Review: Rough start, great middle and end.
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 2, 2014
The first several chapters of this book were are hard drag for me and then it got much much better.During the early part of the book, it just felt like a typical Kristen Ashley book and not in a good way. There are things that KA does that I like a lot and other things that I put up with because everything else is so good. We got a bit too much of the later in the first chapters.We had a heap of the fragmented man speak, clearly we were going to have several of those odd love triangles that happen, and the heroine was a girlie girl.The last bit annoyed me the most because she use to be on the curvier, plainer, and nerdier side.  And now the hero notices her sexually. I hate that.  He was always in love with her a bit as it turns out so why not leave her as wonderful is?There are character driven reasons for her changes that work in the overall plot but it would have been a much better romance and broken the KA mold to leave Emme as is or just a bit a different as per the life changing event.What made me really annoyed about this plot point is that KA knows she made this choice and Deck spends time thinking about it and his preference for a high maintenance woman because he says it reflects self esteem.  I think he was a a bit of a mouth piece of the writer here and I disagree with the viewpoint so this grated on my nerves.  It doesn't mean it was out of character for him though and that is what saved it and made me keep reading.So, how did the book get better? Well, it is a great character driven romance that really is centered around Emme dealing with the PTSD from a childhood event and Deck partnering her in this.It is a lovely friends to lovers romance and nothing ridiculous happens. There is even some meta stuff about how insane the amount of things that happen in this small town is and some loosing at the villains with human eyes. His ex was portrayed as B in the end.  Good stuff.This is a very healing and touching romance especially if you have or have loved one with PTSD.  She gets therapy. I love that.There is an awesome dog, cool house, and interesting mystery to solve as well.It is also sexy as hell.A great read.