Watch Your Back

Spring Hills Ten Year High School Reunion

by Mel Walker

Lucinda

10 Years ago Nate Adams nearly broke me.

He was my world, or so I thought. Caught up in High School puppy love I failed to see the reality in front of me. His cruel act still reverberating through me all these years later. Fueling me to do something foolish.

Nate's returning to our small town of Spring Hills for his ten year High School Reunion. I'm sure he's forgotten what he'd done to me, but I haven't. And this time he's the one who should be worried.

I'm watching. I'm waiting. Ten years in the making. I now have three different words the boy who broke my heart - Watch Your Back.

Watch your back is a hilarious, romantic comedy novella set in the Spring Hills 10 Year High School Reunion Universe.

"Watch Your Back" was previously published as part of the Limited Edition Romance Anthology and as a current newsletter subscriber novella.

102 pages, Kindle Edition

Published March 30, 2024

About the author

Mel Walker is an award-winning rare bird, the male romance author. Specializing in heartfelt small-town romance, he enjoys telling compelling romances with all the feels. A native New Yorker and life-long frustrated NY Mets fan, he enjoys baseball, reading, bike rides, and writing outdoors where he absorbs the energy of the city.


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Reviews

[Tara · Rating 5 out of 5]

OMGEEEE! I LOVED this reunion and all the shenanigans! Watch your Back was quite a story with so many crazy moments. This is the type of stuff my friends & I would come up with…I am soooooo upset we never thought of the “Farmers Market Challenge” 😂. Once again, Mel has created a fantastic story that I want more of!!

[ReadonReader · Rating 4 out of 5]

In this novella we have Lucinda who is intent on getting pay back on Nate because of an incident in the past that humiliated her. When I first started my heart hurt for Lucinda because you can tell she still carries a torch for her first crush and was devastated by his rejection in school, but the more I read I found myself questioning after ten years why she hasn’t just moved on and passed it as a trivial high school thing and the obvious answer is that she is very much still obsessed with Nate. She goes through these hilarious pranks to get back at him and I loved seeing her get revenge, but when we find out what Nate did I’m not so sure if I was siding with Lucinda or worried for Nate. I get that Nate was a different person in high school and that he may have reacted wrong and harshly to Lucinda’s pursuits, but Lucinda didn’t take no for an answer and the ways in which she obsessed over Nate came off a little bit crazy pants. Gifts, balloons that say “only a matter of time” hunting down his schedule etc. it all kept escalating even when Nate said stop she didn’t and to me if roles were reversed it would have been a lot worse. I mean this is high school and reputations are everything to everyone at this point in life and the pressure Nate was feeling caused him to act the way he did. Was it ok to lead her on like that? No, but that’s immaturity for you; one obsessing over a crush the other obsessing over reputation. Overall the reconciliation, attraction between the characters, and the maturity in which Nate apologized won me over. The pain that they both felt was justified and it broke my heart because they both were kids trying to figure themselves and life out but in the end love always finds a way.

[Nora Fresse · Rating 4 out of 5]

This review is for the story Watch Your Back by Mel Walker.

Wow! The emotions in this story are super high level. Lucinda Jones apparently can’t get over her first crush, Nate Adams, if she has put so much thought into getting her “revenge” on him even though it’s been 8 years since high school. It’s Nate’s 10-year reunion and everything has been meticulously planned for him to suffer her wrath. When Nate’s shows up with a “date”, Lucinda is even more determined to make him pay for his past actions.

I thought Lucinda was fierce in high school. She knew what she wanted and wasn’t afraid to go after it. Nate, being older and supposedly more mature didn’t really know how to deal with her very real and raw affections (best line in the book: "Someone with that much passion, willing to go to this level, deserves a proper response. If you can't meet her at her level - let her go" That's some excellent writing). So instead he ends up doing what most high school teenage boys do when faced with peer pressure, he completely humiliates her in front of everyone. Something he regretted then and all the years after. When faced with the girl/woman that he’s been unable to forget, old feelings resurface and revenge is the last thing on anyone's mind.

I liked this story because it made me laugh, it made me cry and it so turned out not how Lucinda expected at all. Things that should have been discussed and resolved are finally cleared up. Very cute, fun story.

[Reading by Deb · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucinda Jones has a brilliant idea...which involves a group of 3rd graders...and until her best friend Jada brought it up she didn't consider that she might lose her job. They were sitting at a table at Spilling the Beans, the town's favorite coffee shop, with kids hyped on her bribery snacks and their happiness about being away from the school grounds.

Her goal for the last few months hasn't changed although her plans have altered many times and her confidence has lowered somewhat, but she is determined to follow through despite realizing that she never considered the collateral damage.

She angles her iPad which is in selfie mode to see the cafe door over her shoulder. The Spring Hills High School 10-year class reunion was that weekend and she had plans to make Nate Adams pay for what he did to her in high school and she had called in favors throughout the town to make it a weekend that Nate will never forget.

