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Finding Gunnar
Gunnar
He has no idea who he is. What he does know is that he was stabbed, shot, and crushed under a wall when his unit was attacked when he was in the Army. Now, he’s just trying to find his way. He’s fucking angry and tired of dealing with his poor excuse of a life and am doing his best to drown his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. The pieces of his forgotten life are reappearing and they terrify him more than the uncertain future ahead…
Bowen
He’s a lot of things, but what he’s not, is a babysitter. He has his own shit to deal with, let alone take care of a guy who barely knows who he is. Gunnar is his brother’s best friend, and Bowen's former lover. So when his brother asks for a favor, he can’t say no.
What he wasn’t expecting was the feelings that started happening when Gunnar needed his help. The vulnerability in his voice tugged at Bowen’s heart. Although Gunnar has no memory of who he is, Bowen’s getting glimpses of the man he used to be. He’s hoping Gunnar will let Bowen help him find himself again. Otherwise, Bowen’s afraid he’ll be lost forever.
He has no idea who he is. What he does know is that he was stabbed, shot, and crushed under a wall when his unit was attacked when he was in the Army. Now, he’s just trying to find his way. He’s fucking angry and tired of dealing with his poor excuse of a life and am doing his best to drown his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle. The pieces of his forgotten life are reappearing and they terrify him more than the uncertain future ahead…
Bowen
He’s a lot of things, but what he’s not, is a babysitter. He has his own shit to deal with, let alone take care of a guy who barely knows who he is. Gunnar is his brother’s best friend, and Bowen's former lover. So when his brother asks for a favor, he can’t say no.
What he wasn’t expecting was the feelings that started happening when Gunnar needed his help. The vulnerability in his voice tugged at Bowen’s heart. Although Gunnar has no memory of who he is, Bowen’s getting glimpses of the man he used to be. He’s hoping Gunnar will let Bowen help him find himself again. Otherwise, Bowen’s afraid he’ll be lost forever.
215 pages, Kindle Edition
First published October 4, 2017
53 people are currently reading
116 people want to read
About the author
Andria Large
34 books878 followersAndria Large is a traditionally published and self-published contemporary romance author. She doesn’t always follow the rules, so you will find both M/F and M/M books mixed into some of her series.
Henry from the Beck Brothers Series was the first book she self-published. Not expecting anything to really come of it, she was shocked to find the book caught wind and readers were asking for more. Writing books was not something she had set out to do. She wrote stories for herself, as a hobby. Now that it has become her career, she wouldn’t have it any other way.
Andria grew up in Philadelphia, but now lives in New Jersey with her two daughters and wonderfully supportive husband, who frequently accompanies her at signings. The events that she attends every year are one of her favorite things about being an author. She loves meeting and conversing with her readers, but also enjoys finding new ones.
Andria considers herself open and friendly, so feel free to send her a message if you have a question or just want to chat.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews
October 18, 2017
WOW I loved this story it felt so raw and real. I can't even imagine to be standing straight after everything this poor soul had to endure.
February 17, 2023
What a disappointment! This started out being really good (with some small exceptions – more on that later) but at the halfway mark, it disintegrated into a complete mess. I’m actually shocked at how different the two halves of the book were and it feels as if the two halves were written by different people.
The big positive in the first half was how Gunnar’s traumatic brain injury (TBI) was portrayed. He’s dealing with amnesia, multiple injuries, horrible scarring on his head and having lost a lot of muscle mass from being in a coma for weeks. Prior to his injuries, he was a stubborn, arrogant ass who was accustomed to being the top dog in any scenario so having him be in a position where he’s in pain, weak, confused and having to rely on others for basic things leads to tons of frustration for him. In addition, the TBI also results in severe mood swings and combined with his anger and frustration, this makes Gunnar extremely difficult to deal with. He would have violent outbursts and moments later, he’d be a cheerful flirt and a short while later, he’d be childish and pouty before becoming angry and aggressive again. Making things more difficult is that it’s clear that Gunnar isn’t doing any of it on purpose and that the mood swings are due to his TBI mixing with his frustration.
His main caregivers are Griffin (his best friend and former military comrade) and Bowen (Griffin’s brother and Gunnar’s ex-boyfriend) and the author did a great job demonstrating how heart breaking and frustrating it was to take care of somebody in Gunnar’s position. I really liked that both of them had pre-existing relationships with Gunnar because it added a comfort and familiarity into their interactions with Gunnar. Even though Gunnar didn’t know them, Griffin and Bowen knew him so they knew exactly what behavior was normal for Gunnar and what behavior was due to the TBI or his other injuries. This also meant that the author avoided the type of drama that would occur if a stranger were dealing with Gunnar. Both Griffin and Bowen wouldn’t take Gunnar’s temper tantrums personally but they wouldn’t hesitate to push back if he was really crossing lines. Also, they knew what kind of things Gunnar liked and didn’t like so even if Gunnar didn’t remember these things, Griffin and Bowen would use these things to keep Gunnar happy and calm. One of my favorite scenes was . I love things like that because that’s what love is all about.
