What do you think?
Rate this book
Queer as Folk #3
Always Have, Always Will
This popular new line of books follows your favorite Queer as Folk characters on a riveting journey of sexual self-discovery with stories about the beloved characters from the record-breaking Showtime series. USA Today raves, "There's never been anything else like it on TV"—and there's never been a book series like this.
Life after college brings a lot more freedom—and a lot of new problems. Brian must trade his status as BMOC for the bottom rung of the corporate ladder, while Michael, who has long given up on college, now wonders if he's also given up on his dreams. Emmett visits Pittsburgh to celebrate the spectacular launch of his fashion marketing company in Los Angeles (or so everyone thinks), while Deb adds gay rights advocacy to her juggling act of working at the diner and taking care of her ailing brother, Vic. Like Lindsay—who experiences life as a struggling artist and true love for the first time—Deb's about to get more than she bargained for.
Add in a secret romance, sexually charged office politics, an over-the-top drag ball, and the arrival of new friends and lovers, and our little gang is tested enough to qualify for postgraduate credit. More than ever before, Michael and Brian find their friendship challenged. As their choices tear them apart, Brian sees that it's Michael he's always loved, and that he always will. But will he tell him before it's too late?
Life after college brings a lot more freedom—and a lot of new problems. Brian must trade his status as BMOC for the bottom rung of the corporate ladder, while Michael, who has long given up on college, now wonders if he's also given up on his dreams. Emmett visits Pittsburgh to celebrate the spectacular launch of his fashion marketing company in Los Angeles (or so everyone thinks), while Deb adds gay rights advocacy to her juggling act of working at the diner and taking care of her ailing brother, Vic. Like Lindsay—who experiences life as a struggling artist and true love for the first time—Deb's about to get more than she bargained for.
Add in a secret romance, sexually charged office politics, an over-the-top drag ball, and the arrival of new friends and lovers, and our little gang is tested enough to qualify for postgraduate credit. More than ever before, Michael and Brian find their friendship challenged. As their choices tear them apart, Brian sees that it's Michael he's always loved, and that he always will. But will he tell him before it's too late?
278 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2004
4 people are currently reading
132 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
September 12, 2021
Soooo for a weird reason book 2 got sent back to book depository meaning that i didn't get it but i will someday reorder it because fuck it i want it.
It's a bit of a mess and way too long.
It's a bit of a mess and way too long.
March 22, 2015
This novel is the third book, based on a series, that was popular on Showtime. When the series ended there was still much story left to be told. Always Have, Always Will did a great job at capturing the uniqueness of each character. As I was reading it, I could actually hear their voices & picture their facial expressions. I highly recommend it for fans of the series.
September 14, 2012
For The Dedicated QAF Fan Only -
I'm a big Queer As Folk fan.
I enjoyed the show and its characters, its depiction of gay life and the gay community.
It should therefore be no surprise that I was happy when it was announced that there would be a series of books based on Queer As Folk. This book is the third in that series of novels. "Every Nine Seconds" being the first and "Never Tear Us Apart" being the second.
As with the previous novels, I enjoyed this story and plot. Its not a difficult read and the author again succeeds in capturing the "voices" of most of the shows defined characters (In this novel, we are introduced to Melanie and Ted, rounding out the gang as we first met them in Season One of QAF).
The best part of reading this book, again as with the others, is that the story incorporates existing storylines of the television series, referencing events and foreshadowing character development. This gives the reader a bit of the "We're In On It" feel. I like that.
This book begins with a bit of a time gap jump. "Never Tear Us Apart" is now three years in the past. Thats a pretty big jump and honestly I wish they'd have taken some time to delve into the issues that had to have happened in that span. For one thing, Michael has dropped out of college and little attention is paid to very monumental event in his life.
We begin this novel at Brian's college graduation, with our hero about to begin his career life in the big bad world of advertising. Michael is working at the Big Q, and Debbie is helping Uncle Vic with his health issues. Emmett is back, as well as is Lindsay (for those looking or waiting for the big sex scene with Brian and Lindsay, we are spared - THANKFULLY!).
The introduction of Melanie and Ted doesn't seem as "easy" as the introduction of other characters in the previous novels, and we're asked to rely on what we know of their characters from the show a great deal.
As presented here - Ted is the shy puppy dog and Melanie, well, I'm rather disappointed in her portrayal here. She's uncharacteristically boring.
My main problem with this novel is that the author hasn't seemed to capture Melanie and Lindsay as we know them. The others are very well defined and you can easily make the connection from these early years to the people they've become on the television show - this is not true of Mel and Lindz. Shout-outs to Michelle Clunie and Thea Gill for taking their characters on the show to a higher plane with not much screen time, but unfortunately their acting talent is not visible here. Make no mistake though, it's the actresses, and our knowledge of them, that is the only thing that works in this book with regards to their "characters".
Ted has come a long way on the show, and this is him in a very immature place in his life. He's an interesting character and is introduced here via Melanie. We are persented with his early infatuation with Michael (remember season one?) and it is accurate and on the money. I'm interested in seeing him progress in the novels to the character we know now.
Emmett's storyline here is sort of out of the blue. He's returned from Los Angeles with worries and secrets of his own.
Brian, perhaps the most complex Queer As Folk character, is written very well.
All in all, the story and the characters are what we are here for and this book delivers for the most part.
This book is fun to read. It's a great beach book, easy to pick up and fall right into.
I recommend this book, as I do the first two novels, as a fun and easy read for the Queer As Folk fan. Its entertaining and thats what counts.
If you're a fan, you'll like the book. Thats basically what it comes down to.
I'm a big Queer As Folk fan.
I enjoyed the show and its characters, its depiction of gay life and the gay community.
