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He Loved Him #3
When Ben Loved Jason
I never expected to love again. I planned to warm my hands on memories of Jace for the rest of my days. My well-meaning best friend has other ideas. She brought Tim back into my life. I’m not sure what to do with that. Part of me will always adore Tim… but I’m still married to Jace. Even though he’s gone. I only have one regret from the magical time we shared. Jason, the son we never got to adopt. He’s still out there somewhere. I know he needs me. So whether I’m ready or not, this is it. My heart is coming out of retirement!
When Ben Loved Jason is the emotional conclusion to the He Loved Him series, and Ben’s last chance at getting the happy ending he so desperately needs.
When Ben Loved Jason is the emotional conclusion to the He Loved Him series, and Ben’s last chance at getting the happy ending he so desperately needs.
328 pages, Paperback
First published September 16, 2026
About the author
Jay Bell
164 books2,245 followersJay Bell is a proud gay man and the award-winning author behind dozens of emotional and yet hopelessly optimistic stories. His best-selling book, Something Like Summer, spawned a series of heart-wrenching novels, a musically driven movie, and a lovingly drawn comic. When not crafting imaginary worlds, he occupies his free time with animals, art, action figures, and—most ardently—his husband Andreas. Jay is always dreaming up new stories about boys in love. If that sounds like your cup of tea, you can get the kettle boiling by visiting www.jaybellbooks.com.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
July 29, 2026
I read an early draft of this book that was available on the author's Patreon prior to publication.
I was having the worst (it only seemed that way because it has been a while since I suffered from one) book hangover after reading When Ben Loved Jace, which is interestingly a rare enough phenomenon for me that I tend to take note. Back in 2021, I started maintaining a list of books that made me feel this way — after I had what is probably THE worst book hangover I have ever suffered from — after finishing Any Way the Wind Blows. It was so bad that I re-read the book immediately after finishing it for the first time, which is an even rarer occurrence (this has only happened one other time, and that was back in 2017 — as I said, rarer). But, anyhow, I went to update my list, and that's when I realised that the last time I had a book hangover was two years ago in 2024, and that was after I finished reading When Ben Loved Tim, which just served to emphasise that I love these characters and this world so goddamn much.
It's been two years since I was last in this world, and I basically forgot how much these characters mean to me, so finally getting around to reading When Ben Loved Jace sucker punched me with just how much these characters mean to me. It all came rushing back the second I opened that book, and I was so overwhelmed that in hindsight, the book hangover makes complete sense. I wrote a diary entry about it; things were dire!
In an effort to extend my time in this world, I was browsing the author's website when I came across this fabulous artwork of Ben & Tim, and while I was writing my diary entry, I was struck with the idea of printing it out and pasting it inside my diary. So, I started looking for the highest possible quality, which led me to the author's Patreon — where I not only found said artwork, but six so-far-unpublished stories set in the Something Like series (incredible all of them) and the early draft of this book, and I couldn't possibly resist.
I have pledged to authors on Patreon before, but I generally avoid reading early drafts of books because I like the finality of a finished version. However, given my emotional state, I knew fairly early that this was one principle I was willing to abandon. Honestly, I almost regretted reading When Ben Loved Jace when I did because if I had just waited two more months, I could have just binged both of these books together. Like, I literally needed this book yesterday, and it felt like a minor miracle that I did get a version of it yesterday. So, I read it, and I'm so happy — ecstatic that I did!
I feel like people who are sensitive to typos would probably not enjoy early drafts of a book, but I would take a less refined version of this book yesterday than a two month wait in which I basically tried to fill the gaping hole in my heart any which way; a re-read of the Something Like series was starting to look very likely and honestly, it might still happen because I don't want to leave this world quite yet.
This book is so good. It is my favourite one in the entire series. The books in this series have just been one better than the other. This was honestly so good to read! I'm hopelessly smitten.
As is becoming a trend, I stayed up when I really shouldn't have been reading this book, but putting it down was a downright struggle at times that I failed spectacularly; it was so worth it that I'm not even cranky from the lack of sleep.
Unlike the other books in this series, this one feels the least like a retelling of a story I have already read before. Let me try to explain this better. This series does have differences from the Something Like books (and the differences are always so fun to encounter), but the story beats are very similar, and we have already experienced the story told in the first two books from multiple POVs. We might not have gotten Ben's specific POV for some scenes, but we do have those scenes from either Tim's or Jace's POV and changing POVs doesn't change the dynamic of the scene, but it really does when it comes to this book.
Mostly because we have only experienced this part of the story from Jason's POV, and telling this story from Ben's POV adds a dynamic that we couldn't possibly have gotten from Jason's. Think about it: when you change the POV of a scene we previously encountered from, say, Tim's perspective, we are still getting a boyfriend/husband's perspective either way, but telling Jason's story from Ben's POV adds a parental dynamic that I feel was ripe for exploration, given that Spring is told from Jason's POV.
In this book, we get to see Ben struggle with what it means to parent a young adult on the verge of adulthood and beyond. I also love that we got to see Ben experience parenting an adult, something that is woefully unexplored in literature, especially from a parent's POV. This book really felt like it was adding so much more richness and texture to the story we had only experienced from Jason's POV.
This is a five-star read for me, and I really wanted to get my thoughts down while the story was still fresh in my mind, and I really look forward to reading the final version of this book in September.
Ben & Tim mean a lot to me, and if I had to choose a book to end their story on, I would choose this one because GAHHHH getting to experience Ben's love for Tim throughout this series has been the absolute highlight of my week.
