Review: This book was an awesome read. A great example of New Adult as a budding genre.
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 27, 2013
Savannah is in her last year of college and she gets an invitation to a wedding. A wedding she has no desire to go to, but her mother and their family status has her going anyway. On one hand she needs to go to prove that she isn't stuck in the past but she hates being around the people that were closest to her and ripped her heart out.Since she indeed will be attending the wedding her house mates slash best girlfriends set her up on a string of dates via a campus dating sight. Savannah doesn't usually do the bar thing but she goes on occasion to The Garage, where the girls' friend Riley DJs. He sees he likes Savannah but they agree they are great as friends and decide not to ruin it by making a go of something more.She goes to The Garage on all her dates and she notices on more than one occasion the hot new bartender. All of the girls do. They get on talking terms quickly as she goes on the crazy dates. Some okay some good and some uber bad.Things take a turn for the interesting when the hot new bartender shows a growing interest in her but she has the other dates. She thinks maybe it would work with one of the guys but when he comes back into town for their encore date he gets sloshed and the bartender we find out his name is Gage and he is Australian, saves her from the gropey and pushy guy. He gets into a physical altercation, (meaning punches him in the face... hard) with the dude when he hits Savannah in the face knocking her to the ground. Gage then grabs Savannah and takes her into the bar to check her pout and get her some ice. The bouncers put jerk boy in a cab and send him on his drunken way.A couple more dates and Gage steps up to bat. It starts great and it's hard for them to slow it down, but fearing a burn out they agree to go slow. She has put her date for the wedding on hold seeing where it goes with Gage, The jerk's name was Jax and he is in the hospital badly beaten and Savannah and Gage get taken in for questioning. That same night Gage want s to take Savannah somewhere special but his tires were slashed. Tha plus a note and mystery flowers are suggesting Savannah has a stalker.I have an idea about who it is early on but after a while I was pretty sure I was spot on.Savannah and Gage's relationship buds as their dates go on and on.She finally gets up the nerve to ask him to the wedding. Things go great till past and present collide and things rapidly unravel. As soon as Savannah goes to find Gage (and no I am not giving anything away) I am relieved but soon I am mortified and biting my nails, hard.My stomach dropped and I was dumbfounded and scared but relieved in the end.I love, love, love Savannah Guthry in all of her nave heartbroken, pieced back together craziness. She is a very well written character and surprisingly given her situation, not at all as wishy washy as I thought she would be. Her best friends slash house mates are great characters too. Candace and Sara are a great balance to this trio of girlfriends. Riley is a great character too and comes off as a friend with a crush that knows better.Enter the piez de resitance, Gage Taylor and you have a tastey cocktail of great characters with substance.He is a great looking swoon worthy, cougar attracting, all female jaw dropping gorgeous bartender who is way more than he seems. You don't expect what you get from him. You expect gorgeous player but get tender love in it's place yet he's witty and has an Australian accent that could make you spontaneously combust. I really like the fact that he is a gentleman and smart and funny.I love the progression of their friendship after the initial teasing banter while she was on the date experiment. Jax surprised me when he turned out to be scum but I guess at that point I was rooting for the Aussie anyway. I liked so much about this book!I can pretty much guarantee that I will read it again and probably again. That is saying something there because I have a TBR a mile long!This one is rockin' five fabulous stars from me, I would give it a ten if I could!I have to say Michele G. Miller has a way with words and I am completely and utterly a fan of her writing.I will be reading anything she scratches out from now on!Oh yes PS!I cried like a baby through tender moments, painful memories,sweet situations and a horrifying experience.I cried again through healing and revelations and I will do it all over again.