I also liked the slow pacing of Gunnar’s recovery in the first half. The author didn’t rush things and had Gunnar slowly regaining his strength and his independence. Having Bowen there every step of the way allowed for plenty of wonderful bonding moments between them but it also meant Bowen was Gunnar’s constant cheerleader, celebrating every pound that Gunnar put on and every tiny thing that Gunnar managed to do on his own. Gunnar feeling extremely self-conscious about the horrific scar on his head was also well done. It’s something he struggles with throughout the entire book and I found that realistic. At the same time, I loved the small amount of progress that Gunnar did have regarding the scarring. Specifically, .
Another part of his recovery that I liked was how Gunnar’s amnesia was handled in the first half. Due to Bowen and Griffin doing their best to keep Gunnar’s day to day life calm and routine, his lack of memories didn’t have a negative impact on him 24/7, which helped him stay optimistic about things. Another interesting side effect of having this safe and comfortable blank slate existence was that Gunnar decided pretty quickly to make new memories and figure out new things about himself, rather than dwelling on the things he didn’t remember. As a result, he decides to be open about his sexuality and he doesn’t force himself to be the grumpy, closed off military badass that he used to be. But at the same time, it was really wonderful when Gunnar did get tiny bits of his memory back. This would happen in random little bursts that seemed very realistic. For example, . These tiny memory recoveries were done so well and I got as excited as Gunnar when he realized he’d remembered something and he’d go celebrate with Bowen.
Another thing I appreciated was that this might be a pretty typical jock/nerd pairing on the surface but the author flipped the common stereotypes associated with each other character on their heads. Gunnar was the big, tough military guy but after deciding to be a new Gunnar, he’s flirty and cheerful (not counting his mood swings, which weren’t really his fault). On the other hand, Bowen is a glasses-wearing, video game developing nerd but he’s also kind of a grump and he’s the dominant one in the bedroom. Bowen was also the same size as Gunnar and that meant he was able to physically help Gunnar in the early weeks of his recovery, which was great. I really liked these two as a couple. I love second chance romances anyway and I liked the unique setup of this one. I was a little disappointed that Gunnar didn’t have any automatic feelings towards Bowen after seeing him again (I don’t mean sexual attraction but I thought Gunnar would feel a sense of comfort or safety from being around Bowen which would have been cool because he wouldn’t have understood where those feelings were coming from). But I loved how clear it was that Bowen never stopped loving him and having them resume their relationship pretty quickly fit perfectly into the story.
Unfortunately, everything fell apart in the second half. And I mean everything. It almost felt like a different author had written the second half. Warning: the rest of this is me ranting because as you can hopefully tell, the first half was awesome and I’m pissed that the author fished the second half out of a dumpster.
The biggest problem was that the pacing suddenly shifts into warpspeed and it doesn’t ever slow down. It felt like the author had originally planned to include a lot more things into the story but had forgotten about them until the halfway mark and suddenly had to rush to cram everything in.
So remember I said that Gunnar’s memory recovery was done very slowly in small bits and pieces? Yeah, that disappears.
What about Gunnar’s other missing memories, you ask?
As for Gunnar’s other missing memories, like his time in the military or his previous relationships with other people – apparently nobody (including the author) cares because it’s not mentioned.
Making all of this rushed pacing even worse was that the writing quality became garbage. The author didn’t want to have realistic dialog or conversations that would naturally lead to certain conclusions. No, no, that would take too long. So characters were being overly dramatic, saying ridiculous things, rushing through things at break neck speed and everything was so over the top that I couldn’t take anything seriously. In addition, it felt like the author had a quota to meet in terms of the sex scenes because so many non-sex scenes were ridiculously rushed, only for them to end with a lengthy sex scene. In particular, I hated having Bowen and Gunnar skip over important conversations only for the scene to finish with yet another sex scene. For example, . What the hell happened to the meaningful conversations that these two had in the first half?! Where the hell did the emotional, well paced plot go?!?
The sad truth was that the majority of the things in the second half weren’t necessary.
I had a lot of other minor issues throughout the book:
One problem was the strange dialog tags. The author is one of those people who was told at one point that using ‘said’ or not using dialog tags is a crime, so they constantly used different dialog tags for every line of dialog. But even worse, some of the dialog tags were absurd. Characters chirped, squealed and squawked. I don’t mean a literal squeal – that would be fine. But I mean the character would say something and the author would say the type of speech was ‘squealing’. Even if this is grammatically correct, it’s dumb.
