Review: I wanted to shake Shane! I'm glad he came around.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 01 28, 2014
I received a review copy of this book from the author. And I devoured it.Shane Matthews has returned to his small town in Texas to secure the inheritance for his childhood best friend, Brad Montgomery. Brad's had a bad run ever since Melanie busted his heart senior year. Booze and drugs have left Brad in a bad way--emotionally and financially. What Shane can't understand is why Brad's grandma didn't leave him his fortune...and who did get it!Back on his home turf, Shane encounters Melanie--the girl who got away, and destroyed his friend. She's as good looking as ever, and clearly the interest is mutual, but Shane can't get past his fury over Melanie's role in Brad's downward spiral. He insults her--terribly.Melanie's been considered the town tramp since senior year. Instead of escaping to Tulane for college, she's stuck out her life, working hard and harder to support herself, and her son. Brad's son. Not that people believe her story of an assault while on a college visit. Brad hadn't. Then again, Brad was a lush in high school, and Shane should have known that--if he was such a good friend. Melanie knows exactly what happened to Brad's "inheritance" but she's not willing to spill the beans to Shane--or Brad. Why should she have to? Brad's been gone for years, and hasn't looked back once. Not for Melanie, their son, or his grandmother. Now broke, he certainly doesn't deserve anything.What we have here is a small-town, small-minds melodrama. It's real, and engaging and reads like 2/3 of Maury Povich episodes. Lots of accusations and false leads. Even more hurt feelings and complete misunderstandings.The whole time I wanted shake Shane and tell him to take good hard look at Brad. See him for the miserable conniving wretch he was. The DBag didn't deserve gas money, let alone a dime of inheritance IMHO. When Shane does finally get the straight story, he's introduced a whole lot more problems for himself, and Melanie. But he's a stand-up guy and one with whom Melanie is overjoyed to reconnect. It seemed as though their love story was always waiting on the fringe, just out of reach in high school because of their own decency and friendship with Brad. In any case, the lovin' is quiet, but considerate. It's a satisfying read, for sure.