The Midnight Dance

This is a sequel and though it can be read as a standalone why would you deny yourself the pleasure? Aside from enriching this story, some of the events from the first book find a measure of closure here. Go ahead and read it, I'll wait. Post [b:Aftercare 40909927 Aftercare (Ever After #1) Tanya Chris https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1532311605s/40909927.jpg 56343944] Syed is still reeling, trying to find a way of going on, of living again. [a:Tanya Chris 15067939 Tanya Chris https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1477705931p2/15067939.jpg] does an excellent job of showing someone, realistically going through the stages of grief and loss while remaining authentic. The story develops during the course of a year, during which Syed goes from feeling physically ill at the sight of BDSM play to finding a whole new, yet equally satisfying, way to be a Dom, which he will always be. His counterpart in this journey is Dashiell, sweet, self effacing, and convinced that he's somehow unlovable. He's been smitten with Syed from day one but can't fathom why anyone would want him, and though curious, wonders if he could be in a D/s relationship:“Doms gave orders and doled out punishments. They commanded rather than seduced. Why would anyone even want a Dom? Dashiell wanted someone to love him, to keep him, that was what he wanted.”Meanwhile Syed recognizes a sub who can bring him to a new life:“... Dashiell had continued to respond to him in that particular way that called out Syed's dual-natured desire to both protect and crush. There was something about taking a man who would let you do anything to him and then treating him very carefully ...”The author perfectly captures the journey from absolute loss to being able to walk and breath again, in a life that, while different from the one you thought you'd have, is just as beautiful. Thematically, in both of these books [a:Tanya Chris 15067939 Tanya Chris https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1477705931p2/15067939.jpg] sensitively and accurately explores mourning as an ongoing process, and not something with a hard and fast beginning and end. It brought to mind [a:Max Porter 13807841 Max Porter https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1428676362p2/13807841.jpg]'s [b:Grief Is the Thing with Feathers 34601020 Grief Is the Thing with Feathers Max Porter https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1489577679s/34601020.jpg 45070849]:“Moving on, as a concept, is for stupid people, because any sensible person knows grief is a long-term project.”The fact that Syed and Dashiell are wading into a relationship never erases Jamie. Syed can't allow it and Dashiell doesn't want it. “Syed had loved Jamie. How could Dashiell not love Jamie on his behalf even as he envied him for the way Syed loved him?He didn't expect Syed to ever love him more than he'd loved Jamie - how could he? - but he's happily settle for just as much.”But worry not, Syed is very much in the here and now with Dashiell and who he is:“... I don't care where a sub's boundaries are as long as I can take him there. And he can bring me there with him.”That was the crux of it, he realized. When he was with Dashiell, he escaped into Dashiell. ... He could go to a BDSM club. He could go to a gay bar. He could spend the rest of his evenings curled up on a couch in his apartment. He could wear a wool suit or black leather pants or pajama bottoms. He could string a man up by his wrists or tie him down in four point restraints, could tickle him with a feather or bleed him with a crop. It didn't matter so long as he took his partner so deep that he lost himself there too.”I loved how the author, in both books, doesn't shy away from representing multidimensional Muslim characters in the full spectrum of their humanity. I'm hopeful for a follow up book, perhaps featuring two characters that left their mark in my psyche Casey & Bhupati? and maybe getting to visit with Garrett, Aayan, Dashiell and Syed. fingers crossedOn a side note I have say THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU to the author for getting NYC right and also the legal & court system. Eternally grateful for small mercies. Anyway ... I'll stop. Read this even if you're not into BDSM. It's not really about that. Also it ends on one of the most hopeful & romantic notes I've read in a while.