Review: Estella Josephine
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 15, 2014
I like this character, Stella Jo from a ranch in rural Texas.  The book opens after her last final exam her senior year in college, and she is making a choice: return to her family's ranch and take the reins for managing it or join the Second Chance Ranch, a rehab facility in Texas, as a client care coordinator.  Since her relationship with her parents is rocky and because she wants the experience of client/patient care, she opts for the paying job.Once established at the SCR, Stella meets Van Ransom, a lead singer of Hostage for Ransom, which is one of the cooler band names I've seen this year.  Van has buried his unhappy life experiences under extreme substance abuse and over a long string of band groupies.  He has been to dry-out facilities in the past but the therapies did not stick (and he did not work hard on resolving the core of his addictions).  This time his record company delivers an ultimatum: he makes his three months of rehab stick or he's out of the band.  When he meets Stella Jo, the three-month sentence suddenly seems manageable, and maybe too brief.My complaint with this book is that Stella Jo does not take the time to get to know Van before she caves in to the physical attraction they feel for each other.  It's a cut first, measure later approach to a new relationship with a bad reputation stranger. What if she finds that his demons are too extreme, or his mental health has chronic episodes of violence against women, or violence period?  She jumps in knowing his internet tabloid behavior (not Boy Scout material), and her history of cautious dating (her former boyfriend wears a purple polo shirt in one scene) contradicts her decision making.As a healthcare professional in her first client care position, Stella Jo crosses the ethical line as well as breaking the facility's rules. The patient needs to get well, not have a torrid affair.  Instead of advising her to take things slow and non-physical, the SCR therapist suggests that Stella seize the day.  I guess the message is: you'd better lock down Van Ransom before someone else (not magna cum laude, not in her first months of a new job, not as ethical) does.  That's crummy advice.  That's also demeaning to Stella.I think this book could have been written to keep Stella Jo's integrity and professionalism and accomplish the love story, too.  This 4.0 GPA college graduate acts like an insecure idiot.  There could have been many weeks of flirting and dialogue and shared experiences. There could have been post-rehab scenes, where she is involved in his rock star band tour life.  Someone could explain to her the benefits of waiting three months until the real world surrounds them.  Instead, it's a series of illicit sex scenes and silly misunderstandings and drama.  I think Caisey Quinn can reach a little higher.