Review: Two Hurting and Lonely People Have a Chance at Happiness
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 06 15, 2012
I picked up this book because I thought the blurb sounded good and I like to mix things up with a Beta hero on occasion.  It turned out to be a decent read with one aspect of the story souring me on it somewhat.  I will say that what set up my hackles may not be a problem for someone else.The story is told from the point of view of Faith, a gal who works as a employment agency officer and a lonely woman who has been burned by men in the past and had a really traumatic experience in highschool that included the hero.  Faith is bitterly affected when she sets eyes on Jayden Moore for the first time in years.It is also told from the perspective of the hero, Jayden.  Jayden is a rare and special hero.  He is a hero that is not in the common way.  Jayden has CP as a result of being in an automobile accident as a baby that killed his mother and then he undergoes steady and severe emotional and verbal abuse from his step mother and younger sister his entire life.  But he survives and thrives to a certain extent when he becomes a successful businessman.  Now he wants more than anything to find a woman who can love him and he wants that woman to be Faith.Jayden enters Faith's adult life when he comes to her office in hopes of getting her help to hire a secretary for his accounting firm.  Faith is suspicious and prickly; Jayden is nervous and socially inept.  There are some back and forth exchanges and misunderstandings before one night brings them together and gives them a chance to air out their differences and correct the misconceptions.  But later one more hurdle comes that may end any chances they have together for good.The plot was good.  I was intrigued how a terrible high school incident was used both to bring the couple to each other's attention for the first time is also responsible for causing much harm for them too.As I said before, I enjoyed the refreshing change of the male character having a meek personality.  Some, who prefer strong, self-assured men who've got it together and are sexually experienced, will have trouble accepting Jayden, but I was truly rooting for him.  I enjoyed seeing love transform him.Possible spoilers****The character that I had issues with and the reason this story wasn't a complete hit with me, was Faith.  Much of the time she came across to me as just mean and selfish.  I do get that there might have been unease about seeing someone she has every reason to be uncomfortable around (the past incident was embarrassing and scary for her) and I do get that she got burned by a jerk, but she was way over the top in her willful ignorance much of the time.  She knows she was drugged by Janelle, Jayden's sister,and left in his bed (Thus hello, Faith! You're viewing things through a drug impaired view).she knows that Janelle and her friends let themselves into Jayden's apartment while he's away to party and trash it (and Faith even has a thought that he might have a reason to be angry when he comes home to that and a naked girl in his bed).She knows Janelle is bad news (so why trust her about her brother or lump him in with her just because he's her brother)Seeing a pattern here!  She KNOWs these things, but refuses to entertain the idea that Jayden might be just as big a victim of that night as herself.Then as an adult her trusted friend/neighbor tells her of Jayden's disabilities and stellar character as an employer, but in the face of all this she willfully refuses to get the whole story about that past situation, determines that Jayden can only want to be with her just to sleep with her or humiliate her farther, and then of course everyone including Jayden himself must be liars about his disability and good character.She said mean and hateful things that were way out of line and her suspicions and bitterness were over the top.  I honestly couldn't see what Jayden found attractive about her or why he kept trying to be with her.  There were a few scenes in the middle when she almost gave me whiplash when she went from bitterness and revenge to the entire opposite by giving him a wonderful night and after that a wonderful dating relationship.  Then she had a moment at the end again where I ground my teeth as yes, once again, she assumes about something and maintains silence with a bewildered Jayden.Give it a try if you like a to see to hurting lonely people get their chance at love.