4 stars

"If I look sad it’s because this is the happiest I’ve been for years, and you did that, but you aren’t even one-tenth mine and you never will be."

Natasha Pulley knows how to tragic men. That is something I can say with confidence! Another thing I can say with confidence is that I always end up falling for the intense gay yearning. The Half Life of Valery K was a very different book. For one, it did not have that magical realism aspect that is so attractive in most of Pulley's books. And with Pulley being the only writer who knows how to write magical realism properly, that aspect was sorely missed. Secondly, I found Valery K to be her darkest book as of yet. I do remember a lot of violence in The Kingdoms but feel as if this book surpassed it easily.

But overall I loved this book. I finished it one day and was absolutely hooked from the very first page. It didn't drag at all for me and I had to stop myself at 3 am so I could go to sleep and wake up early in time for my Thesis Defense! Valery was an intensely lovable character and I enjoyed reading his narration a lot. Like all Pulley characters, he had his morally ambiguous moments. His struggle with PTSD was brilliantly portrayed and him being a forever optimist even in the face of terrible odds was something that I greatly admired. Kontantin Shenkov, the tragic love interest, never thought I'd be rooting for a member of the KGB but I loved Shenkov so much! We stan Russian male wives.

Being wanted for an hour, even when it was just a mirage of vodka fumes, was a lot better than not at all. At twenty-six, he hadn’t understood what not at all meant.

Obviously, the romance was my favorite part of the whole book as it is with most Pulley books. It was the most beautiful slow burn. Think holding hands, forehead kisses, butterflies in your stomach type yearning