Review: Sweet, emotional, new adult story
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 02 10, 2014
The story opens with December opening the door to the news her father was killed in action [Don't worry, no spoiler as the blurb gives that.] That, of course, devastates her world, her family. Then some other blows hit her as she tries to recover from the loss of her father. Into all this steps Josh, an acquaintance from high school, and now her brother's coach and her neighbor. He is the one able to help her through her current turmoil, but the secret he has he knows will be a dealbreaker on their relationship.The setup is very dramatic and emotional of course, and is well done. In the tragedy, we see December's strength as her family falls apart after the news. But she is not perfect at all, and we get to see that too. It is actually Josh who comes across as a little too perfect, but whatever. That added to the romance as he gives up his player ways on campus for one true love, and fights for that love no matter what else is happening.Josh hints various times of not feeling worthy of December in the past and the present to some extent, and I wish that was made more clear why. His emotional growth as a man apparently happened in the years between when he knew December in high school and when they meet up again, and are not really included in the book. This is more her story, and their story together. More on him would have added a bit to the book for me, I think, though we got some.It was a nice change in a new adult book that the trauma she is dealing with is not the typical trauma most NA books seem to take on (abuse, rape, etc). It is nice to see a new topic addressed, and I give huge points to the author for taking that on and addressing it in a realistic and emotional manner. I really loved this book, this author, and hope to read more by her in the future.The writing is fluent, pacing good, story flows well. And it is not riddled with grammatical problems either. That's always nice, right? This is a polished work.I received an ARC of this book via Netgalley for an honest review.