Tom’s been keeping the resort together with spit and glue while caring for Frank’s uncle, Robert—a man he considered father, mentor, and friend—and his aged mother, who he refuses to leave behind. Now Robert is gone, taking Tom’s job with him. And Frank is on the doorstep, wanting to know why Tom is still there and why the old lodge is falling apart.
But before they can rebuild the resort, they’ll have to rebuild their friendship. Only then can they renew the forever they planned all those years ago.
Comment: In 2022 I've read the first book in the This Time Forever trilogy and I liked it enough (considering my grade for I barely remember anything), but I debated if I wanted to read the other installments. The opportunity happened and I thought why not, but this second story impressed me slightly less than the other.
In this story we meet Frank, a journalist who has lived the life he always dreamed of, except he doesn't have Tommy, his childhood friend whom he thought could be more than that. When they were teenagers, Tommy punched him after a kiss and Frank decided to not go back, but now that his uncle died and left him the old lodge where he spent wonderful summers, he has to. That is why he reconnects with Tommy, who never left, and even helped around the lodge, but things aren't good and Frank realizes it will be necessary to do a lot to get the lodge back into something usable. However, someone wants the land and is making inquires and then there's Tommy and being around him brings back all those memories... could it be that now, thirty years alter, they can finally get their HEA?
At first I thought this would turn out to become a very appealing story, because while I don't really appreciate lovers reunited that much, Tommy and Frank were only at the cusp of a romantic relationship, they were never a couple in that sense, therefore the memories would certainly not be that boring to go through. However, the tone of this story is definitely one of mild angst and of regrets. Usually, I like these types of stories but something about this one didn't fully grab me.
The plot is a little predictable, especially if one has read many other romances where a character comes back to take over some inheritance and, of course, finds love and so on.It's how the plot is developed that makes a difference but here I've found some parts to be a bit boring, in the sense that or the reminiscence would take too long or they would not actively be doing obvious/visible actions that could advance things. This meant that the slow pace, which could help develop their characterization, delayed things a lot, and added with the fear of communicating, made the story lack interest.
I liked Frank, for the most part, and I could certainly understand his decision to not go back to a place where he had something happening which affected his perception of who he was (by being rejected by Tommy, I mean), but all things considered, if as a mature man he could also understand how important his uncle was to him, and how much value he had for the lodge and the property where he had so many more good moments than bad ones, it also felt a little out of character he had stayed away so long.
Nevertheless, this "explained" the time passing by and why he wasn't aware of how things were at the lodge. It also seemed too convenient that he arrives at a time where things aren't immediately explained and when he finds out about Tommy and what happened, he simply doesn't start taking notes or doing something more diligent to see where things were and what could still be done regarding the lodge. I can see why Tommy being there would make him distracted, and it's true things can't change/improve in such a short amount of time, but... was that not the goal of being there?
Anyway, little details aside, until the guys really work on doing something about the lodge, they first need to deal with their relationship and how it got to be this way, as they are now only two people who know each other and who were best friends once. Anyone can guess that they rekindle their relationship, become important to one another once more and finally get their HEA. The whole process was sweet enough, yes, and there were times I was really glad for them, but their story didn't excite me that much.
In a way, perhaps I would say the biggest disappointment is Tommy. I liked the idea of his character because he clearly had some reason to punch Frank when they were teenagers and he liked his uncle as a father figure, he still lives at the lodge and cares for what he can, he still tries to do the best for his ill mother, even though we learn she has not been the most dedicated of mothers, and he struggles financially. All good reasons for me to like Tommy and root for him, but I felt he took too long - or the plot did - to take action, to have an eureka moment when he feels he needs to do something, and I suppose for plot reasons, he takes too long to trust Frank about this.
The dynamics of their relationship had interesting moments because it cannot be easy to juggle personal fears and thoughts (Tommy made it look he felt inferior to Frank somehow) but the love and the desire were still there somehow, and I liked this idea of caring for someone for so long. But the way things developed and the delay in explanations, as well as the motives for some actions just made their story feel a little too boring. There were also plenty of scenes where I wanted to turn the page because what I was reading wasn't as captivating.
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