I was surprised that in the acknowledgments the author mentioned his husband, because the main character in this novel seemed to be a combination of every gay stereotype that the entertainment world has to offer. In addition to that, the main character was an immature brat who was constantly mentioning how much more mature and in touch with his feelings he was compared to everyone around him. The writing started out okay, but the situations and conversations quickly became repetitive and unrealistic. I think the author started this from a good place, but let his writing get lazy as he got further into the story.

“Dear Publisher, Thank you for giving me the opportunity to review this book . At the present moment, I am unable to finish it, because it isn’t holding my interest. If I complete it at any time in the future, I will follow up with an email. I look forward to hearing about your future titles. Thanks again. Regards, Blogger

Losing a spouse, a partner, is one of the most difficult experiences a person can face, especially when it happens suddenly, and unexpectedly. Your hopes and dreams for a shared future can be almost too much to bear, and as much as friends and family provide love, support, and consolation, sometimes that just doesn't seem to be enough.
Now you must you get on with your life, at least that's what everyone thinks.
How can you move on when you truly have no closure? Will you ever be ready to try and start again after the love of your life is gone forever?

Sebastian's world halted abruptly about one year ago, when his husband Frank died. Sadly, he blames himself because that night he and Frank were arguing about one of Frank's former love interest.

Meanwhile, the rest of Seb's life is in ruins; his apartment, his two part-time jobs he needs, to make ends meet, and he can't seem to come up with a routine for the tap dancing class he teaches. Then there is still the ever present dream of landing that big role in a Broadway musical instead of just being a chorus boy. But Seb is now 40 and the reality of the dream is fading. And... Weirdly, he's convinced Frank is haunting their apartment.

Now meet his best friend and ex-Rockette, flamboyant, Chloe who "innocently" introduces him to Reid, a handsome landscape designer. Seb knows he needs to move on, but how without betraying a Frank.

This is a sweet and moving book, as it deals with some difficult emotional issues, loss, guilt, grief.

My only complaint;I didn't feel the supernatural aspect really added much to the story.

Genre: MM Contemporary Romance
Steamy?: No
Cliffhanger?: No
Can be read as Standalone?: Yes
Rating: 3 out of 5 Stars

***COMPLIMENTARY COPY PROVIDED IN EXCHANGE FOR AN HONEST REVIEW***

This is a difficult book to review. The tale of a man struggling with the tragic loss of his husband was promising but the delivery fell short. Something about the pacing or the writing just didn't do it for me. It was borderline-boring but had just enough to keep me interested. A bit wordy in parts and unnecessary in others while almost always being a bit confusing and convoluted. The over-all story was decent, just that the journey through was a bit rough.

The Truth about Goodbye was a hard book for me to read. I was hoping for a heartfelt, romantic about love and loss and finding love again. While it certainly has all that, I never got the connection with the characters and couldn’t get into the style of writing.

Sebastian, our main character, is no stranger to love or loss and with the loss of his partner and husband Frank a little over a year ago. It’s made him insecure and uncertain. He’s also unsure of where he stands with his dream of becoming a Broadway choreographer.

The story is told from Sebastian’s pov and there are large sections of internalized conflict that soon becomes weary. That is too bad, because the story could have been so much more.

The writing is not bad, but it’s not flowing either. Some of the dialogue felt stilted and slow. I sometimes also had trouble seeing Sebastian and Chloe as grown-ups. Especially Chloe sometimes sounds like a teenage drama queen.

Sebastian is an easy character to like and throughout the story we see him work through his grief and trying to move on, but the story could have used a little more oomph!

This was a sweet book! A very fast and enjoyable read - it was obviously a first novel, but it definitely had some strengths. I especially appreciated the fact that it's LGBT/MM fiction about adult LGBT themes, written by a gay male author - something, sadly, all too rare in a genre about gay men.

The characters were likable, although sometimes veering into overly-consciously quirkiness, and the dialogue could be a tad awkward in the same vein. Some, like Chloe and Greg, were pretty two-dimensional, and I would have liked to have gotten inside the head of Reid and Frank more. Even with those weaknesses, they were enjoyable and very sweet. The read overall it was fun and genuinely evoked an emotional response from me! The humour in the narration was really lovely, too, a mix a humourous and tragic, the way Sebastian had totally detached himself from properly greiving and moving on from Frank - humour could be his armour, too.

The romance was sweet, and I was definitely rooting for Sebastian and Reid. It wasn't even a romance, just a nice beginning, and I liked it a lot - it definitely had its poignancy, and moved at a pace that didn't feel unrealistic at all.

