve done my best to build a life for myself. I know a handful of people in town, I have a nice place to live, and I enjoy my job. I look just like everyone else. But I don’t feel like everyone else, because I feel…everything.

The emotions of others get tangled with my own as they race through my heart and sink into my soul.

They set my nerves on fire and rearrange my cells and spread across my skin until they consume me.

Jayce

I don’t know how to explain what it’s like to lose half of your soul, to fall into grief so dark and relentless that you lose yourself.

That’s what it feels like I’ve lost. Half of my soul.

I don’t want to do this.

I don’t want to try to fill in the gaps.

I don’t want to walk into rooms that are populated by memories.

I don’t want to hear the voice of a ghost echoing in my head.

When the eccentric, introverted man who was found on the side of the road without any memories a decade ago takes pity on me and offers his help, for some reason, I find myself unable to say no.

Even though I don't know him, when he's standing by my side, for one brief moment, I forget to hurt. 

Book Number: One 

Genre: Adult | Contemporary | Romance | LGBTQIA+ | Magical Realism 

Review: 🌟🌟🌟🌟

A touching MM romance set in a small town in the Alaskan wilderness that touches on grief, finding your people, and discovering love in the most unlikely of places. 

Namid is an outcast. Not only did he show up unannounced one day as an adult with amnesia, but he also feels people's emotions. Oh, and he's one of the only gay men in a small Alaskan town. Jayce has just lost his twin brother, Jordyn, to a terrible accident. He loved his brother more than anything else and now feels utterly lost in the world. When the two bump into each other at the funeral home that Namid works at, the two begin to form an unlikely friendship. The more the men hang out with one another, the more they start to fall. Most importantly, the two begin to heal from all the turmoil that they have experienced in their lives as they grow closer together. 

This series has been on my TBR for over a year now, and I'm so glad that I finally got around to starting this one! The writing in this book is filled with emotion, and it's so easy to fall in love with all the main characters. Namid, Jayce, and Ken are all so sweet and I'm already looking forward to seeing them cameo in the future installments of this series. 

This book focuses a ton on Jayce's emotional journey that he experiences after the death of his twin brother, Jordyn. I couldn't imagine losing someone that I am so close to; I love my older sibling so much, and I would be just as devastated as Jayce was if I suddenly lost them. It isn't every day that one's entire world gets shattered, and I feel that the authors did such a stellar job at capturing such intense feelings. Pair this with the fact that Namid is an empath and you have a very interesting situation on your hands.

Another important thing that this one talks about is how small, rural towns are usually rather homophobic. I'm not going to spoil any major events, but I can definitely share that the townspeople who live in a remote part of Alaska are certainly not very openminded and are generally not cool with people that are a part of the LGBTQIA+ community. Queer people struggle so immensely when they are stuck in small towns such as this and it broke my heart to see Namid treated so horribly just for being himself. 

Luckily, Namid doesn't have to go it alone. Despite having amnesia, being gay, and an empath, Ken was more than happy to welcome Namid with open arms. Finding your people is another integral part of this book. Everyone has a perfect place where they belong, sometimes you just have to search for it for a while. Namid, Jayce, and Ken all found family in one another, which is really the goal in life, I feel. It doesn't matter what kind of love you find as long as you find love. Whether it's a sibling, a kindly old man, a lover, or a group of best friends, keep searching until you find your people that complete you, just like these three did. This book also emphasizes that it's okay if your group changes as you age, just keep searching for the love you deserve in every stage of your life. 

This may have been the first book that I've ever read that takes place in Alaska. I feel like Alaskans have an entirely different way of living due to it being so cold all the time. As a Minnesotan, I understand some of this, but I was intrigued to read about how life goes on in Alaska, no matter how blistery the weather is outside. The ways that this changed common romantic activities was also interesting to me. Simple things such as having a picnic or stargazing seem so much more complicated, but also more magical at the same time. Seeing the northern lights while lying under the stars with the boy you're gradually falling for sounds truly magnificent. 

