Review: free purchase, would have paid for this, though!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 03 13, 2014
Received an email from PixelofInk.com with the title and description of this book, and decided to give it a shot. Especially since it happened to be free. Too often, free kindle books are just smutty, and while this one had a few sex scenes (even one with a young preteen boy walking in on the amorous couple) they weren't too bad. The storyline is what hooked me. There are more than enough books with a weak, broken, helpless heroine who needs rescuing by a strong, protective, capable man. But this book gave us a strong, capable woman trying to handle a difficult, painful situation with a former friend (turned stalker) on her own, with loving family taking extra precaution to make sure she's safe in her own home. Aeli isn't your typical damsel in distress; the girl welds metal into art, and is good enough at it that she's getting paid to teach students to do the same. She grew up in the mountains, chops her own firewood without breaking a sweat, and keeps guns (that she knows how to shoot) in her house for protection. She's beautiful, funny, REAL, and very down-to-earth. There's nothing not to like about this girl.So, I liked that break from typical "protect the girl" stories. But here's another good break, too... the hero isn't your typical "gruff, standoffish, broken and "sex-with-Aeli-is-all-that's-needed-to-heal-him" guy. Pat is a cop with an abusive, psychotic ex who destroyed his heart and spirit for joy so badly that his boss SENDS him on vacation and tries to play matchmaker with his niece (our heroine) because she could be good for him. I love the way this story was woven. I love the redemption aspect, too, that had nothing to do with Aeli and Pat's relationship. It was an additional thread that made this story difficult to put down.I also have to say, the author did a spectacular job describing the town Aeli lives in, Northstar, Montana. If this place is real, then it's where I want to live. I mean... everything is gorgeous, rich, pristine... the town and people came so alive for me that they felt like another character in the story. Next to Aeli, Pat, June and Luke, the setting was my favorite character. The author did a great job fleshing out the details of the characters, their thoughts, their backgrounds, the setting... it made such a fantastic story.There were some editing issues; I mostly noticed missing words and a couple of misspellings. But they didn't take away from the story for me. The odd name of the main character was more distracting; as I read I called her Allisem. Like Allison, with an "em" at the end. Not sure if that's right but it was the best I could do. It doesn't roll off the tongue very well, and was chopping up the story in a way that kept distracting me. But this character was different from so many other characters that I've read about... I get that the author wanted to honor her with a unique name.The one thing that bothered me after it ended: *SPOILER ALERT* Nothing was ever mentioned about JP and the "plans" he had for "the girl who dumped him." Plans that may have involved her son? And I thought I remembered the author calling him Jake at one point, but then he was JP? That's the only loose end that wasn't tied up for me.