From the author of Sweet Evil and Sweet Peril....
Book Description:
He was fifteen and she was seventeen.
When sophomore Ryan "The Kid" McPhearson makes the Varsity baseball team, he finds himself submersed into the life of upperclassmen, and falling in love with senior Brooke Bennet. To Ryan she's his dream girl, perfect. Maybe to the outside world a two-year age difference doesn't matter, but this is high school. Everything matters.
Ryan soon realizes Brooke's life is not so perfect. He becomes her closest friend, her safe place to fall when she needs to escape. Ryan seems to be benched in the friend zone with no chance to bat.
Time is both a curse and a blessing. It ushers Brooke away to college, and Ryan into the arms of his first girlfriend. It alters Ryan from a kid to a high school graduate, ready to venture to college himself. But when Ryan sees Brooke again he realizes there are some things even time can't touch.
Though much has changed, one question still remains. Will the things that mattered in high school always stand between them?
My Thoughts:
3 stars - A sweet story of young love that turns to more
Novella's are usually hit or miss with me. As a novella, there isn't usually enough time for me to get invested in a character. So not the case this time. This is a story over the course of three years. We get pieces here and there but its' enough for me to fall for Ryan.
Ryan is an athlete with a crush on an older girl. He's shy and cute as he watches her from afar only to have her approach him. I love how they become friends despite the age difference. Everyone sees how he feels but she only sees him a friend. It really had me loving Ryan more. His reactions to her, to his own life and his own relationships all had me loving him.
I didn't like Brooke as much. I'm sure it's because she hurts Ryan so much. She doesn't get what she's doing to him - at least at first. What I did like about her was that she made friends with Ryan. He's so shy around her that he never would have made the first move. She did. She encouraged him with baseball. She got the whole male ego thing. She was a good friend to him. But she was just a friend. When she dated other guys it tore him apart. When she encouraged him to have a girlfriend it hurt him. She didn't mean it that way but it happened.
This book is written in third person from Ryan's POV. I always struggle with third person writing but I can see why it worked for this book. The book focuses on the parts of Ryan's life that were important to his relationship with Brooke over about three years time. First person writing would have been odd here. And even though it was third person, I really did connect with Ryan.
The pacing is good. I liked that we didn't get too much extra so the story of them flowed well. It's a novella of about 90 pages, so I read it in a couple of hours.
I was kinda thrown by the ending. Things may have happened a little fast there. I wanted just a little bit more too. I guess that's a good thing. I felt like I didn't want to let go of these characters. I spent some time thinking about them and added a own little bit more. I like that when I can't quite let go of a book.
Others must have felt like me, because Wendy added a second Epilogue that's two years later. Find it HERE.
If you like sweet YA romance, then this is good one to pick up.
I really enjoyed this. I am totally pining for a full length contemporary from Wendy Higgins!! She really made me feel invested in the story in such a short time. I can only imagine how a full length novel would suck me in. Great review!! (I loved Ryan too)
ReplyDeleteGood review. Been iffy about this one. Though, the story does sound good.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great review! I love how you explain what worked/didn't work for you and why. I'm really curious to see how Wendy works Realistic Fiction.
ReplyDeleteI hadn't heard of this one, but it sounds interesting! I really don't read enough novellas, maybe I should check it out :)
ReplyDeleteThis one sounds sweet. I'll definitely check it out.
ReplyDeleteI've been curious about this one. Nice review Pal.
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