Review: After the Crux (Crux Survivors #1) by Dani Worth

In a lonely, plague-devastated world, it is definitely not every man for himself.

Seventeen years after the Crux Virus wiped out most of the world’s population, Ross is doing what he can to keep his small community safe from raiders in a self-contained artist retreat in the Jemez Mountains of New Mexico. He’s made a habit of collecting survivors and they’ve all become family, but the most important members have always been Jenna and Dorian.

At fourteen, Ross stumbled into the basement where the nine-year-olds were hiding and the three have been together ever since. Years later, Jenna and Dorian became lovers. Now, at thirty, Ross hopes to find a love of his own on supply runs, but he suffers incredible guilt because his heart has long been snagged by his two best friends.

Alone with his tangled emotions, Ross is about to discover that his friends have their own ideas about their relationship…and how it is about to change.

Review:

After the Crux is the 1^st book in a new series that is set 17 years after a fatal disease wiped through the population leaving survivors to fend for themselves in this desolate world. Cities and civilizations are dissertated and the surviving individuals form families and they must raid forgotten towns to find food and other previsions that they need to keep on surviving.

This story primarily revolves Ross, who is pretty much the leader of his “family”. His family first began when he was 14 years old and he stumbled upon two 9 year old friends Jenna and Dorian and since then they have added to their family with individuals that Ross meets on raids. As the years have gone on, Jenna and Dorian have established a sexual relationship together, one that Ross covets as he is secretly in love with Jenna. Before he leaves to go on one of his raids he witnesses Jenna and Dorian in a compromising position and finds that he has confusing feelings for Dorian as well.

I could just feel the loneliness from Ross being on the outside of Jenna and Dorian’s relationship, yearning to have what they have. Each time he goes out, he hopes to find someone for himself. While on a particular raid Ross is severally injured that nudges the 3 of them to accept and come to terms with the love that they feel for each other. The love between the three really develops fast as the book goes, but we are given the info of how the relationships developed through the years that led them to the point that the book starts at. I couldn’t help but feel all squishy inside with how sweet the love is between Ross, Jenna, and Dorian.

I really enjoyed the side characters and loved how open they are and you love who you love. In this world, you can’t turn away from a chance to love and be loved. The bad guys that they encounter are real nasty and it gives the other characters an opportunity to shine, show how they can work together and help defend each other. My only complaint, and this really has nothing to do with the story, is that the story ended when my kindle read 87%. I just wasn’t prepared for it to end yet! But once I got over that shock, I was satisfied with the actual ending and thought it left off at a good point that will bring us to the next book.