Are humans meant to mate for life?
After four kids and an unfortunate but fateful end to her twenty-two-year marriage, Elsie Smith meets the new guy in town.
Kael Hendricks is … a little younger, a lot sexy, and too confident for his own good. He also doesn’t believe in marriage and all that goes with it.
And …
He’s just opened a new business that threatens the livelihood of Elsie’s family’s store—just in time for the holidays.
The problem?
There’s an undeniable attraction that leads to out of control situations, a loss of inhibitions, and a lot of small town gossip.
As Elsie tries to redefine herself and convince her family she isn’t having a midlife crisis, she’s forced to answer the biggest question of all …
Can she love an enemy who will never surrender?
REVIEW: 4 STARS
"Time didn't matter. Love didn't keep track of time. It lived in the moment."
What do we have here?? A Women's Fiction, reverse age gap, and Christmas themed story by Jewel E Ann, who sits atop my favorites/must read list? Well, of course I have to read this one!! I'm not usually a women's fiction kind of reader - nor am I a Christmas story reader (not a grinch, I promise!), nor am I a reverse age gap reader - whole list of cons for me, lined up there, but I would never ever give up the opportunity to read one of her stories. I'm always guaranteed a read full of emotion and thought. And that's exactly what I got from this book. I saw the RAG in a whole new light. It wasn't a crass read in any way, shape, or form - and I can appreciate that so much. It offered so much more to the storyline in the way that JEA does.
In the superb way that only Jewel E Ann can do, she delivers a compelling story about a woman finding out who she is, or more about who she is without her husband being a part of her life after 22 years. That's a HUGE undertaking in the emotions department when you've always been one half of a team. Imagine,... just imagine the consequences of that. Having been through a divorce, the amount of feelings you traverse is wide. Elsie's circumstances allowed for guilt and pain, sorrow and strength - but count in the trip of coming to all brand new conclusions as to the world around you and how you start to see it differently after such a big change. That allows for a lot of personal discovery as well as social discovery.
In turn, that social discovery part gave us Kael and I loved ALL THINGS Kael. But, I want to stress, this was truly Elsie's story. Kael was the gift that kept on giving, though, but we are with Elsie the entire time. Now, the cocky side of Kael that comes out is definitely one that is not a surface scratching side to him. He has a lot of depth that actually needs to be explored and peeled back. He really is a "what you see is what you get" kind of guy with a few caveats. I know that goes directly against what I said, but to share who he is in his entirety would take away just exactly who we perceive him to be. Perceive.....because he is exactly how we see him. I really, really enjoyed his character and all that he offered Elsie mentally, physically, and emotionally. He truly was the perfect guy for her story.
This really was the quintessential small town romance, complete with the perfect rumor mill propelled by the perfect group of church ladies. We've all seen those movies that show those church ladies sharing allll the gossip, especially in a small town - and this story was the written version in its purest form. I had to laugh at the cliche side of that because I grew up in a very small town (graduating class of 27) and that is so on point, it's not even funny! HA!
There is always an element of truth to JEA's characters' circumstances, an element of emotion that needs to be explored with each event. I love that she provides a relatable character or circumstance with a brave front, but still allowing me to dive deeper into the "why" of the story. Why did she do this? Why did she act like this? The why as to why she was feeling certain emotions was my favorite question to ask myself....and then answer myself. It forced me to see things from a different perspective and I love that about JEA's stories.
Her ability to draw me in with every story is almost a foregone conclusion. The characters have emotion and depth. The problems they are faced with have a real world truth to them that are easily relatable. This is the reason I will always read Jewel E Ann, no matter what she writes - comfortable trope, or not. She always gives me something to think about, and invariably provides a different point of view than I wouldn't have thought to think of otherwise. She's always giving me a soul deep, mentally challenging, and thought-provoking read. Always.
"Say nothing or say everything."
~BEE
~MEET JEWEL E ANN~
Jewel is a free-spirited romance junkie with a quirky sense of humor.
With 10 years of flossing lectures under belt, she took early retirement from her dental hygiene career to stay home with her three awesome boys and manage the family business.
After her best friend of nearly 30 years suggested a few books from the contemporary Romance genre, Jewel was hooked. Devouring two and three books a week but still craving more, she decided to practice sustainable reading, AKA writing.
When she’s not donning her cape and saving the planet one tree a a time, she enjoys yoga with friends, good food with family, rock climbing with her kids, watching How I Met Your Mother reruns, and of course . . .heart-wrenching, tear-jerking, panty-scorching novels.
~CONNECT WITH JEWEL~
ARC REVIEW
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COPY PURCHASED FOR GIVEAWAY
Interesting.... this book have multiple genres then..?
ReplyDeleteYes!! She really worked this one around because she was able to utilize a few tropes to tell the story and it was so much better than any of those tropes alone could have delivered to me.
DeleteGreat review
ReplyDeleteOoohhh another JEA book!! I can't wait to read this.
ReplyDeleteLove your review Bee You got me so intrigued and so excited.