Review: Good Novella
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 01 9, 2011
The novella Pull the Trigger is a short and sweet piece about 25 year-old librarian Bec, recently divorced, and finding love with her high school crush Justin. If you want short, simple, and let's get right to it, this book is for you.I generally do not like novellas, unless it's about characters I've already grown attached to from novels. It is hard to get a feel for the characters and the plot always seems so rushed because of the length of a novella. I find it too limiting to truly enjoy. That being said, as a novella, Pull the Trigger isn't bad. I did feel rushed to get the characters in play. I did feel like I was being told the main character's past, rather than led and it didn't feel natural to read. Again, this may be my personal preference for being led into a story and being shown rather than told events or things about the character.The intimacy is hot in this book. There is an attraction between Bec and Justin.  After the reader gets over the rushed feeling and now knows all the past that leads up to where the novella is meant to start, you can relax and enjoy the relationship the two of them begin to build. If you like a relationship to unfold and build to intensity, there isn't time in this novella. The two quickly "get to business" and grow into loving each other within a two week time span. In these two weeks, Justin learns a lot about Bec's sexual problems with her ex-husband, and Bec learns something that deeply affected Justin in a previous relationship. The tension in the plot is Bec has agreed to take her dream job in another state just as she is finding Justin. The dilemma is will what they have meant to each other the past two weeks be enough to keep her from leaving?Short, sweet, and to the point. I personally think this could have been a much better novel, fleshing out the characters, leading the reader through the ups and downs of adultery, divorce, betrayal, hope, crushes, excitement, finding new love, discovery, and really making us care about Bec and Justin, what they mean to each other. The main characters are very likable and Justin is a great leading man. The intimacy would still be hot, the plot the same, but the experience for the reader could be relished and so much sweeter for it. I read on Goodreads from another review that this is the first in a series about the small town it takes place, Memory Grove. Whether this is an opener to more Bec and Justin, or a series of more novellas with different characters, I don't know.If you are a novella fan, this is one of the better ones I have read. Once the rushed telling of the past is over, the author gets into a nice flow and style. But, if you are a fan of novels, with all that comes along with investing in characters and their plight, this is probably not be for you.Caveat: My rating is based on my experience with other novellas, not novels.