Review: Fantastic Read
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2011
How long should you follow your dreams, before you wake up? That is the decision Sabrina must make.Four years ago, she left her small town life, determined to make it big in the music world. And to be honest, she was also running away from commitment and fear of a dull life, when Luke proposed. Luke and Sabrina had different ideas of what they wanted out of life, and now, four years later, Sabrina is heading home, stranded, penniless and pregnant.When Luke's best friend and business partner Marc intercepts a call from Sabrina, he is determined to keep her from breaking his friend's heart again. He plans on keeping her as far as possible from Justice and Luke. But a funny thing happens on the way from Muddy Gap, where Sabrina's rental car gives up the ghost. Marc discovers that Sabrina isn't the person he thought, and realizes that she could be dangerous-to his own heart!Erin Nicholas has written an enchanting and hot love story all about coming home again. It is a tale of following your dreams, and not accepting less than you deserve, as well. I loved the small town life of Justice, and the descriptive way Ms. Nicholas is able to bring the reader into the story almost immediately. The characters are well crafted, and the situations are believable and in some cases, heartbreaking. I enjoyed watching the story unfold, and empathized with the decisions that the main character, Sabrina, struggled with.Sabrina is determined, intelligent and talented. She realizes she has a hard road ahead, and that tough decisions must be made. Her internal struggle of whether to settle for security with Luke, or go for it all with her music as a single mother is an ongoing thread here. I was happy to see that Ms. Nicholas didn't make this an easy road for Sabrina, because it made the final solution so much more enjoyable. I also enjoyed watching as she and Marc discovered each other as something other than adversaries.Marc is such a strong character. At the beginning, he is determined to `save' his friend/brother Luke from more heartache at the hands of Sabrina. I enjoyed watching him discover that she wasn't the villain of the story, but rather just someone trying to find the right way for her. I loved the moment when he realized that he had feelings for her himself, and also discovered that, if Luke had really cared, nothing could have kept him and Sabrina apart. I think that's when I fell a bit in love with Marc myself.This story is romantic, and when Sabrina and Marc finally get together, the heat explodes off the pages. There is a surprising twist near the end, and it helps to bring several of the secondary characters into focus a bit. There is a back story about Sabrina's friend Kat that I would love to see Ms. Nicholas explore in more depth, and I'd also like for more from the world of Justice and its small town atmosphere. And I guarantee I will never look at baking a pie in quite the same way again.Originally posted at the Long and Short of It Romance Reviews