Another issue was that the story takes place in Texas and all the characters have a Texan accent. Unfortunately, the way the author conveyed this accent was just by removing the ‘g’ from many words (ex. nothin’) and that’s it. I love accents in stories and this lazy approach was irritating. Oh, and having them drink iced tea from time to time is pretty much the bare minimum you can do when it comes to including Southern cuisine.
A much bigger problem was the ridiculous misogyny connected to Griffin’s girlfriend, Eva. This poor woman had no purpose in the book other than looking pretty and acting sweet. Literally. Whenever she was on page, the other three male characters (Bowen, Griffin, Gunnar) would mentally think about how pretty, beautiful and gorgeous she is and how sweet and cute her accent is. They also note that she looks beautiful without wearing make up. OMG – ALERT THE PRESS! WE HAVE A WOMAN WHO LOOKS BEAUTIFUL WITHOUT MAKE UP!! Making this much worse is that she doesn’t contribute anything meaningful to the story. She barely says anything during conversations and she doesn’t do anything meaningful for Gunnar or anybody else. She just shows up to be a pretty little doll who acts almost child-like while the boys treat her like a pretty piece of decoration sitting on a shelf. Another thing that bothered me was that the author used those ridiculous ‘hysterical-type’ dialog tags for the female characters more than for the men (squawking, squealing etc). The whole thing was disgusting and I can’t believe this book was written in 2017. If an author can’t figure out how to handle female characters in their MM romance then don’t include any! It’s really that simple.
I also hated Griffin being in this book. There was absolutely no reason for him to be in this. At the beginning, I thought Griffin being there would be important because of him having served in the military with Gunnar. I thought maybe that connection would be important during Gunnar’s recovery. But nope. Griffin is just there and even though he doesn’t serve a meaningful role in the narrative, the author is obsessed with the guy and constantly forces him into the story. Gunnar was living at his house and the reason he didn’t move in with Bowen during his recovery was most likely because the author wanted the easy excuse to have Griffin show up in random scenes and do nothing important except be there. At one point, there were a few ridiculous chapters where Bowen and Gunnar would constantly call Griffin to catch him up on what they’re doing and ask him advice about situations which they should have discussed themselves. I thought maybe there would be some drama regarding Griffin not having known that Gunnar was gay or about his first relationship with Bowen, but Griffin doesn’t have any issues with any of these things. So at the end of the day, Gunnar was a pointless character and him showing up with his pointless girlfriend all the time was incredibly annoying.
Overall, it absolutely crushes me to say that I don’t recommend this for anybody who wants the issues introduced in the first half to be treated seriously and resolved properly. The story had so much potential and I desperately wish the author had continued on the path they were on in the first half and that they had removed Griffin and his girlfriend entirely. Unfortunately, the first half left so much open and the second half was such a mess that it’s not a satisfying read for somebody who wants Gunnar’s TBI and amnesia dealt with properly.
The big positive in the first half was how Gunnar’s traumatic brain injury (TBI) was portrayed. He’s dealing with amnesia, multiple injuries, horrible scarring on his head and having lost a lot of muscle mass from being in a coma for weeks. Prior to his injuries, he was a stubborn, arrogant ass who was accustomed to being the top dog in any scenario so having him be in a position where he’s in pain, weak, confused and having to rely on others for basic things leads to tons of frustration for him. In addition, the TBI also results in severe mood swings and combined with his anger and frustration, this makes Gunnar extremely difficult to deal with. He would have violent outbursts and moments later, he’d be a cheerful flirt and a short while later, he’d be childish and pouty before becoming angry and aggressive again. Making things more difficult is that it’s clear that Gunnar isn’t doing any of it on purpose and that the mood swings are due to his TBI mixing with his frustration.
His main caregivers are Griffin (his best friend and former military comrade) and Bowen (Griffin’s brother and Gunnar’s ex-boyfriend) and the author did a great job demonstrating how heart breaking and frustrating it was to take care of somebody in Gunnar’s position. I really liked that both of them had pre-existing relationships with Gunnar because it added a comfort and familiarity into their interactions with Gunnar. Even though Gunnar didn’t know them, Griffin and Bowen knew him so they knew exactly what behavior was normal for Gunnar and what behavior was due to the TBI or his other injuries. This also meant that the author avoided the type of drama that would occur if a stranger were dealing with Gunnar. Both Griffin and Bowen wouldn’t take Gunnar’s temper tantrums personally but they wouldn’t hesitate to push back if he was really crossing lines. Also, they knew what kind of things Gunnar liked and didn’t like so even if Gunnar didn’t remember these things, Griffin and Bowen would use these things to keep Gunnar happy and calm. One of my favorite scenes was . I love things like that because that’s what love is all about.
I also liked the slow pacing of Gunnar’s recovery in the first half. The author didn’t rush things and had Gunnar slowly regaining his strength and his independence. Having Bowen there every step of the way allowed for plenty of wonderful bonding moments between them but it also meant Bowen was Gunnar’s constant cheerleader, celebrating every pound that Gunnar put on and every tiny thing that Gunnar managed to do on his own. Gunnar feeling extremely self-conscious about the horrific scar on his head was also well done. It’s something he struggles with throughout the entire book and I found that realistic. At the same time, I loved the small amount of progress that Gunnar did have regarding the scarring. Specifically, .
Another part of his recovery that I liked was how Gunnar’s amnesia was handled in the first half. Due to Bowen and Griffin doing their best to keep Gunnar’s day to day life calm and routine, his lack of memories didn’t have a negative impact on him 24/7, which helped him stay optimistic about things. Another interesting side effect of having this safe and comfortable blank slate existence was that Gunnar decided pretty quickly to make new memories and figure out new things about himself, rather than dwelling on the things he didn’t remember. As a result, he decides to be open about his sexuality and he doesn’t force himself to be the grumpy, closed off military badass that he used to be. But at the same time, it was really wonderful when Gunnar did get tiny bits of his memory back. This would happen in random little bursts that seemed very realistic. For example, . These tiny memory recoveries were done so well and I got as excited as Gunnar when he realized he’d remembered something and he’d go celebrate with Bowen.
Another thing I appreciated was that this might be a pretty typical jock/nerd pairing on the surface but the author flipped the common stereotypes associated with each other character on their heads. Gunnar was the big, tough military guy but after deciding to be a new Gunnar, he’s flirty and cheerful (not counting his mood swings, which weren’t really his fault). On the other hand, Bowen is a glasses-wearing, video game developing nerd but he’s also kind of a grump and he’s the dominant one in the bedroom. Bowen was also the same size as Gunnar and that meant he was able to physically help Gunnar in the early weeks of his recovery, which was great. I really liked these two as a couple. I love second chance romances anyway and I liked the unique setup of this one. I was a little disappointed that Gunnar didn’t have any automatic feelings towards Bowen after seeing him again (I don’t mean sexual attraction but I thought Gunnar would feel a sense of comfort or safety from being around Bowen which would have been cool because he wouldn’t have understood where those feelings were coming from). But I loved how clear it was that Bowen never stopped loving him and having them resume their relationship pretty quickly fit perfectly into the story.
Unfortunately, everything fell apart in the second half. And I mean everything. It almost felt like a different author had written the second half. Warning: the rest of this is me ranting because as you can hopefully tell, the first half was awesome and I’m pissed that the author fished the second half out of a dumpster.
The biggest problem was that the pacing suddenly shifts into warpspeed and it doesn’t ever slow down. It felt like the author had originally planned to include a lot more things into the story but had forgotten about them until the halfway mark and suddenly had to rush to cram everything in.
So remember I said that Gunnar’s memory recovery was done very slowly in small bits and pieces? Yeah, that disappears.
What about Gunnar’s other missing memories, you ask?
As for Gunnar’s other missing memories, like his time in the military or his previous relationships with other people – apparently nobody (including the author) cares because it’s not mentioned.
Making all of this rushed pacing even worse was that the writing quality became garbage. The author didn’t want to have realistic dialog or conversations that would naturally lead to certain conclusions. No, no, that would take too long. So characters were being overly dramatic, saying ridiculous things, rushing through things at break neck speed and everything was so over the top that I couldn’t take anything seriously. In addition, it felt like the author had a quota to meet in terms of the sex scenes because so many non-sex scenes were ridiculously rushed, only for them to end with a lengthy sex scene. In particular, I hated having Bowen and Gunnar skip over important conversations only for the scene to finish with yet another sex scene. For example, . What the hell happened to the meaningful conversations that these two had in the first half?! Where the hell did the emotional, well paced plot go?!?
The sad truth was that the majority of the things in the second half weren’t necessary.
I had a lot of other minor issues throughout the book:
One problem was the strange dialog tags. The author is one of those people who was told at one point that using ‘said’ or not using dialog tags is a crime, so they constantly used different dialog tags for every line of dialog. But even worse, some of the dialog tags were absurd. Characters chirped, squealed and squawked. I don’t mean a literal squeal – that would be fine. But I mean the character would say something and the author would say the type of speech was ‘squealing’. Even if this is grammatically correct, it’s dumb.
Another issue was that the story takes place in Texas and all the characters have a Texan accent. Unfortunately, the way the author conveyed this accent was just by removing the ‘g’ from many words (ex. nothin’) and that’s it. I love accents in stories and this lazy approach was irritating. Oh, and having them drink iced tea from time to time is pretty much the bare minimum you can do when it comes to including Southern cuisine.
