Carry Me Home

3.5 Stars ~ I so enjoy finding a new-to-me author and once I read the description for 'Carry Me Home' by Sterling Rivers I was intrigued. It seems as if lately so many of my friends on social media are losing a family member, or even more than one, and when I first started reading I definitely had some teary moments as Aiden struggled with his mother's coma and his ultimate decision to release her from suffering. What I also had though, was genuine appreciation for the clarity and understanding with which the author wrote these scenes. It was lovely to begin this book with an appreciation for an author whom I had heretofore been unfamiliar with.

Aiden is the youngest of two and after his father divorced his mom, and his sister went off to college, it was just him and mom. They were very close and her death has hit him hard. Being inadvertently outed by his father doesn't help either, so he decides to track down Bibby, a man who was in love with his Great Uncle George and wrote him letters while George was serving in Vietnam. Aiden found these letters in his uncle's military trunk in the attic and, at first, thought Bibby was a woman until he realized differently. With too much stress and grief running through his mind, Aiden heads to Montana to the little town from the return address to find the man who loved his uncle.

Enter Cody, a ray of sunshine in Aiden's gloomy existence. I adored Cody right from the start. He's friendly, outgoing, gorgeous, gay, and rambles a lot. He made Aiden (and me) laugh. His family is huge, warm, welcoming, accepting, and love every one of their adopted children equally. Aiden has never felt this kind of warmth except with his mom. Everybody Cody introduces Aiden to, from his family to his friends, has Aiden almost in shock. The gay guys are all out, they have straight friends who hang out with them, and Aiden is experiencing a world he doesn't know existed because he's hidden that part of himself from his family, and he has never really had a lot of close friends. Talk about culture shock… and having it happen in a small town in Montana!

“I just wish I could go back and let her know who I really was. I wish I had gone to school for what I wanted to. I wish I could do everything all over again, but I can’t, and it fucking hurts. I’ve been going through life numb, and I’m sick of it, but I don’t know any other way.”

'Carry Me Home' had me laughing and crying in equal measure. A bittersweet story that reminded me love isn't counted in years but in all those moments that take your breath away. I enjoyed Cody and Aiden's romance and Aiden beginning to find his place in the world made it all even better. A lovely book that I can easily recommend.

NOTE: This book was provided by Dreamspinner Press for the purpose of a review on Rainbow Book Reviews