Challenge Book Review: The Nothingness of Ben by Brad Boney

Reviewed by JustJen

Title: The Nothingness of Ben
Author: Brad Boney
Heroes: Ben/Travis
Genre: M/M Contemporary
Length: 248 Pages
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press
Release Date: November 23, 2012
Available at: Dreamspinner Press, Amazon, All Romance eBooks & Barnes and Noble
Add it to your shelf: Goodreads & Booklikes

Blurb: Ben Walsh is well on his way to becoming one of Manhattan’s top litigators, with a gorgeous boyfriend and friends on the A-list. His life is perfect until he gets a phone call that brings it all crashing down: a car accident takes his parents, and now he must return to Austin to raise three teenage brothers he barely knows.

During the funeral, Ben meets Travis Atwood, the redneck neighbor with a huge heart. Their relationship initially runs hot and cold, from contentious to flirtatious, but when the weight of responsibility starts wearing on Ben, he turns to Travis, and the pressure shapes their friendship into something that feels a lot like love. Ben thinks he’s found a way to have his old life, his new life, and Travis too, but love isn’t always easy. Will he learn to recognize that sometimes the worst thing imaginable can lead him to the place he was meant to be?

Review:

What a fabulously enjoyable story this is.  I’ve been putting it off for so long that I don’t even remember why anymore.  This was picked for me, and it was just the push I needed.  I was definitely not disappointed.

When the story starts out, Ben is in a relationship with David, but that is quickly put on hold when Ben goes back to Texas to take guardianship of his younger brothers after the death of their parents.  Ben left Texas and didn’t really look back very often as he became a successful NY lawyer.  Ben comes across as rather selfish and cold for a lot of this story, but he comes around and steps up to the plate when necessary.

He meets Travis, a young (straight) blue-collar Texan who the family sort of adopted.  He basically became the big brother in Ben’s absence.  The two become fast friends, and Ben ends up relying quite heavily on Travis’ help with taking care of his brothers.  I really enjoyed watching Ben rebuild his relationships with them, which was a huge part of what I enjoyed about this book.  The brothers were all great characters, and I found I wanted to know more about each of them and looked forward to their appearances and interactions.

While Ben and the boys are becoming a closer family again, Travis and Ben’s attraction grows.  I loved watching Travis deal with his new, completely foreign feelings for Ben and felt like I really knew and loved these two on different levels.  I even enjoyed their struggles, even though some were quite heartbreaking.

There were some nice side characters here, including Ben’s best friend, Colin and his ex, David.  Ben and David had a little bit of a different, kinkier, relationship, and I really couldn’t see Ben being that way with Travis.  But, Ben and Travis have their own way of doing things that was just as hot and steamy.

This was very well written, with a nice amount of sarcasm and heavy dialog, which I thoroughly enjoyed.  It had just the right amount of everything for me.  I’m glad I finally gave it a try, highly recommend it and look forward to reading more of Mr. Boney’s work.

Overall Impression: I loved it

*I purchased my own, personal copy of this book for review.*