Review: Romantic and sweet
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 07 16, 2013
This Time Around was a sweet, quick read about high school sweethearts who find their way back to each other after their rocky breakup four years prior.Nora and Jake met when their best friends started dating and from then they were inseparable. Nora is the daughter of wealthy parents and Jake is just a small town country boy who is used to sewing his wild oats until he meets Nora. After dating for a while she decides to move their relationship into intimate territory but he stands her up that night. Assuming the worst and fearing he may have dumped her to continue his wild ways somewhere else she is so heart broken she packs up and leaves for college in New York earlier than she was planning. After four years she finally comes home to be in her best friend's wedding and ultimately comes face to face with Jake again.Jake and Nora weren't an angst filled couple and I liked that it didn't take them long to reconcile. As soon as they talk things out they reconnected and made a fresh start. I enjoyed watching them build back the foundation they had that was so strong in high school and although they weren't the same people their connection was still there. As you get into the story you find that Nora has never taken been physically intimate with anyone after her breakup with Jake, but Jake went into a deep depression and ends up hooking up with his friends cousin and the girl Nora hated in high school. This causes a few bumpy moments in the story but I never felt like it was too much for Jake and Nora. They were just a solid couple you just knew would make things work.There were a few things I didn't like, one being that Jake had a sort of Neanderthal mind set about Nora not having been with anyone and expressing his glee about it. I liked Jake but his mentality about this rubbed me the wrong way. It was OK for him to screw around and call it depression and he expected Nora to be OK with it. I did love how Nora handled finding out about his hookup with the girl she hated. It was a very real reaction that I am sure every woman has had to face at some point in her life. One of the other things that irked me was the whole "I don't have a condom, it's OK I'm on the pill" moment. I'm seeing a lot of books do this now and it just doesn't come across as realistic to me. Now there are some stories where it can be pulled off convincingly in the heat of the moment but I wasn't feeling it here. This couple knew they would be getting intimate and to not have any protection and then for Nora to be all "Tee Hee I'm on the pill" just pissed me off.Despite my qualms about the book it really was a sweet romance between two people who loved each other enough to work through their issues. Jake ultimately helped Nora find out what she wanted to do with her life and encouraged her to pursue what made her happy. The supporting characters being their best friends was a nice addition to the story and getting to see through their memories how they all became friends and lovers was beautiful. I was happy with the way everything worked out for Nora and Jake and recommend this book for anyone who loves stories about a southern boy charming the girl who is out of his league.