It should therefore be no surprise that I was happy when it was announced that there would be a series of books based on Queer As Folk. This book is the third in that series of novels. "Every Nine Seconds" being the first and "Never Tear Us Apart" being the second.
As with the previous novels, I enjoyed this story and plot. Its not a difficult read and the author again succeeds in capturing the "voices" of most of the shows defined characters (In this novel, we are introduced to Melanie and Ted, rounding out the gang as we first met them in Season One of QAF).
The best part of reading this book, again as with the others, is that the story incorporates existing storylines of the television series, referencing events and foreshadowing character development. This gives the reader a bit of the "We're In On It" feel. I like that.
This book begins with a bit of a time gap jump. "Never Tear Us Apart" is now three years in the past. Thats a pretty big jump and honestly I wish they'd have taken some time to delve into the issues that had to have happened in that span. For one thing, Michael has dropped out of college and little attention is paid to very monumental event in his life.
We begin this novel at Brian's college graduation, with our hero about to begin his career life in the big bad world of advertising. Michael is working at the Big Q, and Debbie is helping Uncle Vic with his health issues. Emmett is back, as well as is Lindsay (for those looking or waiting for the big sex scene with Brian and Lindsay, we are spared - THANKFULLY!).
The introduction of Melanie and Ted doesn't seem as "easy" as the introduction of other characters in the previous novels, and we're asked to rely on what we know of their characters from the show a great deal.
As presented here - Ted is the shy puppy dog and Melanie, well, I'm rather disappointed in her portrayal here. She's uncharacteristically boring.
My main problem with this novel is that the author hasn't seemed to capture Melanie and Lindsay as we know them. The others are very well defined and you can easily make the connection from these early years to the people they've become on the television show - this is not true of Mel and Lindz. Shout-outs to Michelle Clunie and Thea Gill for taking their characters on the show to a higher plane with not much screen time, but unfortunately their acting talent is not visible here. Make no mistake though, it's the actresses, and our knowledge of them, that is the only thing that works in this book with regards to their "characters".
Ted has come a long way on the show, and this is him in a very immature place in his life. He's an interesting character and is introduced here via Melanie. We are persented with his early infatuation with Michael (remember season one?) and it is accurate and on the money. I'm interested in seeing him progress in the novels to the character we know now.
Emmett's storyline here is sort of out of the blue. He's returned from Los Angeles with worries and secrets of his own.
Brian, perhaps the most complex Queer As Folk character, is written very well.
All in all, the story and the characters are what we are here for and this book delivers for the most part.
This book is fun to read. It's a great beach book, easy to pick up and fall right into.
I recommend this book, as I do the first two novels, as a fun and easy read for the Queer As Folk fan. Its entertaining and thats what counts.
If you're a fan, you'll like the book. Thats basically what it comes down to.
September 1, 2013
My favorite in the entire series. That's backward for me as I begin to grow bored with series books, but this one is amazing and you see great dynamics that aren't as explored in the other two.
April 11, 2021
That was a load of Bullhonky, horseshit if you will.
Starts off with a three year jump into the future; Mikey hates his life, Brian is successful (big shocker there), Lindsay is single and isn’t interested in finding someone new, and Emmett is a goddamn mess.
We get introduced to two new characters Melanie and Ted, but the introduction isn’t slick, it’s not subtle, if you haven’t seen the show you’re left to try and figure out how they fit into the story.
Emmetts whole story in this wasn’t needed. Ted was just the backseat gay to Melanie’s front, and Brian spent the entire book in love with someone that wasn’t Michael.
Michael had so much going on in his life that we should’ve seen more of it but it was cast over as if it wasn’t important. The ending was even more shit, Brian doesn’t realize until the last 30 pages that, oh yeah Michael, I love him. It’s so fucking dumb, not to mention toxic as hell.
Through out this series I ended hoping that Michael just moved on because of the toxicity of Brian in his life over the years and the books, and this book literally wasn’t any better. In fact it was worse!
I don’t know what the authors intended to do with this novel, but whatever they planned it wasn’t needed.
Just give me the three years we missed, but only Michael.
Starts off with a three year jump into the future; Mikey hates his life, Brian is successful (big shocker there), Lindsay is single and isn’t interested in finding someone new, and Emmett is a goddamn mess.
We get introduced to two new characters Melanie and Ted, but the introduction isn’t slick, it’s not subtle, if you haven’t seen the show you’re left to try and figure out how they fit into the story.
Emmetts whole story in this wasn’t needed. Ted was just the backseat gay to Melanie’s front, and Brian spent the entire book in love with someone that wasn’t Michael.
Michael had so much going on in his life that we should’ve seen more of it but it was cast over as if it wasn’t important. The ending was even more shit, Brian doesn’t realize until the last 30 pages that, oh yeah Michael, I love him. It’s so fucking dumb, not to mention toxic as hell.
Through out this series I ended hoping that Michael just moved on because of the toxicity of Brian in his life over the years and the books, and this book literally wasn’t any better. In fact it was worse!
I don’t know what the authors intended to do with this novel, but whatever they planned it wasn’t needed.
Just give me the three years we missed, but only Michael.
May 12, 2018
Reading Challenge 2018 - Pinterest: book you learned about because of this challenge. What a great ending to the trilogy. It was nice to learn how all the characters got to the point where the television series started. The voices were just like the series and the characters came alive with their quick wit and sarcasm. I only wish there had been more books.
July 28, 2020
Semi equal to a fanfiction.
November 3, 2012
Entertaining read that fans of the series should love. Some really odd and awkward sentence structures that made reading a little difficult.
July 26, 2022
once i finished the trilogy
i went and rewatched the series all over
i went and rewatched the series all over
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews