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Still Here
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 26, 2026
A sweet MM romance about finding the person who sees and accepts you just as you are.
Ellis Carter is an autistic young man who has always felt at home in a cozy record shop run by his father figure, Clyde. While there, things make sense. He’s allowed to wear his headphones, organize things just how he likes them, and always be himself. When the shop is suddenly sold to Issaky Jones, Ellis fears that everything is about to change. After learning that Issaky always puts Ellis’ needs first, Ellis can’t help but start falling for the caring man. Just as things start to feel safe with him and Issaky, tragedy strikes and Ellis fears that he may ruin everything.
I actually ARC read book two in this series prior to reading this one and am now getting caught up before book three releases. I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, because I found so many parts of “Wanna Bet?” to be rather problematic, but I thought this story was cute and packed with so many amazing quotes.
From the very beginning, I really enjoyed Ellis as a character. He’s very methodical in his way of thinking and thrives on his routines. I found him to be rather relatable, and I thought the autism rep was done very well. I love that Knight had several sensitivity readers work with them to make sure that Ellis was as accurate and inoffensive as possible.
Ellis’ relationship with Issaky was so sweet. I ate up the fact that their romance really showcases patience and accepting each other for who they are without ever thinking about changing one another. Ellis and Issaky go on some pretty cute dates, though at times I wish we would have got a few more details. The vibes were great regardless, and I thought their romance made this book so cozy and cute.
This book does deal with a few darker issues including the death of a loved one and an alcoholic parent. Grief and substance abuse are both very tough, and it’s horrible that Ellis had to deal with both of them simultaneously. I’m pretty sure I’d shut down completely if I lost someone super important to me too, so I really related to Ellis’ life trajectory during that period. It’s awesome the way that Issaky supports him through this hard time by giving him space but being enough of a presence that Ellis would hopefully catch on that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Ellis’ relationship with Clyde is another one of my favorite parts of this book. Clyde is like a father to Ellis, and I think it’s sweet when strangers accept others with open arms. Ellis really needed someone like Clyde in his life and it was amazing that the record store as a safe place came with this relationship. The letters that Ellis finds from Clyde are so wholesome, and I thought that was a rather cool tidbit that the author threw in. It also seemed perfectly in place because every chapter header included a portion of such letters.
There were two major things about this book that made me raise my eyebrow a little bit. The first being the sex scenes. At first, I thought it was super sweet that Issaky was being so chill about taking things slow and not forcing Ellis to do anything he didn’t want to. Issaky really prioritized making sure they had a proper discussion about what they were comfortable with, but that never seemed to happen despite there being like four-ish sex scenes in this book. I can’t really speak on having sex as a gay man or an autistic individual, but some things seemed a bit off, especially during the scene in which they forgo lube and condoms. This seems a tad unsafe and a tad out of character for these two, but oh well, I’m not an expert by any means.
The other thing I found off was the fact that there were like four sections from Issaky’s PoV like the entire book. I found this really jarring and a bit unnecessary. This one could have had dual perspectives, but I feel Ellis’ would have been so much stronger. I wish the entire thing would have been penned from Ellis’ PoV so I didn’t have to think about the narrative randomly changing at the most random moments.
Overall, “Still Here” is a sweet MM love story about finding acceptance, adapting to change, and loving unconditionally. I thought Ellis and Issaky had a very sweet and healthy relationship, though the spicy scenes seemed a bit questionable to me. There were so many amazing quotes in this one that made me feel seen, and this book gives me faith that Knight is possibly of penning amazing stories that really move people. I’m looking forward to reading more books in this series and seeing what Knight does next with this fun group of characters!
Ellis Carter is an autistic young man who has always felt at home in a cozy record shop run by his father figure, Clyde. While there, things make sense. He’s allowed to wear his headphones, organize things just how he likes them, and always be himself. When the shop is suddenly sold to Issaky Jones, Ellis fears that everything is about to change. After learning that Issaky always puts Ellis’ needs first, Ellis can’t help but start falling for the caring man. Just as things start to feel safe with him and Issaky, tragedy strikes and Ellis fears that he may ruin everything.
I actually ARC read book two in this series prior to reading this one and am now getting caught up before book three releases. I was honestly surprised by how much I enjoyed this one, because I found so many parts of “Wanna Bet?” to be rather problematic, but I thought this story was cute and packed with so many amazing quotes.
