4 stars and recommendation for Contemporary Romance genre
I was gifted this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.
This short story packs a punch and right out of the gate, you will find yourself sucked in. The story opens from the POV of one 10-year-old child named Caydon. He has made himself the protector of another child, a little girl named Reece. In the opening, we see Caydon jumping in to defend Reece (whose name is unknown to him), from the bullies she encounters on the school playground. One broken promise, and ten years later, we land in the thick of a great story.
Ten years on, we find Caydon pining away for his girlfriend Hannah, who has gone off to college. Their contact is limited and something seems very off about this. Caydon is striving to control issues managing his anger as being with Hannah anchored him. Into his life walks a dark hair beauty named Reece. She is an introvert and a very cautious girl, and for good reason. After spending the past few years taking care of her dying mother, she is back to living with her father and going to college. That experience hardened her at a young age and she is wary of socializing out in the bar scene/party at all, let alone being around the town bad boy.
When they meet, there is immediate tension but nothing completely unpredictable happens between them, except for the very instinctive dislike they have for each other. Caydon is in position of now questioning his devotion to Hannah and goes off the rails. There are some surprise connections between Caydon and Reece but any time they spend together, they just seem to antagonize and annoy each other.
As I was reading, I was cognizant that this was a short story, just a hundred plus pages, and what went through my mind was that I felt, really felt these people. The descriptions of them, their inner dialogue is really very well done. The characters were easy to like, and sometimes despise, but we were in their heads and understood why. For me, the dislike really stems from frustration as the chemistry is evident and well, we just want a happily ever after.
There are some wonderful secondary characters; Reece’s cousin Maria, her father Mark and Caydon boss Shortly, plus his archenemies Nash, who likes to stir things up a bit and has his own history with Reece.
The story is told in alternating points of view and gives us that 360 view of our main characters. It is a well-developed storyline and the writing is solid. I never felt that the story was rushed and it unfolded perfectly. We saw some sweet and gentle characteristics in Caydon and a strength in Reece that was hidden behind her shy nature. I would love to see what’s happens next for Caydon and Reece and maybe get a peek at Nash’s life as well.