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Review

4.5 Hilariously heartwarming stars

I really enjoyed this book. The third in the Redemption series (counting the first novella), it’s great fun, laugh-out-loud funny with a bit of drama and a really sweet romance.

Michael St. Claire is the last of three people involved in a love triangle implosion that forms the basis for this series. Having spent most of his teenage years in love with his best friend’s girlfriend, his heart was further destroyed when the relationship broke down (thanks, in no small part, to him), and then the girl of his dreams went and fell hard for somebody else. Then, he learned that his father is not really his father. And so, desperately tired of his life and searching for ‘something’, the privileged rich boy packs up and heads down to Texas to scope out his biological father and his new family.

Taking a job as a tennis coach at the local ‘club’, he meets and sets his manwhoring sights on Kristin Bellamy, a tall, blonde, gorgeous socialite who is also, conveniently, dating his half-brother, Devon. And then he meets Chloe Bellamy, Kristin’s younger sister who is everything that Kristin is not – a slightly chubby, frizzy-haired bookworm who is charmingly sassy and sarcastic and doesn’t seem to care what other people think about her.

“You play tennis, Chloe?” I call out as I pull out another ball and serve it to Kristin, harder this time.
“Do I look like I’m all about cardio?” she calls back in a cheerful voice.
“What about when you were younger? You didn’t take lessons?”
“Um, that’s a negative,” Chloe says around a mouthful of chocolate. She has a candy bar now. “Some of us were reading Harry Potter like normal kids.”

Michael immediately notices that Chloe is desperately in love with her sister’s boyfriend and, for purely selfish purposes, he offers to help her get her man. But he has no idea that his world is about to get turned upside down.

”With Chloe, it’s easy to forget that I’m nobody. Because she makes me feel like somebody.”

I loved every moment of the interplay between Chloe and Michael. They banter and tease, and their conversations and quips had me laughing so many times! Their friendship develops slowly but beautifully – they have fun together and they genuinely care about the other, and they are there for each other in a way that they didn’t realise they’d both been craving. And watching that friendship turn into something more meaningful was fantastic! Again, it’s a slow build, but it’s very realistic with fantastic UST and I was bouncing up and down in my chair in delighted glee as I read.

I don’t know why I keep doing that. Coming back to Chloe. She’s annoying as fuck, and yet there’s something strangely calming about her manic personality.

I love Chloe! I have a total girl-crush on her! She’s feisty and funny, and she totally owns who she is. She speaks her mind and she has no filter, and it’s freaking hilarious!

I do a squat to demonstrate … “Okay?” I say, doing another since she didn’t mimic my motion the second time.
She watches my movement in the mirror. “One more time,” she says.
I comply, and then mutter a string of curses because Chloe Bellamy has just reached out in the middle of a busy gym and patted my ass.
“Very nice,” she says, sounding surprised.
“Chloe!”
She shrugs. “You just got so upset when I was ogling that other guy instead of you, so I wanted to make you feel good.”

And her honesty is so incredibly refreshing. Sure, she’s never told Devon about her feelings, but there is a lot of history there, and that relationship is complicated. When it comes to the boy she calls Beefcake, she totally wears her heart on her sleeve for him.

“A girl wants to be loved, sure, and I thought I wanted that. I thought I wanted that from Devon. And now…I don’t know about that. But I do know that I want to be wanted. I want to be wanted by you.”

Michael’s motives may be shady, and his initial thoughts about Chloe are not exactly the stuff of romantic heroes, but he’s reacting to his situation, and the devastation of his past so I could understand where he was coming from. And it makes his character development as the story progresses even more impressive. It’s like each interaction with Chloe cracks the wall he’s put around his heart, and he starts to think about his life, about what he wants and what he needs. And I loved watching that shift – especially as he started to realise just how amazing the girl in front of him really is.

The thought of Chloe changing kills me a little. She’s one of the most real girls I know, and I’d give anything to have her stay that way, just as she is.

But Michael is damaged by all that he’s been through, and even with Chloe coming into his life like the force of a hurricane, he has his own hurt to deal with before he can move on.

“I’ve tried being someone’s second choice.”
… His voice is raspy, and so quiet that I barely hear what he says next. “I can’t do it again.”

Yes, it’s heartbreaking in places, but it’s a fantastic story of two ‘slightly’ broken people coming together. It’s a bit of an ‘Ugly Duckling’ story, and there is some focus on Chloe’s weight issues, but I loved that despite what was happening to her on the outside, it never changed who she was on the inside. And it’s tied in well to the rest of the story – the family dramas, the romantic dramas, and two characters coming to terms with who they are and discovering what they want. And it’s written in a way that is laugh-out-loud funny and totally heartwarming. And the romance (although a bit of a push and pull situation), is absolutely gorgeous.

“I don’t think it’s about who loves you first. It’s about who loves you best. And that’s me.”
… “I love you best. More than I love anyone. More than you’ve ever been loved.”

I would have like a little something ‘more’ from the ending (I wanted Michael to make a grand gesture, I felt like he needed to – for both his sake, and Chloe’s; and I would have liked some more ‘together’ time), but the story ends in a great place, and I liked that we got the chance to check in with the other couples from the series. I really enjoyed it.

Great fun – 4.5 stars.

An Advanced Reader Copy of this book was provided by the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

 

The Redemption series