Review: Breathtaking Love Story
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 7, 2014
What I discovered reading Sara Jane Stone's debut is that this author is a deft hand at crafting complicated characters in a richly emotional setting. Full Exposure, Book 1 of her Independence Falls series, is a short novel, but so packed with great storytelling that you don't even realize it. Though more would be a scrumptious treat. Stone flips the usual trope on its head and gives us Georgia, an Army vet who is suffering from PTSD following her tour in the Middle East. She's home with her brother trying to recover, working as a nanny for Eric. Eric's own life is in turmoil following the death of his sister and her husband and Eric is the guardian and new father to their orphaned son. As lumber mill owner, his business is now being juggled with parenting duties. Georgia's dealing not just with her own emotional turmoil, but her brother's over-protective nature. She's long lusted after Eric. Eric's always been attracted to his best friend's baby sister. Now proximity, and need, blow their long-time caution to the winds. But Georgia's scars and Eric's sadness, coupled with external issues that come roaring into their lives to complicate, and possibly destroy, their successes, and their chance for happiness. Stone's writing is superlative. Erudite, emotional, filled with perfectly drawn human characters, great conflict and her world building is perfection down to the tiniest detail. The Library Journal review for Full Exposure comments that there is not a tremendous amount of detail in Georgia's PTSD, but I found her poignant and tormented memories, and the light hand Stone used in her emotional responses to the trauma, to be perfect for this story, which didn't require great swaths of psychiatric or gory detail to convey the impact her service had on her. Characters are flawed, but human, rich and immediate, right down to the littlest cast member. It is a heart-felt book, with great sensuality, amazing sex scenes, and enough drama to satisfy any romance reader. Or any reader at all. It's a great love story. Don't miss it. And keep watch for the sequel, and Stone's other titles. They're among the best I've read.