The professional, Broadway dancing aspects of the novel was a strength, too - I could tell the author knew his stuff and had a deep appreciation for Broadway and dance themselves. As a fan of musicals, I loved that!

The main weakness, I felt, was that sometimes the description of action threw me off a bit from the flow of the story. Rather than feeling contemplative, all the scenes in Sebastian's apartment with his cat felt like dawdling along. It could be deliberate though, since Sebastian's life very much was dawdling along, but those scenes themselves could have been more engaging. Sometimes, too, the dance terminology went over my head and I got a bit lost in those scenes.

But the way the novel looks at loss, grief and moving on is absolutely its strength. The fact that these universal themes are told through the story of a gay, married, mixed-race man is something I really appreciate, too. Sadly, I think it was too short to do more than do an easy run-through of these themes. My favourite part was, honestly, the section where Sebastian returned to his hometown and reflected on the loss of his parents, both sets. The way the narrative linked this to his grieving process with Frank was lovely. I would have loved to see even more of this in the novel - the story had a lot of potential with what it had to say about grief and loss and life, and this was the only section where it really showed its promise. Maybe if it had been a little longer, so characters other than Sebastian could have chance to show more nuance and depth, I would have loved the novel.

I like the concept of the book. The subject of grief is often brushed over in romance novel. I apprecijate the way the authors author handled the matter. Overall it was a good if not a little slow paced .

The Truth About Goodbye (Russel Riccard) maybe seen as a child of the wider LGBT+ campaign. On the surface, this book looks like your average romantic novel. It is written in the clear almost filmic, dialogue driven, manner of such works. The story line follows a traditional form. An individual loses their partner, must come to terms with their loss, and eventually move onto another relationship. But, the similarity ends there. The central character is a male grieving another male. The book asks, how a person can truly grieve in a society that sanctions, neither; the persons relationship or the individual’s grief. In addition, it is an interesting portrait of a man coming to terms with the aging process and the social limitations that come with that process. This book is for you if you are in the market for a, diversity driven, summer beach read.

This was a brave debut novel, dealing with grief and ageing (for a dancer, who is facing the end of his career at age 40). Seb is in a dark place because of the grief over his husband's death a year ago, which not only gave him no chance to say goodbye, but even causes guilt because an argument they had may have contributed to it. Not only that, but he doesn't know for sure if his jealousy that led to the argument was all in his mind or if something was really going on.

I loved all the stuff with Seb, his relationship with friend Chloe, his cat, and especially his struggle to maintain some kind of normal life under the weight of all these difficult emotions. I wasn't quite so fond of the guy who presents as his hopeful new love interest, who seemed to be all about looks, and I wasn't convinced that was what Seb needed. But still, an enjoyable and thoughtful book.

The author is very descriptive, but that is what makes it difficult to connect to the story. There is quite a lot of internal dialouge that is entertaining but does take the reader out of the story. It was a lot to mush through. Sebatian is an engaging character as are secondary characters. It was just an ok read for me.

I want to get one thing straight right off the bat. I did end up enjoying The Truth About Goodbye in the end, but it might have been a case of too little, too late, for me. So I’m going to do what they say you should do in presentations and make a sandwich of my feelings about this novel.

From the time I read the description, I was hooked on the idea. There are novels that deal with grief, but I don’t often get to read about the loss of a spouse from the view of a queer character. That in itself was enough to have me being gung-ho about reading and reviewing this.

Ricard writes queer men well (as one would expect) with neither of the protagonists feeling like a caricature and while an antagonist feels a bit like a two-dimensional cut out… I was willing to forgive the novel that. Particularly since there are chances for people to grow despite the short length of the book.

Grief, as well, is touched upon in ways that felt both engaging and very true to life. The irrationality of the way that Sebastian thinks, the way that he is getting bogged down by his inner life even if he outwardly seems fine is a way that many people grieve.

But at the beginning, every character drove me up the wall. Everyone felt like they were mean spirited. It was like there were a bunch of Chandlers in the room, but without the laugh track so it just came across as mean. Chloe (Sebastian’s best friend) was a thorn in my side when I first started reading. She had this habit of looking up and talking to her mother before looking down at the ground to talk to her father.

I get the symbolism, but even once was too much and it really threw me out of the book. Chloe does that multiple times and at first she comes across like a kind of Samantha from Sex and the City, but a cardboard cutout of her.

