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Review

3.5 conflicted stars

I loved it… but I also didn’t. Honestly, I still don’t really know how I feel about this book, so apologies but this review could be a bit all over the place as I purge my thoughts. I love Jay McLean’s More Than series, but I wasn’t a huge fan of her precursor to this book Where the Road Takes Me. Nevertheless, I was excited from the moment I heard about it and dove in with high hopes.

Josh was introduced in Where The Road Takes Me, as the best friend of Hunter, and for me, he absolutely stole that book! Lively and sarcastic yet responsible and deeply caring, I loved him from the moment he was introduced and was thrilled to see him get his own story. Hunter and Chloe both appear in this book, and I really liked seeing them again, but you can easily read this one as a standalone as it’s very much Josh’s story.

At 16 Josh was happy, he had a girlfriend and was obsessed with skateboarding, with dreams of one day going pro. At 17 he became a father and one month after that his girlfriend left him and his baby boy, unable to handle their new life. Both sets of parents turned their backs on him , leaving him entirely alone with his baby until a good Samaritan offered him an apartment above her garage, giving him a starting point to get his life back together. Since that time, Josh has made his son, Tommy his number 1 priority. He is a wonderful father and has worked hard and sacrificed much in order to provide Tommy with the best life he can. It’s been hard but he regrets nothing, his boy is his life and he treasures every moment with him.

“There are some sacrifices greater than love. And some loves greater than any sacrifice. Tommy’s greater than both.”

Life gets interesting for him when his landlady’s granddaughter comes to stay with her. Becca is quiet and withdrawn, and obviously struggling to cope with everyday life. She and Tommy share an immediate bond which becomes a very special friendship, complete with their own a secret language and lots of smiles, and I loved watching the happiness that they brought to each other. And as Becca reluctantly comes out of her shell, she starts spending time with Josh as well, and slowly becomes comfortable with him.

“Do you have a safe place, Becca?”
I release a shaky breath, but I can’t seem to look away. “Yes,” I whisper. And I hesitate, just for a moment, from telling him the truth. “You.”

Josh is beautifully tender with Becca. He can see that she has demons, but he never presses her, he just does what he can to make her at ease, but he also encourages her to live life, and doesn’t hide the fact that he’s attracted to her.

“You never have to be afraid of me, Becca, I’ll never hurt you. And as long as I’m around, no one else will either.”

I love the beginning of this relationship. It’s gentle and tentative, but they also have fun together, and there are a lot of funny moments.

You know what’s worse than your landlady calling you out on wearing cologne purely because you want to impress her granddaughter? I’ll tell you what. Being in the confined space of a truck while your son tells said granddaughter about how you paid him five moneys for him to tell you about what she said about you. Yeah. That’s happening.

Josh has all but given up his dream of skating, but he still finds solace in taking his board out whenever he’s able, and watching him share that both with his boy, and with Becca was really sweet. And the two of them come together seemingly effortlessly.

You know what comes after you kick and push?
You coast.
Coast with me, Emerald Eyes?

They fall hard for each other, and I loved seeing their relationship progress – it’s a gorgeous love story which is funny, sweet and romantic with a nice amount of steamy time. And it’s very much as a threesome, with Tommy an important part of what they have together.

“You and Tommy…” She places my hand over her heart. “…you own me in here.” And even as I feel her heart beat against my palm, I wonder if she knows that she just made mine stop.

I press my lips to hers, trying, hoping, that it’s enough, that somehow, through a single kiss she’ll be able to feel it: how much she means to me. How much I appreciate her. How much I love that she didn’t just want me. She wanted us. All three of us.

The whole way through the book we are given hints into Becca’s background, but when the whole story comes out and we get to see the consequences of it all, it’s shocking. It provides all of the answers that Josh (and the reader) have been looking for, and explains why she behaves the way she does. In fact, it really made me admire her – the fact that she was able to move past what is obviously so painful and damaging for her, and put her trust and her heart into Josh’s hands.

“There are so many things in my future that absolutely terrify me, but loving you for the rest of it isn’t one of them.”

But just when they’ve found happiness together, the rug is pulled out from under them once more, triggering what could be their downfall.

How many times can a person break before the only things left are shattered fragments too small to piece back together?

It’s all very emotional, and Jay McLean does angsty, emotional writing so well. The story is written in dual POV and I could feel the highs and the lows right alongside the characters, but honestly, the drama sometimes felt like it was a bit too much. The fact that so much happened to them in their lives, and then all of this new stuff happened in such a short amount of time seemed OTT, neither of them handled it well and their reactions were both so extreme.

  The combined effect of everything that happens feels a bit overwhelming for the story.

But even with all of the drama, I liked the way that it resulted in both Josh and Becca taking positive steps towards their futures. Though I was disappointed to reach the end of this book and discover that it’s actually not the end. The story is to be continued. It does end at a hopeful point though, and it’s not a cliffhanger that leaves you desperate.

So yeah, I liked it, but I didn’t love it. The writing is great, and I’m definitely invested in the characters, and their relationship, I’m just not a fan of excessive drama in a book and in this one, it was all happening, and I lost the connection that I initially had to the story. But I am still keen for the next instalment so that I can have closure and see the HEA that these two characters so badly deserve.

3.5 conflicted stars.

 

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