Review: Could have been so much more
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 10 14, 2013
I read Near to You and I didn't totally dislike the book, but I didn't like it either.  The book left me with the feeling that I should have just gone to bed when I was supposed to.  This book has the premise of a young divorcee named Niara (Nia) moving back into town after going through a divorce that left her feeling less than sure of herself.  You have the young man, Brady who liked Nia all throughout high school, but was too shy to tell her.  Brady was doing one last gardening job before he left town to drive the country and see where he ended up.  Brady sees Nia and all of the feelings that he had in high school for her come rushing back.  When Brady reintroduces himself, Nia didn't even remember him.  Then she had a sudden recollection of him and thought that he was cute back then, but now he's just pure hotness.  They spend the morning together tending to her yard, and Nia is feeling the most intense attraction to Brady whom she barely remembered in high school.  Brady is thinking about Nia the whole time wondering if he should change his plans on leaving town or stay to see if anything can develop from the few hours he spends with her.  With all of the situations and emotional baggage that each character had, this story needed to be longer to develop the characters better, or Ms. King should not have had them so emotionally flawed.  Also, the foul language that Nia used wasn't necessary.  It didn't fit the personality of who she was.  I'm not a prude when it comes to language, but it should fit the flow of the story and here it was a miss.  I liked that they ended up together and their reunion, as well as the catalyst to their fallout was good, but it wasn't necessary.  The explosiveness didn't need to happen.  I think that a few words that registered hurt would have been enough.  You can't have that amount of drama without the character development.  I felt that the story could have been so much more.