I was having the worst (it only seemed that way because it has been a while since I suffered from one) book hangover after reading When Ben Loved Jace, which is interestingly a rare enough phenomenon for me that I tend to take note. Back in 2021, I started maintaining a list of books that made me feel this way — after I had what is probably THE worst book hangover I have ever suffered from — after finishing Any Way the Wind Blows. It was so bad that I re-read the book immediately after finishing it for the first time, which is an even rarer occurrence (this has only happened one other time, and that was back in 2017 — as I said, rarer). But, anyhow, I went to update my list, and that's when I realised that the last time I had a book hangover was two years ago in 2024, and that was after I finished reading When Ben Loved Tim, which just served to emphasise that I love these characters and this world so goddamn much.
It's been two years since I was last in this world, and I basically forgot how much these characters mean to me, so finally getting around to reading When Ben Loved Jace sucker punched me with just how much these characters mean to me. It all came rushing back the second I opened that book, and I was so overwhelmed that in hindsight, the book hangover makes complete sense. I wrote a diary entry about it; things were dire!
In an effort to extend my time in this world, I was browsing the author's website when I came across this fabulous artwork of Ben & Tim, and while I was writing my diary entry, I was struck with the idea of printing it out and pasting it inside my diary. So, I started looking for the highest possible quality, which led me to the author's Patreon — where I not only found said artwork, but six so-far-unpublished stories set in the Something Like series (incredible all of them) and the early draft of this book, and I couldn't possibly resist.
I have pledged to authors on Patreon before, but I generally avoid reading early drafts of books because I like the finality of a finished version. However, given my emotional state, I knew fairly early that this was one principle I was willing to abandon. Honestly, I almost regretted reading When Ben Loved Jace when I did because if I had just waited two more months, I could have just binged both of these books together. Like, I literally needed this book yesterday, and it felt like a minor miracle that I did get a version of it yesterday. So, I read it, and I'm so happy — ecstatic that I did!
I feel like people who are sensitive to typos would probably not enjoy early drafts of a book, but I would take a less refined version of this book yesterday than a two month wait in which I basically tried to fill the gaping hole in my heart any which way; a re-read of the Something Like series was starting to look very likely and honestly, it might still happen because I don't want to leave this world quite yet.
This book is so good. It is my favourite one in the entire series. The books in this series have just been one better than the other. This was honestly so good to read! I'm hopelessly smitten.
As is becoming a trend, I stayed up when I really shouldn't have been reading this book, but putting it down was a downright struggle at times that I failed spectacularly; it was so worth it that I'm not even cranky from the lack of sleep.
Unlike the other books in this series, this one feels the least like a retelling of a story I have already read before. Let me try to explain this better. This series does have differences from the Something Like books (and the differences are always so fun to encounter), but the story beats are very similar, and we have already experienced the story told in the first two books from multiple POVs. We might not have gotten Ben's specific POV for some scenes, but we do have those scenes from either Tim's or Jace's POV and changing POVs doesn't change the dynamic of the scene, but it really does when it comes to this book.
Mostly because we have only experienced this part of the story from Jason's POV, and telling this story from Ben's POV adds a dynamic that we couldn't possibly have gotten from Jason's. Think about it: when you change the POV of a scene we previously encountered from, say, Tim's perspective, we are still getting a boyfriend/husband's perspective either way, but telling Jason's story from Ben's POV adds a parental dynamic that I feel was ripe for exploration, given that Spring is told from Jason's POV.
In this book, we get to see Ben struggle with what it means to parent a young adult on the verge of adulthood and beyond. I also love that we got to see Ben experience parenting an adult, something that is woefully unexplored in literature, especially from a parent's POV. This book really felt like it was adding so much more richness and texture to the story we had only experienced from Jason's POV.
This is a five-star read for me, and I really wanted to get my thoughts down while the story was still fresh in my mind, and I really look forward to reading the final version of this book in September.
Ben & Tim mean a lot to me, and if I had to choose a book to end their story on, I would choose this one because GAHHHH getting to experience Ben's love for Tim throughout this series has been the absolute highlight of my week.
October 20, 2026
we were so shortsighted, drunk on beginnings without ever considering the inevitable end.
And I was just so used to hiding who I really am, even from someone I could trust. But here’s the thing: Love doesn’t work that way. You’ve gotta be open. You’ve gotta take chances.
“Relationships are complicated. Nobody gets it right on the first try. Or even the second or third.”... “The important part is to keep trying. That way you can put your experience to use. When I look back on all of my failed relationships—even those that only lasted weeks or months—I learned something. Like what I truly wanted in a partner, or what I needed to work on personally. I wouldn’t be as happy as I am now if I hadn’t gone through those experiences.
“You can move on without letting go of the past. People think you can’t, but it’s possible. I know it is.”
And I was just so used to hiding who I really am, even from someone I could trust. But here’s the thing: Love doesn’t work that way. You’ve gotta be open. You’ve gotta take chances.
“Relationships are complicated. Nobody gets it right on the first try. Or even the second or third.”... “The important part is to keep trying. That way you can put your experience to use. When I look back on all of my failed relationships—even those that only lasted weeks or months—I learned something. Like what I truly wanted in a partner, or what I needed to work on personally. I wouldn’t be as happy as I am now if I hadn’t gone through those experiences.
“You can move on without letting go of the past. People think you can’t, but it’s possible. I know it is.”
September 29, 2026
I love Ben and Tim with my whole heart. I could read them... so many times. I literally cannot see anything wrong with them. Ever. I just wish I didn't have to read about William because that guy I HATE and that ruined the book so much for me. When Jay said slme things were changed I hoped William would be gone lol.
October 6, 2026
Didn’t Want It To End
I did NOT want this book to end. Sooooooo good. This whole series is pure love. Thank you for this world of Ben and company.
I did NOT want this book to end. Sooooooo good. This whole series is pure love. Thank you for this world of Ben and company.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews