While I have several books by Kelly Jensen in my humongous digital library, Building Forever is the first one I’ve read. What a great introduction to her writing!

Simon and Charlie! I loved this couple. The two of them seemed so real to me and the struggles they dealt with also seemed very believable. This is a book that captured me with the blurb and then completely engaged me with the full story.

Charlie’s life didn’t really go as planned. Being a father and husband before age twenty wasn’t what he wanted, neither was being a widower 12 years later. He loved his wife very much and has no regrets for getting married and having a beautiful daughter. After his wife’s death he had to stay strong for their daughter. When he feels the pull of attraction for the beautiful man who moved in next door he finally had to face something he’s known for many years, he’s bisexual.

Simon moved to Bethlehem to get over a breakup from a 12-year relationship and to do the kind of architectural work he really wants to do; he’s certainly not looking for another relationship. But something about his neighbor, Charlie, has him forgetting his resolution to not get involved with anyone again.

I loved how these two men related to each other. I loved reading about Charlie’s struggles with his writing and reading the bits of the stories that popped into his head. Simon has no real interest in science fiction stories but reads Charlie’s anyway and loves them like he eventually loves the man that wrote them.

Building Forever has a rich cast of characters and it made me laugh – Charlie is such a funny, sweet guy – and it made me cry when things got so hard they nearly broke Charlie. Then I cried tears of happiness when everything worked out and Charlie and Simon got their HEA (I love books that move me to tears). I’m really looking forward to reading the upcoming books in this series.

Reviews for Kelly Jensen

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Charlie needed to think his idea through, and that meant putting on his running shoes. His calves complained as he stretched, and his lower back tried to convince him that couch surfing was a better form of exercise. Never mind the fact that Sunday’s post-pancake nap-a-thon was probably responsible for every twinge back there.

By the time he got to the corner, he felt less like a jar of marbles being shaken too hard. When he got to the end of Bierys Bridge Road, his stride had lengthened and his breath had fallen into a regular rhythm. A sort-of path alongside Monocacy Creek meandered all the way into Bethlehem. He didn’t usually run that far, but with as much thinking as he had to do, he needed to put a few miles beneath his shoe soles.

The dense canopy blocked most of the sun, and cool mist rose from the water. Charlie dropped into that space where his legs did one thing, his mind another. He breathed and ran and drifted. The outline of book six floated through his head, a tangled mess. He picked at the snags, one by one, until a couple pulled free. Then his thoughts turned to Olivia and The Boy. Justin. He’d gotten a name on Sunday, but neither a description nor address.

Over the past four days, his imagination had crossed Charles Manson with Donald Trump. Justin probably wasn’t a serial killer or the face of American lunacy, but any man left alone with his thoughts for too long got dangerous and maudlin. He dismissed Manson Trump, and tried to imagine a younger face. An innocent face.

And pictured Simon from next door. Damn, if Justin looked like that, he and his daughter were both in trouble.

Pausing, he leaned against a tree to stretch out his calves and hamstrings again. Bent each leg behind him to loosen his thighs a little. His breathing was good. Not shallow, not ragged. Sweat clung to the back of his neck.

Every time he blinked, he saw Simon’s face.

Then it clicked. Simon loosely resembled Jory Ondel—or close to how Charlie had imagined him, anyway. Jory was the hookup from book three. Charlie remembered the twist in his stomach when he’d submitted the pages to Shelly. He’d fully expected her to veto the idea, but she hadn’t. She’d loved Jory. His subplot had been great.

The idea of bringing Jory back, of expanding his story, was curiously exciting. What Charlie couldn’t decide was whether he liked it because of his own curiosity about Simon, or if Jory represented something deeper. Something he’d put aside nearly eighteen years ago upon hearing the words: I’m pregnant.

A breeze tickled the sweat at his nape. Charlie pushed off the tree and started running back the way he’d come. By the time he got home, he had a new plan for book six. A plan that rekindled his enthusiasm for Kaze and his retirement.

If only life was as easy to plot.