Review: Hidden Gem
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 09 7, 2013
This is a sweet romance with lots of heavy surrounding it.  There are the issues of teen pregnancy, suicide and autism we are hit with in the first few chapters.  I felt it was dealt with in a mature manner, not taking any of the situations lightly while telling the story.Liliana is a 21 year old girl that had let her youth pass by.  She was a mother at 14 and pretty much the head of the household at 17.  She takes care of her son and ailing mother while trying to get her nursing degree.  Lili has no time for a social life, until she meets Ryan.Ryan is the cousin of Alex, who goes to school with Lili.  Alex and Lili share some innocent flirting at the coffee shop where he works.  Lili is pretty much up front about the kid thing, which was too much for Alex, so they decided to just be friends.  He asks Lili out on a "friendly date" and brings Ryan along.  Ryan is one hunk of a messed up man.  He is a former Marine turned cage fighting guy as he needs pain to numb his past.  Ryan has some big time demons that constantly haunt him, especially on Valentines Day.Lili and Ryan feel an instant attraction to each other, but she also feels there is something not quite right about this guy.  At the end of the first friendly date they end up in one of the worst positions imaginable.  From that awful situation, these two try and form some sort of relationship.  Lili is cautious of Ryan because she has a family of her own to protect.  Ryan is cautious of Lili because he has a secret to protect.I enjoyed how this couple grew together and learned to trust each other to a certain extent.  It was maddening that Ryan wouldn't let Lili in no matter how hard she tried.  It was just a wait and see as to  how the bottom was going to drop out of the relationship.This is a good book, some grammatical errors, but not bad enough to detract me from the story.  I love when a book I picked up for free ends up being good.  It is Moments #1, I am hoping Moments #2 is Alex, he has some trauma of his own to deal with.