A much bigger problem was the ridiculous misogyny connected to Griffin’s girlfriend, Eva. This poor woman had no purpose in the book other than looking pretty and acting sweet. Literally. Whenever she was on page, the other three male characters (Bowen, Griffin, Gunnar) would mentally think about how pretty, beautiful and gorgeous she is and how sweet and cute her accent is. They also note that she looks beautiful without wearing make up. OMG – ALERT THE PRESS! WE HAVE A WOMAN WHO LOOKS BEAUTIFUL WITHOUT MAKE UP!! Making this much worse is that she doesn’t contribute anything meaningful to the story. She barely says anything during conversations and she doesn’t do anything meaningful for Gunnar or anybody else. She just shows up to be a pretty little doll who acts almost child-like while the boys treat her like a pretty piece of decoration sitting on a shelf. Another thing that bothered me was that the author used those ridiculous ‘hysterical-type’ dialog tags for the female characters more than for the men (squawking, squealing etc). The whole thing was disgusting and I can’t believe this book was written in 2017. If an author can’t figure out how to handle female characters in their MM romance then don’t include any! It’s really that simple.
I also hated Griffin being in this book. There was absolutely no reason for him to be in this. At the beginning, I thought Griffin being there would be important because of him having served in the military with Gunnar. I thought maybe that connection would be important during Gunnar’s recovery. But nope. Griffin is just there and even though he doesn’t serve a meaningful role in the narrative, the author is obsessed with the guy and constantly forces him into the story. Gunnar was living at his house and the reason he didn’t move in with Bowen during his recovery was most likely because the author wanted the easy excuse to have Griffin show up in random scenes and do nothing important except be there. At one point, there were a few ridiculous chapters where Bowen and Gunnar would constantly call Griffin to catch him up on what they’re doing and ask him advice about situations which they should have discussed themselves. I thought maybe there would be some drama regarding Griffin not having known that Gunnar was gay or about his first relationship with Bowen, but Griffin doesn’t have any issues with any of these things. So at the end of the day, Gunnar was a pointless character and him showing up with his pointless girlfriend all the time was incredibly annoying.
Overall, it absolutely crushes me to say that I don’t recommend this for anybody who wants the issues introduced in the first half to be treated seriously and resolved properly. The story had so much potential and I desperately wish the author had continued on the path they were on in the first half and that they had removed Griffin and his girlfriend entirely. Unfortunately, the first half left so much open and the second half was such a mess that it’s not a satisfying read for somebody who wants Gunnar’s TBI and amnesia dealt with properly.
February 10, 2019
I. Love. Bowen!!!! He broke all stereotypes. Hawt, fashionable alpha, who drives a really nice car. YES!!!!!!! Gosh yes!!! Just the way he takes care of gunner. Sigh I love him. And gunner. Gunner gunner. Man oh man. All the crap he went through. Would have loved that explored a little more This was a great book. My only complaint as others stated was the ending was rushed a little. I would have loved to read about him remembering what happened the night he injured instead of being told about it. That would have been so incredibly powerful. Would have loved to hear about some of his therapy sessions. Just a little more. Especially the HEA part.
Great book overall
Great book overall
October 8, 2017
3.5 stars...I'm a big fan...I really liked the book, but I felt is was just a bit rushed towards the end...I just wanted more...which isn't a bad thing..LOL
October 6, 2017
Holy puppies is this book hot! I love Gunnar and Bowen so freaking much. To watch Gunnar go thro all he does and has to remember is just heart wrenching. And the love of friends in this book is awe inspiring. Love love love!!!
October 14, 2017
Ok.
I enjoyed the characters in this story but there are a couple of things that bothered me. In particular, at times I felt like I was reading the author's narrative instead of the character's. Almost like the director's notes on a screenplay. Another is the very obvious plot development felt rushed. You could see it coming from a mile away but that mile was covered on 2.8 seconds. I've previously very much enjoyed this author's offerings but this one was not my favourite
I enjoyed the characters in this story but there are a couple of things that bothered me. In particular, at times I felt like I was reading the author's narrative instead of the character's. Almost like the director's notes on a screenplay. Another is the very obvious plot development felt rushed. You could see it coming from a mile away but that mile was covered on 2.8 seconds. I've previously very much enjoyed this author's offerings but this one was not my favourite
May 13, 2020
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I really wanted to like this, and it had every element to achieve that goal, but somehow... it didn't.
The story starts nicely, we get to see how Gunnar gets attacked and the how Griffin gets the call and flies to Germany to help his best friend. It's really sad to see both of them at the beginning of the story, when Gunnar doesn't even remember who he is and much less who Griff is. Gunnar not only has to deal with his amnesia, but also with the scars that the attack left on his body and the discovery that he doesn't have life. Not the what you expecto to hear when you remember nothing, right?
