Missing from Me

NOTE: This coming year I have set a challenge for myself of reading one book a week that takes me out of my comfort zone. A book that may include one (or more) tropes (scenarios) that I usually avoid like the plague. Cheating. Older women/younger man. OW drama. Just to name a few. Nothing is off limits. I am taking a HUGE step out of the box I usually reside in and charting a course into the unknown (HaHa). My reviews for these books will be slightly different than my usual as I will focus a bit more on whether the author managed to WOW me despite it having content I usually avoid. That said, I will go into each book with an open mind and an open heart and who knows, maybe I will discover a new favorite author on the way!


Full transparency here I went into this one knowing a lot of what would happen beforehand. Going forward with my challenge I will be going into the books with (hopefully) little to no knowledge of what to expect as I plan to avoid reading reviews before I start the book. Because of that I honestly thought I would struggle A LOT with this one. In fact, I ended up enjoying it WAY more than I thought I would.

~THIS BOOK INCLUDED THE FOLLOWING TROPES (SCENARIOS) I USUALLY AVOID~ (don't click if you don't want the book spoiled!!)
-- CHEATING-- ROCKSTAR-- OW DRAMA-- SECRET BABY


~WRITING - PLOT - PACE~
I found this one to be very well written. The pace, for the most part, was very good. That said, I also thought the book was maybe a smidge too long as it did drag a bit in a few places. Especially the last 25% or so. Nothing too bad though. The plot was engaging and kept me turning the pages and the happy for now ending wrapped things up nicely.


~HERO~
Honestly, he was a childish douche for the first part of this book. First impressions are everything, and his was not a very pretty one, to say the least. He also didn't appear to be the sharpest tool in the shed for a lot of the book. Amazingly enough, somewhere along the way, I started to warm up to the guy. His interactions with Willow were SO sweet and often hilarious. Did I feel he was redeemed by the end? Yes, I do believe that author pulled off a small miracle in that sense. Did I completely love him? NO. Did I feel he groveled enough...NO. But only because I am a grudge holding bitch that thinks he should have crawled over broken glass while the heroine kicked him in the balls over and over again. Alas, as amusing as that would have been for “ME” I doubt that it would be a selling point for other readers. C'est la vie.


~HEROINE~
I think just the fact she had anything to do with Sean again set Anna up to come across as a bit of a doormat. I would have sent a lovely “FUCK YOU” letter back to Sean for the flowers he sent and left it at that. Of course, that would have made for a very short book indeed. lol I also thought she fell back into his arms WAY too quickly. That said, I did find myself liking her a lot overall. The whole secret baby thing can be problematic sometimes for me, but since Sean was such a douchenoodle, I understood her keeping it a secret. She seemed to be a great mom. A great friend. As I said, I liked her. Would I have made the same choices as her? NO, but again if she had done what I wanted her to do there wouldn't have been much story to tell.





~SIDE CHARACTERS~
There was an excellent array of secondary characters. I loved both Logan and Peyton and wouldn't mind seeing each of them get their own book. I also rather liked Drew and wouldn't mind seeing him get a happily ever after in a book of his own. And of course, Willow was adorable.


~HEAT LEVEL~
This was moderately spicey. The sex scenes were hot, and there was a decent amount of them, but they didn't overpower the plot.


~ANGST LEVEL~
Moderate. This surprised me, considering the subject matter I expected this to be angst overload but I didn't find it too bad at all. It's not all rainbows and butterflies as there is a lot of pain and anger and hurt to be dealt with but I also didn't spend the entirety of the book with a knot in my stomach. Even the OW stuff (although prevalent) wasn't too over the top bothersome or detailed.


~IN THE END~
I enjoyed this one more than I thought I would for sure. It had a lot of things that I usually avoid like the plague, but the author did a good job of weaving a tale that had me engaged from page one. Because of that, I didn't find myself getting hung up on stuff that usually would have me not finishing a book lickety-split. She also managed to redeem the hero, and I can honestly say I did believe he would remain faithful to the heroine from here on out. Which is a HUGE feat considering I tend to be a believer in the “ONCE A CHEAT ALWAYS A CHEAT” mentality. So yea, this turned out to be a pretty good first foray out of my box and therefore is getting two thumbs up from yours truly.