The Empty Spaces Between Us 2. Chronicles from the Orchard

With The Empty Spaces Between Us, we catch up on the Team from The Acquittal. We also meet some new characters and learn more about characters like Tyler who had minor roles in the first book. All the things we loved about @Jdonley75’s other stories reach new heights here.

Once again, there’s a wedding in the end. There are many beginnings and a few partings. Life goes on in The Orchard!
;–)

You won’t regret reading this heartwarming and engaging tale.
;–)
 

ps Read The Acquittal first, then Staying In the Moment and The Night Before Aaron’s First Christmas in that order before you begin this story. It flows better and you’ll appreciate the story better.
;–)

When I first started reading this story (and so you know, I read the whole thing in two days), I both wondered how it would pull together, and worried that it would repeat much of the first story. But, I was blown away by the depth and grace and passion for these characters that came through in each and every chapter. You absolutely ROCKED this. Thank you for sharing!

Easily a 5* read on so many levels, just a few: a great storyline, fantastic 3 dimensional characters, deep emotional writing, and the setting, wow, the setting. At times the orchard seems a mystical, magical place where miracles happen, and they do.

Bravo

With this fantastic story we are catching up with the characters from the Aquittal. We get to meet new characters along the way and learn more about characters like Tyler who minor roles in the Aquittal.

There are few partings and many beginnings, ending in a wedding. Life is definitely progressing in the Orchard for this group of wonderful characters.

I highly recommend reading these two heartwarming and engaging tales.

I thought The Acquittal was amazing. So I was really surprised that this story was even more gripping and moving than The Acquittal. Bravo!

I really enjoyed reading this story as well as "The Acquittal".  You did an amazing job of putting the 2 stories together, and giving us details of events from the first story that weren't explained fully.  I still need to read the next series of shorts, but I do hope you keep on with writing about all these amazing characters.

Another fantastic story, I couldn’t put it down! 🥰

Love to see a follow up on Ty and Sean.

A compelling story told with empathy.  Life is not always or even often easy, but with the support of family and friends it can be memorable.

The pacing, transitions, characters are all well written.

I just jumped into reading the first chapter and finished it in a couple days.  Thanks to jdonley75 for sharing this gem!

For me characters are the most important part of a story and this authors has a knack to get you to care for them and be invested in them.There is one part in particular which I can't give any details about without giving it away but it will leave you emotionally exhausted but its worth every second if you haven't read The Acquittal and Aarons first Christmas read those first. Happy reading enjoy

For many musicians who release an outstanding debut album, the "sophomore slump" quickly brings them back to earth. Fortunately for his readers @Jdonley75 does not suffer the same fate. This second book in the Chronicles from the Orchard series is as impressive as his literary debut. Most of the same cast return, with the minor character, Tyler taking to the stage front and centre. His story is interesting as is the expose of Andy's military life and why it has left him so damaged.

Emotionally challenging, entertaining and at times enraging (two particularly horrible people feature in this book, although only one is actively involved in the story). 

This story like its predecessor is character-driven and once again our author paints characters who are adorable, flawed, funny, melancholic and largely engaging. A truly rewarding read again from a very gifted story teller.

This review is actually on all four books in this series that has been written at the time of this review. It has become my favourite serie in gay genre so far. I highly recommend it and hope more people will discover the books and enjoy getting to know David, Andy, Troy, Tanner, Matt, Aaron etc. They are friends. They are family. They are everything you wished for, warts and all.

As someone closer to 50 than 40, I grew up in a time where gay marriage and family acceptance was more a dream than something achieveable. Gay content were hard to find and most were pornographic. It tends to give one a skewed view of gay life. The Chronicles from the Orchard books are about the ups and downs of family life for a bunch of gay and straight friends. It talks about trauma, addiction and other difficult subject without bogging the reader down in the dirty details. Critics may say that it is a Disneyfied depiction but I’ll take it. What I want is not the puking scenes but the healing. The books have made me cry over the wounds the characters have suffered, and the healing and support they have provided for each other. It has given me a view on what a bunch of friends and family can do to support each other through lives ups and downs, without having homosexuality being an issue. 

With that said, the books are not just about doom and gloom. Far from it. Their struggles is what drives the plot but the books flows with lots of funny and heartwarming scenes from the adults to the kids. I found myself loving all the characters and wanting so desperately to be part of this extended and unconventional family. The feelings I get after reading them is heartwarming and cozy. I hope more readers will get the chance to experience it.