Finding Family Through Heartfelt Sci-Fi: The Bones Beneath My Skin

Information:

• Goodreads: 4.26 out of 7,704 Ratings
• Age Category: Adult
• Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
• Series: None

Summary:

Nate Cartwright’s parents are dead. His dad went home one day and decided to shoot his wife and himself, leaving Nate and his brother behind. Huge bummer, honestly. Except, they only gave Nate the cabin they’d found him in with his boyfriend and his father’s truck. He hasn’t even seen them since that fateful day, everyone in his family turning against him for who he loved. To make it worse, he’s been fired from his job. So, why not move to the cabin for a fresh start? Seems like a grand idea until his finds a man and his 10 year old daughter squatting in his cabin, pointing a gun at his head. And it’s from meeting these two that Nate finally finds his purpose in this world. That he finally knows and understands that he matters.

Review:

This book is so wholesome and heartfelt and emotional. The writing is quirky and fun. I could see a lot of people not liking it. It doesn’t read linearly – Nate’s thought process jumps between memories to the present. I liked it. I felt like it added to the quick pacing of the book while also allowing a deeper look into who Nate is.

The Bones Beneath My Skin markets itself as thriller sci-fi, but the thrilling aspect isn’t what you’d immediately think going into it. I haven’t read anything else by TJ Klune, so I can’t compare this to his other writing. I have heard a lot of people talk about his other books as if they’re relatively cozy, heart warming, emotional, and almost always found family. That’s exactly what this book is. You have a character whose family hated him for being gay. You have another character who tragically lost his family (his wife and son) and was delivered to a replacement child as an experiment. Then you have a young character who has never known what it is like to be human and is, unfortunately, learning the hard way. But it doesn’t seem all that hard when she’s surrounded by the love and awe of the two men who would do absolutely anything for her. And all wraps up in this beautiful found family aspect that makes me itch to read more of Klune’s work when I need something that is so sweet it almost gives you a toothache.

We didn’t come to save you. Only you can do that. We came to be your friend. To make you understand that, in the end, you are never alone.

I could see a lot of people not enjoying the pacing of this book. I could see them saying that there isn’t much of a thrilling aspect until the end – because there isn’t. But I think when you know the book is more focused on this little family than it is what’s going on around them, that will help the pacing and the irritation with the lack of anything genuinely thrilling. Sure, there are moments when Nate has a gun pointed at him by the guy he eventually falls in love with. And he isn’t sure in the beginning if Alex stole Art or not and was, rightfully, very confused and very worried for her safety. Then you have people shooting at them, but they get out relatively fine. And the chunk between that and the cult is big enough to maybe get bored. The action is paused for Nate and Alex to get closer, then Nate and Art to get closer. You see the men fall in love and share their backstories. You see as the men learn more about Art and just enjoy being around her.

It would make sense for some people to find that irritating, slow, or too mushy for what they were wanting. For me, it endeared me more to the book. Because even though I hadn’t read any of Klune’s work before, I knew that the emphasis is almost always on love, friendship, and finding a family when it feels like you have none. It was beautiful. It was funny in some places. It was heartbreaking in others. And it made me feel like I needed to cry during the end and I had to choke back tears because I was at work and couldn’t be caught reading on the clock. Honestly, this book was just wholesome and beautiful. Does it feel like something to reread and annotate? No, I wouldn’t say that. But it did feel like something that I think a lot of people could read right now and be made to feel seen and heard.

I definitely recommend this book. If you’d like it, you can find it here: https://amzn.to/42DF8pi This is an affiliate link, but there’s no pushing it. I definitely recommend seeing if it’s the book for you first. If you want something fast paced, setting your heart on edge, and is actually thrilling, this might not be what you’re looking for. But if what I described above seems to be what you’re looking for, give it a go! If you have read it, I would love to know what you thought. Does it hold up to his other work? And what book of his would you recommend I read next?