Review: Enjoyed it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 7, 2014
Parker and Lani have been best friends since they were 5 years old and she came outside wearing a princess costume and plastic shoes.  He called her “princess” and the name has stuck for all these years.  She will always be his princess and she has no idea that he has loved her for all that time.  Kade became the third wheel at the age of 12.  Initially he and Lani weren’t very good friends, but that all changed one day when Parker was absent from school.  This was the turning point in all 3 of their lives as from there on out, Lani and Kade were inseparable. Kade and Lani married when they were fresh out of high school and shortly after Lani gave birth to their first of two sons.  A middle of the night knock on the door begins to set in motion secrets being revealed that Kade has kept hidden from everybody.Kade is not a nice husband or a friend.  He has changed throughout the course of their marriage and has turned into a verbal, physical and emotional abuser.  It was easy to read the words and actions that Lani was enduring and wonder “why don’t you just leave” but Lani said it in very simple words…”unless you’ve been personally afraid of a man who’s ten times stronger than you, don’t judge me.  You have no right if you don’t know what it’s like.”Parker is Lani’s rock throughout the entire discovery process.  Parker has had his own story of love gone wrong.  He had been biding his time waiting for Kade to mess up, but once they became married he thought his time had come and gone all because he never spoke up about his true feelings.  He is not going to let Lani slip through his fingers again this time.  He will do whatever it takes to protect her from Kade.Kade is a horrible man.  I felt absolutely nothing towards him except hatred.  We are given flashbacks into their lives and even from the age of 16 I despised how he treated Lani.  I can see how Parker was just waiting his time knowing that Kade was going to mess up.  Unfortunately Lani forgave him time after time.Now let’s talk Parker…what a great guy.  He had a sucky love life, but has never given up the concept that love exists if given the right person.  He knows that the person for him is Lani; it always has been.  He is the one holding the pieces together for Lani’s boys.  It is him that is there for them when their father isn’t.  He is generous of his time and love and is one of the nicest, sweetest guys you will meet.  He spoke the wisest words as a 5 year old:  “One day you’ll be my queen, and I’ll be your king.  We’ll have lots of babies, and they’ll be our prince and princesses.”Parker’s beautiful words in the epilogue will have you wiping your eyes:  “I’ve waited forever for you, my little princess.  I promise I’ll never let you down.”This was a story that held my attention throughout and had me sitting on pins and needles waiting for the bomb to drop with his secret.  It was emotionally charged also as I wanted Parker and Lani to finally be together.  How I could feel hatred on one page and pure love on the other is a gift that the author gave.  I wanted to scratch Kade’s eyes out and hug Parker with only a few sentences separating the two.  It’s not a long story, but just the right length to become invested in all their lives.  Truthfully if I had to read any more about Kade and the terrible way he was treating his wife, it would have been too much.  The author kept it a good balance giving us just enough to let us despise Kade and more reasons to love Parker.