The Dead and the Dark

by Courtney Gould

If they finally lose one of those kids, maybe they’ll stop acting so high and mighty.

Wtf. This is the pt where I got reeled into the story. It's so jarring to hear a character suggest something like this. WHAT IS UP WITH THESE PEOPLE ?????

Even when she was defending him, Brandon wasn’t on her side.

I just kinda love this. Logan's wants to be loved. She still cares a lot for Brandon. She's used to his distance. Curb her feelings and expectations. She wants to stand up for him. She wants him to back her up and to be proud. Then, there's Brandon. Brandon was never that person. He didn't grow up popular or liked. Getting out of situations was his form of survival. It's always suggested adults just learn assertion. It's hard to be just be assertive even for adults. It feels weird being around mean kids as an adult too.

“But they let their friends pick on you?”

They’ll leave, or we’ll spit them out all over again.

This is why I cannot just believe in goodwill of the town.

I lived in this motel my whole life before I met your dad. I’m not exactly thrilled to be back here. This helps me remember it’s temporary.

I thought this was B. It's Alejo. I forgot how the town treated Alejo for sec. I was so focused on B. I didn’t consider how Alejo felt. Of course he's not happy to be back. He fell from grace to these people. And they showed him how quickly adoration turns into spite.

None of us ever really talked about it, but I know we all felt it go. Like we could breathe again.

Like oh the town could finally exhale after forcing out the gays, huh? I know this was description of the Dark which itself is a personification. But this still just pisses me off. That's how it is. The town acts like they're ones holding their breaths. Not B and Alejo who had to swallow the town's hate. Not like these men didn’t have to live in fear. Experience shit loads of persecution and discrimination. F*** the town's feelings.

Brandon looked around the diner with a distant smile. He looked like he actually fit in here. Logan had never seen him actually settle into a place. No matter where they were, he always looked like he’d been cut out and pasted in, like he always existed somewhere else.

“Uh, yeah. I’d say so. Not together, but I think we both came here a lot.”

# 1 fav thing that Alejo and B didn’t know each other back then.

The day the two of them met was the first time I ever heard him say more than two words.”

♡♡♡♡ my otp for this book. Thank god for Gus. I was getting sick of people only sharing stories of Alejo. I am glad someone has something nice to say about B.

And from there, it was as easy as breathing. It had never seemed easy to Brandon before. In fact, falling in love had seemed like the most impossible thing in the world.

I'm a sap. I love these two. Would love Alejo pov of B.

Now that he knew what it felt like to be loved, he could never go back.

“Because I’m not doing taxes with that thing again.”

This was funny. But at the 79% mark this book starting flipping up the tone. All that danger and fear is down played a little. But I do love Alejo and Brandon as dads and a couple. I love that we get to see some of the good parts too. We've seen much loneliness in Brandon's life. Alejo does a lot of stalling and doesn't answer Logan's questions. It's clear he cares for Brandon but we never know why he's alright with Brandon's behavior (until the end ofc).