This story takes place at the Louisiana State Penitentiary, where 28 year old Brees is assigned to a prison cell with 45 year old Jamison, an unpredictable violent inmate who is currently serving a 33 year sentence. He has already served 15 and has 18 more to go. Brees, who was referred to as ‘Pretty Boy’ by some of the inmates, was terrified of the 6-foot-6, roughly two hundred sixty pound man he was being forced to room with. He believed that his life expectancy had gone down considerably from the six months he originally gave himself upon arrival.
After Jamison decided that he didn't want to kill Brees, the two got to know each other, and before long, a precarious bond was formed between them. What they didn’t know was why the warden put them together in the first place. When the truth eventually came out about how they were connected outside of prison they had to figure out what to do with that information and whether or not it would tear them apart.
If you’ve been following me for a while you know that I am not a fan of novellas. I usually do not find the romances in them convincing, and, in the rare cases that I do, I am left feeling completely unsatisfied with the way the story ends. I don’t know how convincing the romance in this story was (esp. in the beginning), but the MCs definitely formed a bond pretty early on. Given how lonely they each felt, they readily accepted whatever comfort and affection the other offered, and as time went on, their feelings deepened.
The ending is bittersweet because their future seemed very uncertain. They each had 18 years left of their sentences, and given how spiteful the warden was, there was no guarantee that they’d continue living together or that Jamison wouldn’t get into more trouble. If they did manage to complete their sentences (without having any time added), there was no guarantee they wouldn’t end up back in prison.
There was one scene in this story that was particularly hard to read. A lot of people were appalled by it, and while it was very disturbing, I don’t believe the author was condoning what took place in it. She was just depicting the reality of inmates being housed in certain prisons. Being able to read it allowed me to get a better understanding of the way Jamison’s mind worked.
Despite the subject matter, I thought the writing was beautiful. Something about the way it was written made me want to read it aloud, especially in the beginning. Because of the subject matter and where the author chose to take the story, I wouldn’t recommend it unless you don’t mind reading disturbing content, but for a novella, I thought it was pretty good. 3 stars