The references to 2008 date the novel really quickly. I’m not sure why it was set in 2008, was that when this was published? It’s almost a decade ago and talking about the 2008 election pulled me out of the story. 2008 feels like it was centuries ago and I almost feel like it would be better if it wasn’t mentioned.

There are also too many plots. Let’s count them off:

Sebastian is getting too old for his job(s).
Sebastian wants to follow his passion.
Chloe has drama with the men in her lives.
Sebastian is mourning his husband and feels guilty about his death.
Sebastian is meeting a new guy.
Said new guy has emotional baggage of his own.
There’s a rivalry between Sebastian and another dancer.
There’s past horribleness with families.
There’s a strange therapy plotline.

Already, that’s too many plots. The novel would need to be a thousand pages to fit that all in.

I think the reason I’m being so hard on The Truth About Goodbye is because I was rooting for it. I wanted it to be good so badly and the thing is that when it gives up on the artifice and focuses on the characters, it shines.

About 25% of the way through the book, I started to click with the characters and I realized that it was the attempts at humour that had me feeling like I was reading a cheap knock-off. When there’s heart, the book shines. The passages about the grief felt genuine and heart-wrenching and I would get engrossed in the novel just to get knocked out of it again.

I feel like there is a good novel in here. There might even be a novel that I would evangelize about in here, but it’s trapped under romantic conventions and snarky sitcom moments that I just can’t get past.

If the author writes another novel, I’m 100% on board to try again. I can’t remember when I’ve read an author with so much potential that could have made everything better by making one small change. Less humour, more heart.

If you like lighthearted romances that go dark, this could be a good read for you. It just wasn’t the one for me.

4.5/10
A lot of potential, but for me it fell flat.

It took me awhile to get into this story. The main character, Sebastian is in mourning from his husband's recent sudden death. He is also leading an unfulfilled life working in an office and walking dogs to pay his bills, when he really wants to be a choreographer. His best friend Chloe is a funny, clever and an ex-rockette. She tries to help him with his struggle of moving on by introducing him to men, specifically Reid who he takes a liking too and feels a spark with. However, he still sees Frank, his deceased spouse everywhere. I was not crazy about the writing/dialogue which was not always totally sincere. I also did not really feel a huge connection between Seb and Reid even though they end up getting married at the end. Not my favorite but also not terrible...

4 stars

Sebastien Hart is having a very difficult time getting past the death of his partner, Frank. He believes he hears him. He believes he isn’t really gone. I found this to be totally believable and I fully understand. Sebastien is a deeply wounded person. He recalls everything about their relationship and regrets deeply some of the things that happened. He is the one who started the argument the night Frank died and he can’t forget it. But he also remembers the good times – the tender times. Whether he is a forty-year old chorus boy is immaterial to my way of thinking. He beats himself up because he wants to be a choreographer, but he can’t seem to get it together. He can’t get the steps right and he is beset by doubts. I like Sebastien.

Chloe on the other hand is a total annoyance. She badgers Sebastien. She makes fun of him. Her badgering him about turning forty really made me mad. I found her to be irritating with her devil may case attitude and bragging about sleeping with many, many men. Sebastien should dump her as a friend. She is toxic. She’s not challenging him, she dragging him down.

Sebastien gets fired from two of his jobs which only adds to the pressure in his life. He is trying to get a position in a new play but his age and emotional state make it difficult.

This is a well written novel. It is very good for a debut novel. As I said Sebastien is a good character. He has tenderness about him and is very understandable. Having lost my best friend to AIDS back in 1992, I completely understand Frank’s position. I still miss my friend a great deal. I gave the book four stars because Chloe annoyed me to no end.

I want to thank Netgalley and Wise Ink Creative Publishing for forwarding to me a copy of this great debut novel to read.

This is a tough one for me to review because it took a while to really get into the story and to find the unique selling point which made me want to carry on reading it.
Sebastian's use of Broadway and other musicals references to highlight his inner dialogue was a bit wearing at times and, at others, perfectly in keeping with the emotional dissonance he was feeling over moving on from his husband's sudden and quite sadly tragic death.
I also wasn't sure why it was set in 2008 to be honest, even with the time lapse jump at the end to be able to include the USA's decision to allow same sex marriage.

This is a novel written in the 3rd person which focusses on the internal world of the lead character as well as his perceptions of the people and world around him. That this is hard to achieve and to hold the reader, it is done well. However, beyond that there is nothing in the story to appease. I tried very hard but I was sorely tempted to give up early on and the feeling never went away. The lead character is self-centred and nobody and nothing in his world is good enough. Stylised as a 40-year old twink he understands all of his flaws but wears them as a badge and thrusts his opinions on all around him regardless of effect. The fact that there are people around him who actually care is surprising as they tend to get the brunt of his foolishness.

The focus of the story is about his growth through grief and his ability to move on and become better. However he is such an unpleasant person it is not surprising that the grief is caricatured and as vamped as everything else. Even his breathlessness is over the top. It is clear that the story will resolve itself and all will be wonderful in the end, but he doesn't deserve it.

This is one I wouldn't read again

Equally funny and sad. I quickly fell in love with Chloe and Seb and even the little cat.

Great writing and character development.

Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book.

Sebastian Hart’s husband has been deceased for a year and his grief is preventing him from living his life to the fullest. Having just turned 40, he is also struggling with his career as his body starts to age. He believes his career options are dwindling as roles are being cast to younger dancers.

His dream is to be a choreographer and in his free time he writes dance compositions. While waiting for a break in his career, Sebastian takes odd jobs as a dog walker, office clerk, and teaching a community tap class. He finds support from his good friend Chloe, who is also a dancer. She is a free spirit and unlike Sebastian, dates many men while having little attachment after an evening. Chloe tries to encourage Sebastian to date by introducing him to eligible men. He will not move forward with his life while stuck grieving over memories of his former spouse.

This is a tender story about a person struggling with an unexpected loss of a loved one. The main character's feelings of regret and loneliness are heartfelt. The struggles depicted by the character are ones that we can all relate to as we go about our daily lives. This is a debut novel by Russell Ricard.

"Does goodbye really mean forever?"

Sebastian Hart is no stranger to heartbreak. When he was just a boy, he lost his mother to cancer caused by secondhand smoke from his father. The rest of his father's short life was spent with guilt and grief, leaving Sebastian without the support that he desperately needed. Now, on the eve of his fortieth birthday, Sebastian is still reeling from his latest misfortune. Exactly one year ago, Sebastian's husband Frank was killed in a tragic accident. The usually loving couple had an argument immediately preceding the incident, and Sebastian can't forgive himself for allowing this negative moment be his final memory of the love of his life.

To make matters worse, Sebastian's dream of being a choreographer for a Broadway show seem more out of reach than ever before. As a soon to be forty-year-old man, he's seen the coveted spots as members of the chorus become nearly unattainable. Directors seem to only cast young boys. Instead of managing a large production, Sebastian struggles to coordinate a simple number for his community tap class. Without Frank as a second source of income, he turns to temp jobs as a dog walker and office clerk to make ends meet.

On the night of his birthday, Sebastian's best friend Chloe, a retired Rockette who partakes in plenty of men and alcohol, believes she has the cure to his perpetually sour state. She tries to set him up with Reid, a hunky landscaper who has also joined Sebastian's tap class. Deep down, Sebastian's heart will always belong to Frank, but could it be time to move on? Will his heart ever be capable of loving again?

In his debut novel The Truth About Goodbye, Russell Ricard writes about love, loss, and the insecurity that can come with aging. I immediately began to make comparisons with another story about loss that features a gay couple, A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. I appreciated the way Ricard brought the topics explored in that groundbreaking work into the 21st century. It is amazing to reflect upon both the shared troubles and remarkable progress of the LGBT community between the two time periods.

Despite all of the positive intent of this novel, I felt myself wanting more from it. Large sections of dialogue, especially those dealing with the more internalized conflicts of guilt and grief, came off as disingenuous. This made it difficult to relate to Sebastian's situation. This wouldn't be frustrating if there weren't glimmers of brilliance throughout the work. Ricard's description of the behind the scenes drama in a Broadway show and any section featuring his fierce character Chloe were vividly written.The clarity of these moments caused the rest of the story to pale in comparison. Overall, The Truth About Goodbye, is a mixed bag that merely scratches the surface of the intriguing ideas that it teases.

Loved this. So goddamn beautiful and moving and just wonderful. Highly, highly recommended. I'm not going to say anything about it - just read it!

This was a mixed bag for me, to be honest. I loved the adult LGBT characters that had a story which was not centered around coming out or finding their identity. I also enjoyed that this was not a novel about glamorous stardom and fame, but about chorus line dancers, choreography and landscaping. That was refreshing. Other than that, there were cliches, some awkward dialogue or illogical character decisions. I also found some scenes too drawn out and circular. But I liked the focus of moving on from grief, of guilt after the death of a loved one, and on personal development and change even in your forties. A 2,5/5 star rating for great content but bad-ish style.