When Bowen enters the picture the story both improves and worsens a the same time. I can't deny I enjoyed reading Bowen and Gunnar's scenes, especially when they are still not an item and we get to read the bold flirting Gunnar performs. It's funny and cute, and while we have this romantic moments, we still get to see him try to recover both physically and mentally, because he needs it.
More or less around the 60% the story went down and down for me. I get the drama, and the angst and that Gunnar has a pretty messed up past... but the author overdoes it, and at some point I just couldn't empathise with any character as much as I did in the beginning.
I wasn't that into Andria's writing style, either. It's a little bit dense and for how short the overall book is, it has too many unnecessary descriptions and sometimes it gets repetitive.
I didn't quite understand Bowen's initial behavior, either.
It's not that I totally disliked the story. I loved Griffin and how some aspects of the trauma are developed, but I think it could have been so so much better than it was, and it put me down. But I must confess I loved the steamy scenes, Gunnar and Bower are hot together and their dynamics are quite unexpecting and enjoyable.
I really wanted to like this, and it had every element to achieve that goal, but somehow... it didn't.
The story starts nicely, we get to see how Gunnar gets attacked and the how Griffin gets the call and flies to Germany to help his best friend. It's really sad to see both of them at the beginning of the story, when Gunnar doesn't even remember who he is and much less who Griff is. Gunnar not only has to deal with his amnesia, but also with the scars that the attack left on his body and the discovery that he doesn't have life. Not the what you expecto to hear when you remember nothing, right?
When Bowen enters the picture the story both improves and worsens a the same time. I can't deny I enjoyed reading Bowen and Gunnar's scenes, especially when they are still not an item and we get to read the bold flirting Gunnar performs. It's funny and cute, and while we have this romantic moments, we still get to see him try to recover both physically and mentally, because he needs it.
More or less around the 60% the story went down and down for me. I get the drama, and the angst and that Gunnar has a pretty messed up past... but the author overdoes it, and at some point I just couldn't empathise with any character as much as I did in the beginning.
I wasn't that into Andria's writing style, either. It's a little bit dense and for how short the overall book is, it has too many unnecessary descriptions and sometimes it gets repetitive.
I didn't quite understand Bowen's initial behavior, either.
It's not that I totally disliked the story. I loved Griffin and how some aspects of the trauma are developed, but I think it could have been so so much better than it was, and it put me down. But I must confess I loved the steamy scenes, Gunnar and Bower are hot together and their dynamics are quite unexpecting and enjoyable.
October 11, 2017
Andria has an extremely special talent for writing war torn heroes. She makes you feel each of their emotions, their flashbacks make you relive them with them and their love is big in so many ways. Finding Gunner was no exception to any of this once again Andria had given us a hero in need of saving not from an enemy but from the unknown memories and the memories that return. I loved Gunner and Bowen’s relationship and the strength that Bowen has. I also love Gunners relationship with Griffin. This book showed family is more than blood.
October 7, 2017
4.5☆
Finding Gunnar completely grabbed my attention from the start. As it was a sweet, hot, emotional read. With fantastic characters and a very believable, yet at times heartbreaking story. That I truly enjoyed reading and would happily recommend to others.
Finding Gunnar completely grabbed my attention from the start. As it was a sweet, hot, emotional read. With fantastic characters and a very believable, yet at times heartbreaking story. That I truly enjoyed reading and would happily recommend to others.
October 8, 2017
Excellent
An emotional read that had the right amount of angst. Gunnar and Bowen were characters you can relate to. Loved it!
An emotional read that had the right amount of angst. Gunnar and Bowen were characters you can relate to. Loved it!
October 8, 2017
Awesome
An awesome read that I enjoyed. I would recommend this book to others . This book is a standalone .
An awesome read that I enjoyed. I would recommend this book to others . This book is a standalone .
October 13, 2017
After finishing The Beck Brothers series and absolutely loving all four guys and their paths to love, I stumbled upon a link on author's Facebook page and bought this without knowing a thing about the book. I really liked the book and am now wanting to read even more of the author's work.
October 12, 2017
Great story
I thought this was a great story . I would recommend this great book . Hope you enjoy it as much as I did .
I thought this was a great story . I would recommend this great book . Hope you enjoy it as much as I did .
October 9, 2017
4.5 stars. A very good but hard read. I laughed & I cried & cried some more. Poor Gunnar.. My heart hurt for him so much. Thank goodness for his best friend Griffen & brother Bowen. I loved Bowen & Gunnar & was so glad they found themselves together again. I so didn't want the story to end! More please...
