Review: 4 poison apples read
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 05 26, 2014
Wanted. Needed. Whole. These are the things that Stella Jo Chandler thirsts for, but she has never felt them, and she never thought she would until him.Regret. Addiction.  Broken. Van Ransom has lived with these things for more years than he cares to remember. His past haunts him, so he does anything he can to drown out the memories…to feel anything but pain.In a twist of fate, Stella Jo and Van, two seemingly unfixable people, meet at Second Chance Ranch – a place where high profile clients go to break free from the vices that bind them. One’s there to help while the other is there to receive one last chance at redemption. But what actually happens between them is perhaps what they’ve needed all along – the chance to become the best versions of themselves through love and trust.Stella Jo has amazing strength. Her dreams were stripped from her, but she continues to fight and live. She thinks she’s a cold, unfeeling woman, but the walls that she has built to protect herself from her parents’ neglect and pressures is the only way she’s survived. Van breaks that impenetrable barrier and shows her that she is worthy of love and praise, but she has to believe it herself first before she can truly trust what he says.Van’s addictions stem from feelings of inadequacy. He didn’t come through when someone needed him the most, and his inability to do so torments him on a daily basis. He doesn’t feel like he’s good enough for Stella Jo, but that doesn’t stop her from becoming his new addiction, and while staying away from the drugs and the booze gets easier, trading one addiction for another is probably not what his psychiatrist would suggest.Last Second Chance tells the story of two people who on the surface couldn’t be more different, but if anyone cared to look closer, they would see that Stella Jo and Van are both looking to break free from the chains that bind them – feelings of inadequacy and self loathing. Together, they give each other what they both desperately need. The connection they share on both a sexual and emotional level can be both their saving grace and their undoing because their attraction for one another should not be acted on; it goes against all of the rules at Second Chance Ranch, but sometimes breaking the rules can lead to redemption instead of disaster.Overall, I enjoyed Stella Jo and Van’s story. I had a hard time getting into the story due to the use of the third person point of view. At the beginning, I felt disconnected from the main characters because of it, but once I got used to the omniscient perspective, I really enjoyed it. What I liked most about the hero and heroine is that both of them are flawed; both are struggling with pretty heavy demons, and there’s no easy way to break free from them. Stella Jo and Van’s issues are realistically portrayed, and the steps they take to overcome them illustrate how someone’s past can have him/her spiraling out of control. Even though I would have liked to have seen their problems as well as Stella’s relationship with her parents be worked out a bit more, it’s definitely a story worth reading.A complimentary copy was provided by the author in exchange for an honest review.4 poison apples (The Fairest of All book Reviews)