3.5 'Take Care of You' STARS
Slade and Austyn are baby-faced teenagers, barely legal adults when the story kicked off. Most characters in this story are still living with their parents—something I wasn't expecting, and honestly stories that I typically shy away from, but I was hooked by the first page.
Slade had a shit life. The only family that mattered was his Gran. When she passes abruptly, Slade finds a new purpose—the military life. Slade is damn chivalrous, protective of what matters, the real strong-n-sexy-silent-type that goes with the flow.
Slade's military path crosses with the young Brandon Combs. The two become fast friends and military brothers for life. Brandon brings Slade to his home town.
Slade is humbled by the welcome home and yet envious by Brandon's tight family relationships—in those subtle moments, you can see the young boy underneath the Marine, abandoned, Slade learned to expect disappointment and always longed for a loving family of his own—those raw-rip-your-heart-out emotions are beautifully captured throughout this book.
In small town middle of nowhere, Brandon introduces Slade to his childhood friend Ausytn—Boy meets girl in bo-dunk diner and a warm and flirty Summer romance blooms over Merry-Go-Rounds and deep fried Oreos.
Austyn is your small town, blonde-haired, blue-eyed Southern beauty. Austyn is a good girl, she loves her mama, loves Jesus n' America too. She's a hard worker, busy college student and grew up behind that white picket fence.
They weren't expecting on finding each other.
Right girl. Wrong Time.
Slade's time is limited.
Their friendships becomes about stolen touches, a physical pull that keeps pulling them together—something they agree is worth exploring...something worth waiting for.
As a reader, you follow Slade and Austyn on this journey.
The long distance military life.
Relationship Firsts.
Difficult Adult decisions.
Living for Stolen moments.
Heartbreak and Duty of Deployment.
And the ultimate Sacrifice.
So Why not 5 Stars?
What I lovingly call a short n' fluffy read.
I thoroughly enjoyed the slow burn. The love scenes were realistically innocent, well-written and a real learning curve? Austyn's family dynamic had that small town family feel that I love. The secondary characters all added to the plot, and it all came full circle in the end.
Check. Check. And Check.
However...the dialogue was quite juvenile and repetitive at times. But then again, the characters aren't even old enough to drink. The plot wasn't that intense, their relationship was obviously the forefront. There weren't a series of big moments leading up to the climax. You kinda stumbled into it there at the end. Truly a dialogue driven story, not a lot of description/narration. As a reader, it was difficult to imagine the setting and characters at times.
The whole sit down thing with Austyn's parents still makes me chuckle when I think about it.
Do people really do that? Austyn wasn't a prude, but c'mon...sometimes you gotta put your big girl panties on and deal with it...Anyway
Typical romance cheese that I'm a sucker for—manly over-protectiveness, a bit of a jealous streak, sweet n' innocent like Southern tea, with the overly attentive and flawless lover.
The worst part for me—the pet names. * cringes * The cheese level was off the charts. I forced myself to mentally block them out in order to continue. More of a personal preference, not thatbig of a deal in the grand scheme of things.
Overall, an enjoyable light-hearted read. Slade's family emotions hit me in the feels. I will definitely be reading more from this author in the future.