I loved this book! It is very well written and the characters are fully developed and relatable. This book is laugh-out-loud hilarious. Lucinda is still enraged after ten years at what Nate did to her in high school and her imagination will keep you turning to pages to see what she has up her sleeve next.

This book is action-packed from beginning to end and I wasn't able to put it down. This is by far my favorite Mel walker book! Payback is a bitch!

[Megan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lucinda and Nate are not your typical high school sweethearts. They fell in love with one another, didn't let each other know, and then had a cat-and-mouse chase with the cat getting increasingly aggressive and the mouse embarrassing the cat. We are now at his 10-year reunion, which she only attended to see him (since it's not her reunion). She wants to make him pay for what he did to her in high school. That's fair, but she went about it in an incredibly juvenile way, with dumb pranks that felt very high school, like she hasn't grown at all. It felt over the top for 10 years later and as retribution for essentially telling her to back off (which he had multiple times before). A series of pranks and having a real conversation allow them to reveal their true feelings for one another. Maybe it's 10 years later than it should have happened, but the love birds are together.

I received a free copy of this short story and am voluntarily leaving a review.

[Tessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fun, Fun, Fun Novella!

This novella is easy to fall into and so much fun. I was laughing at the way Lucinda handles Nate’s homecoming. She always wanted Nate to see her as more back in school and she got one shot. Nate, however, acted like she was no big deal. He was a senior after all, and she was a mere sophomore. So, when he reluctantly comes home for this ten year reunion, he knows he’s in trouble. But little does he know what kind of trouble Lucinda has planned.

This couple is fun and once they confess their sins, their happily ever after is inevitable. Great story to take you away from the real world.

[JLBBM · Rating 4 out of 5]

Watch Your Back is a novella by Mel Walker. It is a cute and fun story about Lucinda and Nate, who met in high and had an instant connection but Lucinda was only a Sophomore and much too young for a Senior like Nate, or so he thought. Eight years later Nate’s returning to town for his 10 year class reunion and Lucinda has a weekend full of pranks planned to get even with Nate for humiliating her in front of her entire class. Will she get her revenge? Will there still be an attraction? Will there be a HEA? Enjoy this sweet book to find the answers.

[Cassie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed this funny, easy to read Enemy to Lovers novella. Lucinda's pranks were off the chain, 10 years is a long time to be holding grudges requiring this arsenal of tricks! I really hated that Nate's life was put on hold for a simple worry about class level, seriously what's the big deal about a Senior and a Sophomore? This alone made the ending even sweeter. It's hard to say a lot about this one without giving it all away, I suggest picking it up.

[Alicia Andrews · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love Mel Walker and his contemporary romance stories. Does not matter if it's a Novella, Anthology, or a full novel! They always put a smile on my face while reading them.

Watch Your Back is a revenge plot on the man who broke her heart. It is funny, sweet, and just an amazing quick read that ends in a HEA when feelings are finally announced during a high school reunion.

I can not wait to read more in Mel's High School reunion series!

[Donna Lawson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well-written storyline with a realistic feel to it, it's hilarious to a point, yet that sad feeling for both Nate and Lucinda. High school love, it left unresolved feelings for both, simply because he had an image to uphold, she was to young, deserved better 🤔. Yet, she is very mature, knew exactly what she wanted, went after him full steam ahead 😂. Ten years finally bring resolve ❤. Good read, page turner 😉.
I received an ARC, this is my personal review of the storyline.

[Vilma · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read Watch Your Back by Mel Walker, which is the third installment in his Spring Hills High School Reunion series. This novella is funny, snarky, a little bittersweet concerning missed opportunities of the past.

But Lucinda Jones and Nate Adams end the story on a happy for now note, with Nate graciously accepting his penance of pranks and Lucinda regretting the pranks as they unfold. But once they admit their past and current feelings, the happy ending begins..

[Tanz · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enemies to lovers novella that is easily read in one go. Lucinda and Nate are both strong characters, each believing that what they did when they were younger was right at the time. I did think that Lucinda went a bit over the top when at school and again at the reunion, but it did make a funny story! Definitely some laugh out loud moments! A sweet ending.

[Denise Scott · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucinda is the Queen of revenge . During her sophomore year of high school she put it all out there to let her crush Nate know that she was interested in him . Being a senior and Lucinda a sophomore has Nate uneasy . The story of the ten year reunion had me totally pulled into the story and waiting for the next chapter !

[Sarah DeLong · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lucinda has held a grudge against her high school crush, Nate, for several years. The antics she's planned for their high school reunion were a laugh! Loved this cute little enemies to maybe something more, quick read.

[Lynn Stifle · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is such a fun and cute story of Lucinda, who had her heart broken by Nate, and her class reunion revenge plot against him. Lots of laugh out loud moments in this one and I really enjoyed every minute of it! Great read!

[Danielle Melo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Revenge for a woman scorned. I really enjoyed this read. I think it was entertaining and as well as redeeming.