Overall, I was enthralled by the simple beauty that "Beneath the Indigo Sky" presented me with. At its heart, it's a romance novel about two young men trying to find the people that make them feel complete. Witnessing the natural beauty of the Alaskan landscape around them was pretty cool, too. I adored following Namid and Jayce through all their struggles with grief, harassment, falling for one another, and so much more. The writing was exquisite, and the authors captured emotion so well. I look forward to reading the remaining two books in this series very soon! 

Audiobook Note: Overall, I enjoyed Michael Lesley's narration of "Beneath the Indigo Sky." However, he spoke so slow that I had to speed it up a bit, but that wasn't much of a problem. The difference between Namid and Jayce's PoV's was very distinct which made it, so I never had a problem remembering whose perspective I was in (even if I stopped in the middle of a chapter). I have the option of listening to the second one on audio, too, but since I own the physical book, I think I'm going to read it by my lonesome. It was a good performance; I just wasn't captured by it. 

Back of Book: 

Ethan

I’ve been in love before. It's a fact that I cling to with frighteningly intense desperation as I try to convince myself that I’m normal. Ok, so I’ve only been in love once, but I know that for at least one brief, shining moment, the world and everything in it felt like magic. I know love exists. I know it does, because when I’m lying in bed alone at night, I can still feel it. I know deep in my soul that I’m capable of love. I have to be.

I don’t know why I continue to subject my broken, hollowed out shell of a heart to the idea of falling in love again, but I don’t have it in me to quit just yet. I’ll give it one more try. One more attempt to build a real life for myself before giving up, because some part of me is still holding on to hope, no matter how dangerous that is.

Blue

Love and romance aren't for me. When I was young and naïve I dreamed of them, just like everyone else I suppose. Then I fell in love, only to end up hurt. I fell in love again, only to get hurt again. Eventually, I learned my lesson. Love, romantic love at least, isn't usually real, and when it is, it never lasts. Every time I’ve fallen it’s been fast and hard, and every time I’ve ended up patching the broken, tattered pieces of my body and soul back together on my own. Love and I just aren’t compatible.

So why can't I stop watching the beautiful auburn-haired man that's recently become a regular at the coffee shop? I know what the result of indulging this hormone induced fascination will be. I’ll end up hurt, and alone, and wondering yet again how something that once seemed so good could have gone so desperately wrong. 

Book Number: Two 

Genre: Adult | Contemporary | Romance | LGBTQIA+ | Magical Realism 

Review: ? 

Back of Book: 

Gabriel

I can do this.

Lots of people have hookups rather than relationships. I mean, I’ve had them in the past, I just didn’t realize that’s what they were at the time. It’s not my fault that I assumed those encounters were going to turn into something more even though the men I was with didn’t end up feeling the same.

Tonight, I’m not going to let myself fall into old patterns, and nothing is going to change my mind. I’m going to completely forget that I believe in love. I have a job I enjoy, my performance art, and friends that would burn down the world for me - even if I do worry sometimes that one of these days they’ll finally leave me too.

Tonight is the start of a new life and a new me. No prince charming required.

Yep… I can do this.

Liam

There was a time not all that long ago when I felt lost and out of control. Like the world surrounding me wasn’t real, and I wasn’t sure how to survive in it after all that I’d seen. These days, things are a bit better. I have my bakery where my work is repetitive and focused. One step after the other, the same steps as yesterday, the same steps tomorrow. It’s calm and consistent and ordered. I need that. Still, there are moments it’s not enough. That’s okay though, because when even the bakery won’t calm me, the water will.

I’ve always felt a sense of peace when I’m near the water. I lose myself under the surface or sit and listen to the waves and wonder if my heart and mind will ever manage to settle. If I’m still capable of joy and love and peace. If I’ll ever really find a way to belong in this world. Or if memories and emotions will push and pull like the endless turning of the tide until the sharp edges of pain and loss that have shaped so much of my life are worn smooth and there is nothing left of me but a pebble tossed up on the shore. 

Book Number: Three (Last Book) 

Genre: Adult | Contemporary | Romance | LGBTQIA+ | Magical Realism 

Review: ?