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Review
3 stars
A brother’s-best-friend/second-chance romance, this one left me feeling a bit underwhelmed.
Farrah has been in love with her brother’s best friend, Jace, since she was 12 years old. He was a big part of her life, but right after Farrah’s parents were killed right in front of him, Jace left town. Now, he’s back, 27 years old to Farrah’s 21, and he has moved in with Farrah and her brother, Nathan, to help them make ends meet – setting up a fun but rather interesting roommate situation.
Farrah has never moved on from her crush on Jace, and now that he’s back, it’s bigger and more all-consuming than ever. But even though she’s an adult now, both Jace and Nathan still see Farrah as a young girl needing their protection. Until things slowly start to change. Meaningful looks, subtle touches, and deep conversations hint at something more, and even though Jace knows he’s no good for Farrah, with her pushing him all the way, soon everything changes.
This felt like a runaway train. I just hoped it didn’t crash and burn, taking all three of us down with it.
Their coming together is hot, sexy, and so much more. You can see the connection that Jace and Farrah have, and I love that their strong friendship forms the basis of their romance. But Jace is torn. He held out against Farrah for so long, and even though he’s falling for her in a big way, he’s worried about Nathan’s reaction, given Jace’s well-deserved reputation as a player who avoids relationships. So there’s this sense of the forbidden and waiting for the bomb to drop as Farrah and Jace start sneaking around, and because the book actually begins with Farrah and Jace running into each other after not being in touch for three years (with Farrah completely distraught over their encounter), we know things don’t end well.
I really liked Farrah. She’s brave and honest, and she doesn’t hold back from Jace. She’s open about her feelings and what she wants from him, and that was really refreshing to see. But Jace was… blah. I could see that they were attracted to each other, but I didn’t really feel the chemistry like I wanted to. Jace was seeing other women in front of Farrah before they got together – he even had another woman sitting on the other side of him when the subtle leg touches from Farrah on the couch started. I also never saw the point of keeping their feelings for each other a secret, and it felt disrespectful to Farrah that Jace wouldn’t fight for her, and instead wanted to sneak around behind her brother’s back.
He comes across as a bit of a coward, and I much prefer a strong hero who will fight for his girl. I thought that Farrah deserved better.So this book fell a bit flat for me. I wanted more intensity, and sadly it just wasn’t there in this one. Still a good read though – especially the audiobook, narrated by Andie Arndt and Sebastian York.
3 stars
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