October 12, 2017
loved it. so incredible how the story just flows. i love the way andria wrote the book.
May 20, 2018
I gave 4 stars for this book, because it was a good read. Pleasant even. But my real rating should be 3.5 or even less because of the horrible editing. What saved it for me was the good story which kept me hooked and the very likeable characters. As I said before I really liked it, I read in one go even if it meant a sleepless night.
BUT…
I just can’t shred the feeling that originally Finding Gunnar was written in first person POW. There is a lot of acciddentally forgotten words/expressions in the book, even in its description. (Perhaps the author wanted to write it originally in Gunnar/Bowen POW or both?)
Ex.: "Now, he’s just trying to find his way. He’s fucking angry and tired of dealing with his poor excuse of a life and ’am’ doing his best to drown his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle."
The other thing what bugs me, is the swap of characters in certain situation like the author doesn’t know who’s who. At the Thanksgiving scene Griffin is mentioned 2 times as Bowen’s boyfriend instead of Gunnar. How can this happen? No one checked and noticed this kind of gigantic mistake? I can’t believe this…
After finishing the book, I came across Acknowledgement by the author where an entire paragraph was dedicated to the editor. And I couldn’t keep myself rolling my eyes. I mean really? Acknowledged for this shitty work? If I were the author I would be simply furious after seeing the result.
Despite all the above, the story was good, I felt for the characters, really liked the recovery of Gunnar and the characters helping him trough all the ordeals (I can’t even pick a favorite because they were all so sympathetic and well developed). And as conclusion I don’t regret reading this book. So, if you’re interested, give it a go, and try to ignore the issues of bad editing as I did.
BUT…
I just can’t shred the feeling that originally Finding Gunnar was written in first person POW. There is a lot of acciddentally forgotten words/expressions in the book, even in its description. (Perhaps the author wanted to write it originally in Gunnar/Bowen POW or both?)
Ex.: "Now, he’s just trying to find his way. He’s fucking angry and tired of dealing with his poor excuse of a life and ’am’ doing his best to drown his sorrows in the bottom of a bottle."
The other thing what bugs me, is the swap of characters in certain situation like the author doesn’t know who’s who. At the Thanksgiving scene Griffin is mentioned 2 times as Bowen’s boyfriend instead of Gunnar. How can this happen? No one checked and noticed this kind of gigantic mistake? I can’t believe this…
After finishing the book, I came across Acknowledgement by the author where an entire paragraph was dedicated to the editor. And I couldn’t keep myself rolling my eyes. I mean really? Acknowledged for this shitty work? If I were the author I would be simply furious after seeing the result.
Despite all the above, the story was good, I felt for the characters, really liked the recovery of Gunnar and the characters helping him trough all the ordeals (I can’t even pick a favorite because they were all so sympathetic and well developed). And as conclusion I don’t regret reading this book. So, if you’re interested, give it a go, and try to ignore the issues of bad editing as I did.
May 31, 2023
Gunnar has no clue who he is when he wakes up or who the guy beside his bedside is. He agrees to go home with Griffin, who claims to be his best friend. Griffin has been sitting beside his bed this whole time, so he needs to get back to his tattoo parlor, so he calls in his brother Bowen to help watch Gunnar during the day. Bowen can't say no; he still cares for Gunnar even though they hide their relationship from Griffin and have broken up.
Gunnar struggles for most of the book, and when you think things are starting to get better, he begins to remember horrible parts of his childhood that he has never told anyone about. Griffin struggles with all these secrets his best friend kept from him. Bowen and Griffin want Gunnar to go to counseling, but Gunnar refuses and turns to alcohol instead. I disliked Gunnar at this point, he was so nasty to both Griffin and Bowen that I wasn't sure anything could make me like him again, but I also felt sorry for him because he had a pretty horrible life growing up.
Gunnar struggles for most of the book, and when you think things are starting to get better, he begins to remember horrible parts of his childhood that he has never told anyone about. Griffin struggles with all these secrets his best friend kept from him. Bowen and Griffin want Gunnar to go to counseling, but Gunnar refuses and turns to alcohol instead. I disliked Gunnar at this point, he was so nasty to both Griffin and Bowen that I wasn't sure anything could make me like him again, but I also felt sorry for him because he had a pretty horrible life growing up.
November 27, 2017
This was my first book I have read by Andria Large, and I will say with most certainly will not be my last.
The book begins with quite a bang, literally. We meet Gunner who is in the military on a base in the desert and all hell has broken loose.
The Military reaches out to Gunners best friend, Griffin, who brings Gunner back to Texas to heal. Gunner has suffered major memory loss and is kind of a mess.
Which, because Griffin has to go back to work, we meet Griffin’s brother, Bowen, who comes to take care of him, while his brother works.