From the very beginning, I really enjoyed Ellis as a character. He’s very methodical in his way of thinking and thrives on his routines. I found him to be rather relatable, and I thought the autism rep was done very well. I love that Knight had several sensitivity readers work with them to make sure that Ellis was as accurate and inoffensive as possible.
Ellis’ relationship with Issaky was so sweet. I ate up the fact that their romance really showcases patience and accepting each other for who they are without ever thinking about changing one another. Ellis and Issaky go on some pretty cute dates, though at times I wish we would have got a few more details. The vibes were great regardless, and I thought their romance made this book so cozy and cute.
This book does deal with a few darker issues including the death of a loved one and an alcoholic parent. Grief and substance abuse are both very tough, and it’s horrible that Ellis had to deal with both of them simultaneously. I’m pretty sure I’d shut down completely if I lost someone super important to me too, so I really related to Ellis’ life trajectory during that period. It’s awesome the way that Issaky supports him through this hard time by giving him space but being enough of a presence that Ellis would hopefully catch on that he wasn’t going anywhere.
Ellis’ relationship with Clyde is another one of my favorite parts of this book. Clyde is like a father to Ellis, and I think it’s sweet when strangers accept others with open arms. Ellis really needed someone like Clyde in his life and it was amazing that the record store as a safe place came with this relationship. The letters that Ellis finds from Clyde are so wholesome, and I thought that was a rather cool tidbit that the author threw in. It also seemed perfectly in place because every chapter header included a portion of such letters.
There were two major things about this book that made me raise my eyebrow a little bit. The first being the sex scenes. At first, I thought it was super sweet that Issaky was being so chill about taking things slow and not forcing Ellis to do anything he didn’t want to. Issaky really prioritized making sure they had a proper discussion about what they were comfortable with, but that never seemed to happen despite there being like four-ish sex scenes in this book. I can’t really speak on having sex as a gay man or an autistic individual, but some things seemed a bit off, especially during the scene in which they forgo lube and condoms. This seems a tad unsafe and a tad out of character for these two, but oh well, I’m not an expert by any means.
The other thing I found off was the fact that there were like four sections from Issaky’s PoV like the entire book. I found this really jarring and a bit unnecessary. This one could have had dual perspectives, but I feel Ellis’ would have been so much stronger. I wish the entire thing would have been penned from Ellis’ PoV so I didn’t have to think about the narrative randomly changing at the most random moments.
Overall, “Still Here” is a sweet MM love story about finding acceptance, adapting to change, and loving unconditionally. I thought Ellis and Issaky had a very sweet and healthy relationship, though the spicy scenes seemed a bit questionable to me. There were so many amazing quotes in this one that made me feel seen, and this book gives me faith that Knight is possibly of penning amazing stories that really move people. I’m looking forward to reading more books in this series and seeing what Knight does next with this fun group of characters!
August 10, 2026
Did I absolutely love the autistic characters? Yes, yes, I did, they were perfect and relatable and real and fantastically written.
=We're temporarily pretending there were no sex scenes=
I loved the plot, how the love grew, how it was written from Ellis' POV. I highly recommend the book as a cozy read. There's alcoholism from mom and a side character dies, but I just feel heard and understood and seen and represented in a book. It's lovely, 5 stars.
=== The next bit is purely about the sex ===
The sex scenes however...
The first one, Ellis POV, nice.
The second one was suddenly Issaky's POV and it was jarring. I didn't know how to read his tone, how he felt about Ellis, how he felt about the sex, which made it clinical and not sexy and fall flat. I would have liked Issaky's POV way before this point in their relationship.
The "Ellis suddenly deciding that yes, sex, now" was really good, felt... accurate, the "Issaky just going along with something so intimate while he had been so, so careful about any touching was weird. Out of character, inconsistent,
"Yes he was dominant and they needed to have a conversation about boundaries and expectations" earlier in the book and then... That conversation didn't happen? At all? Also "Safety is important" and then "Everybody said they were tested let's ditch the condoms" (With possibly a virgin and you should maybe give the right example?) 2 seconds later. You can check in with words as much as you like if your actions don't reflect those values it falls flat. OOC
I really would have liked a "I hear you, we can't do exactly that now but we can =do this other thing= and I will get the condoms/lube/etc and we will have the conversation about sex and past experiences."
The third was worse, the "still in the middle of grief wanting to fuck" for Ellis was perfect, accurate, in character.
And then, record scratch, let's decide in the heat of the moment (you don't decide things in the heat of the moment, that's bad consent) to ditch not only the condoms, but also the lube. Just spit on it. I mean... Ouch?
I expected Issaky to offer for a different kind of lube. Not all are sticky, some are watery (still better than spit!), some are really slippery like silicon lube, some are just higher quality and feel a lot better.
Did anyone have a conversation about exclusivity in this book? Is anyone seeing or fucking anyone else? I have no idea because we barely have any insight in Issaky's life or his values. I also expected a "oh gosh, sex can be so nice" fuck like bunnies phase from Ellis, so when it became obvious that the grief fuck was only the second time anal sex, it was weird.
2 stars
=== I'm done complaining about sex now ===
I might edit this when I finish the book completely, got stuck at 76% because of the sex.
Honestly, though, would I read another book by this author? Yes, yes I would, although I might pretend it's closed door.
=We're temporarily pretending there were no sex scenes=
I loved the plot, how the love grew, how it was written from Ellis' POV. I highly recommend the book as a cozy read. There's alcoholism from mom and a side character dies, but I just feel heard and understood and seen and represented in a book. It's lovely, 5 stars.
=== The next bit is purely about the sex ===
The sex scenes however...
The first one, Ellis POV, nice.
The second one was suddenly Issaky's POV and it was jarring. I didn't know how to read his tone, how he felt about Ellis, how he felt about the sex, which made it clinical and not sexy and fall flat. I would have liked Issaky's POV way before this point in their relationship.
The "Ellis suddenly deciding that yes, sex, now" was really good, felt... accurate, the "Issaky just going along with something so intimate while he had been so, so careful about any touching was weird. Out of character, inconsistent,
"Yes he was dominant and they needed to have a conversation about boundaries and expectations" earlier in the book and then... That conversation didn't happen? At all? Also "Safety is important" and then "Everybody said they were tested let's ditch the condoms" (With possibly a virgin and you should maybe give the right example?) 2 seconds later. You can check in with words as much as you like if your actions don't reflect those values it falls flat. OOC
I really would have liked a "I hear you, we can't do exactly that now but we can =do this other thing= and I will get the condoms/lube/etc and we will have the conversation about sex and past experiences."
The third was worse, the "still in the middle of grief wanting to fuck" for Ellis was perfect, accurate, in character.
And then, record scratch, let's decide in the heat of the moment (you don't decide things in the heat of the moment, that's bad consent) to ditch not only the condoms, but also the lube. Just spit on it. I mean... Ouch?
I expected Issaky to offer for a different kind of lube. Not all are sticky, some are watery (still better than spit!), some are really slippery like silicon lube, some are just higher quality and feel a lot better.
Did anyone have a conversation about exclusivity in this book? Is anyone seeing or fucking anyone else? I have no idea because we barely have any insight in Issaky's life or his values. I also expected a "oh gosh, sex can be so nice" fuck like bunnies phase from Ellis, so when it became obvious that the grief fuck was only the second time anal sex, it was weird.
2 stars
=== I'm done complaining about sex now ===
I might edit this when I finish the book completely, got stuck at 76% because of the sex.
Honestly, though, would I read another book by this author? Yes, yes I would, although I might pretend it's closed door.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 28, 2026
𝑨𝑹𝑪 𝑹𝑬𝑨𝑫
𝑩𝒐𝒐𝒌 𝑵𝒂𝒎𝒆: Still Here
𝑻𝒓𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒔: slow burn, grumpyxsunshine, autistic rep
𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 4/5 ⭐️ | 𝑺𝒑𝒊𝒄𝒆 𝑹𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒏𝒈: 4/5 🌶️
𝑹𝒆𝒂𝒅 𝑻𝒉𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒈𝒉: 📲 —> Kindle Unlimited
𝑭𝒂𝒗𝒐𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒆 𝑸𝒖𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒔: “It mattered—the kiss, of course it did. But what mattered more was this: being seen. Being met with care instead of impatience.”
“Ellis didn’t call it love. But he let himself think, for the first time, that this—whatever it was—might be something he could keep.”
𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘: Firstly, I want to say that I adored the caring nature of Issaky throughout the book. I also loved how much consent was implied, that it was a very important to them both. I do love the eventual banter that we get between to the two. It was a very quick and sweet read. However, there was a few format issues, reading through KU sometimes the main text would be gray, sometimes it would be white, and that threw me off a bit (Though, I am not blaming the author for that) . Another thing, while I do think the autistic rep in here was very well down , for the most part, I felt like sometimes they were quite a few inconsistency while reading. One example, is whenever Ellis finally returns to the store, and Jace is now working there, there was no freak out, no panic, something that I feel like Ellis would have been slightly put into a some kind of panic considering how the book constantly points out how much Ellis needs a routine, that changes overwhelm him, and this was a pretty big change I would say.
I do feel like some of the romance throughout the book did feel a little bit, lackluster, I just wanted a bit more detail to go into the dates they have and such.
Those were the things that really kept it from being a five star read for me.
August 19, 2026
When I first saw the number of pages, I assumed it would be very rushed and we wouldn’t get to know the characters well enough. I was very wrong.
I connected with Ellis so very much. From his alcohol mother to not knowing how to communicate when you have something you want to say. The author portrayed the effects of an alcoholic mother and being autistic so very well. There were moments I had to put my kindle down because it felt like reopening old wounds.
Issaky felt very clinical. I didn’t related to him very much and I do wish we got to see his pov more but that didn’t stop me from loving him. I loved how the author showed him getting upset at Ellis because his lack of communication. I loved that Issaky wasn’t able to just read Ellis mind. Autism is hard to navigate and is different for everyone.
Overall, I loved this book and will definitely read it again in the future!
I connected with Ellis so very much. From his alcohol mother to not knowing how to communicate when you have something you want to say. The author portrayed the effects of an alcoholic mother and being autistic so very well. There were moments I had to put my kindle down because it felt like reopening old wounds.
Issaky felt very clinical. I didn’t related to him very much and I do wish we got to see his pov more but that didn’t stop me from loving him. I loved how the author showed him getting upset at Ellis because his lack of communication. I loved that Issaky wasn’t able to just read Ellis mind. Autism is hard to navigate and is different for everyone.
Overall, I loved this book and will definitely read it again in the future!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 17, 2026
I don't even know where to start.
In a review of another book, I once criticized the fact that it would take more than 200 pages to build the depth needed to connect with the characters – and oh boy, how wrong I was. 🫠
The amount of tears I shed because I empathized so deeply and found these few but meaningful and profound words immensely moving. 🥹💕
The way consent is definitely written in capital letters. 😩🫴🏻
It was authentic, stirring, heartfelt, and painful – yet soothing and healing.
It offered a kind of hope that is rare. The author chose their words wonderfully, knowing exactly how to use them to affect their audience.
I'm excited to read the upcoming release Wanna Bet? as my very first ARC.
The Soft Places series has great potential to become one of my favourites. 🩵
In a review of another book, I once criticized the fact that it would take more than 200 pages to build the depth needed to connect with the characters – and oh boy, how wrong I was. 🫠
The amount of tears I shed because I empathized so deeply and found these few but meaningful and profound words immensely moving. 🥹💕
The way consent is definitely written in capital letters. 😩🫴🏻
It was authentic, stirring, heartfelt, and painful – yet soothing and healing.
It offered a kind of hope that is rare. The author chose their words wonderfully, knowing exactly how to use them to affect their audience.
I'm excited to read the upcoming release Wanna Bet? as my very first ARC.
The Soft Places series has great potential to become one of my favourites. 🩵
July 9, 2026
I was very lucky to receive an ARC of this book.
This book managed to be a light read that still held great depth. The author touches on serious topics and does so with grace.
Reading about blooming love full of both support and accountability is really heartwarming.
If you want a quick read with queer joy that still carries enough weight to take you from crying to laughing and back again this is it.
This book managed to be a light read that still held great depth. The author touches on serious topics and does so with grace.
Reading about blooming love full of both support and accountability is really heartwarming.
If you want a quick read with queer joy that still carries enough weight to take you from crying to laughing and back again this is it.
August 10, 2026
This was a sweet story of love in a record store which I related to because I found love in a record store many years ago. The characters were so sweet and gentle with each other. The grief that Ellis experienced felt so real and the patience and love that Issaky gave him was written so beautifully.
I read this in anticipation of an upcoming ARC that occurs in the same universe and I look forward to seeing these characters again in the next couple’s story.
I read this in anticipation of an upcoming ARC that occurs in the same universe and I look forward to seeing these characters again in the next couple’s story.
August 26, 2026
I read “Still Here” in preparation for my upcoming ARC “Wanna Bet?” I’m finding the Soft Places series to be fantastic ❤️. The book 📖 is beautifully 😍 written and the characters are portrayed with grace and sensitivity. For my first MM Romance, I couldn’t have started with a better read. I was able to make connections throughout the story, loved 🥰 the back drop of (Seattle), and truly felt characters were being seen and heard.
November 3, 2026
Quiet and strong.
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