Bowen and Gunner have an instant connection. And there is lots of sexual tension between them. And their first kiss is hotter than tar on a barn roof.
There are lots of relationship angst because of Gunner’s PTSD and foster care upbringing. But it shows just how if you find that true love, it can heal everything. Great book from beginning to end.
The book begins with quite a bang, literally. We meet Gunner who is in the military on a base in the desert and all hell has broken loose.
The Military reaches out to Gunners best friend, Griffin, who brings Gunner back to Texas to heal. Gunner has suffered major memory loss and is kind of a mess.
Which, because Griffin has to go back to work, we meet Griffin’s brother, Bowen, who comes to take care of him, while his brother works.
Bowen and Gunner have an instant connection. And there is lots of sexual tension between them. And their first kiss is hotter than tar on a barn roof.
There are lots of relationship angst because of Gunner’s PTSD and foster care upbringing. But it shows just how if you find that true love, it can heal everything. Great book from beginning to end.
November 3, 2017
Oh my God the Prologue...
Sooo good! There is nothing more that I love than a MM romance in a war zone! Like Latakia and Man, I wish there were more stories like that.
The prologue was fantastic! The rest of the story was entertaining. The characters were real and likable. The situation Gunnar finds himself in was believable and somewhat over the top sad. But I enjoyed his relearning of his life and his love for Bowen. Good read for sure
Sooo good! There is nothing more that I love than a MM romance in a war zone! Like Latakia and Man, I wish there were more stories like that.
The prologue was fantastic! The rest of the story was entertaining. The characters were real and likable. The situation Gunnar finds himself in was believable and somewhat over the top sad. But I enjoyed his relearning of his life and his love for Bowen. Good read for sure
October 19, 2017
Intense and embracing, addictively getting you back to the first line....
His is so beautiful it makes you forgetting that you are reading a gay story, the Tory takes you in and embraces you so tightly, you find yourself addictively getting bak to the initial line to start again the journey of this troubled and passionate relationship, that won’t stop surprising you since the end. Thanks for this beautiful book it’s really one to own, and will have a special position in my bookshelf...
His is so beautiful it makes you forgetting that you are reading a gay story, the Tory takes you in and embraces you so tightly, you find yourself addictively getting bak to the initial line to start again the journey of this troubled and passionate relationship, that won’t stop surprising you since the end. Thanks for this beautiful book it’s really one to own, and will have a special position in my bookshelf...
October 22, 2017
Meh
Couldn't finish the book........😂😂😂😂😂 the whole time rooting for Griffin and Gunnar to be a thing. (Story of my life)It seems like an ok story tho, but I wasn't feeling Bowen and Gunnar has a couple, seem rush and it didnt grab me much. Gunnar temper tho had me rolling.
Couldn't finish the book........😂😂😂😂😂 the whole time rooting for Griffin and Gunnar to be a thing. (Story of my life)It seems like an ok story tho, but I wasn't feeling Bowen and Gunnar has a couple, seem rush and it didnt grab me much. Gunnar temper tho had me rolling.
March 24, 2018
Kinda flat
The story wasn't bad it was just emotionally flat. Where you feel should of held high emotion there just was none. Wow that's terrible..poor guy...blah blah blah but now I'm over it lets move on.
The story wasn't bad it was just emotionally flat. Where you feel should of held high emotion there just was none. Wow that's terrible..poor guy...blah blah blah but now I'm over it lets move on.
October 17, 2017
Enjoyed it
I really enjoyed Finding Gunnar. I love Bowen and Gunnar together. What I wasn't a big fan of was the way the point of views were written. I recommend reading this book.
I really enjoyed Finding Gunnar. I love Bowen and Gunnar together. What I wasn't a big fan of was the way the point of views were written. I recommend reading this book.
October 19, 2017
DNF. Very stilted dialogue. Forced and unrealistic.
October 30, 2017
This was wonderful book about the up and down. Friends that will always be there for you even when you are totally not your self
A must read
A must read
January 7, 2018
While Gunner had the sympathy factor initially working for him, he wore that out quickly. The writing felt like an early effort by the author
January 10, 2019
Better than okay but not fantastic. I'm not a fan of stories where a person recovers from injury quickly. Especially one as traumatic Gunnar's. It was so unrealistic. Yet the emotional trauma was fitting and this story went unexpectedly dark though it ends with a happy for now.
February 14, 2019
Awesome book
This book is so much like other Andria Large books that I’ve read in that it drew me in from page one and kept me interested in the story.
This book is so much like other Andria Large books that I’ve read in that it drew me in from page one and kept me interested in the story.
December 21, 2019
Was a 3 stars read intil 80% then it went downhill
Displaying 1 - 30 of 30 reviews