4 Smooches!
Synopsis
“Quint and Annie sitting in a tree…K.I.S.S.I.N.G.”
Quint Lawson and Annie Weber heard that childhood song over and over and it never bothered them. Even though Quint was only five, Annie wasn’t just his neighbor. She would become his best friend and the love of his life. Annie wasn’t interested in dolls, or girly things when growing up. A tomboy at heart, having a boy as a best friend suited her just fine. That same boy captured her heart.
Quint had two passions, his girl and baseball. From kindergarten to college, Quint tore up every baseball diamond he played on. His position was shortstop. His talent was undeniable. Professional ball was most definitely in his future, and he was ready for it. Annie would be right by his side.
When everything in life is perfect, it’s hard to imagine heartbreak in any form. Quint wasn’t immune to its power. This shortstop had no idea what any form of heartbreak could do to his perfect world. When it hit, there were many casualties left in its wake…the most important one was Annie.
Can a person be prepared for, understand, or even endure a misfortune if they’ve never experienced one before? In Quint Lawson’s case the answer is no.
The Shortstop is a contemporary romance stand alone novel meant for readers who are 18+ due to mature content.
Review
Oh boy, where do I start with this one? It was perfect. Until it wasn’t. Confused? Welcome to how I felt by the end of The Shortstop. For half of the book it was such an epic and beautiful love story centred around two teenage sweethearts, sports hotshot Quint and the incredibly lovable Annie. In fact they first fall in love at five years old, becoming best friends and progressing to kissing friends that soon transformed into an insatiable and passionate love story that takes us to the present, after college and beginning a new era in their lives together- engaged and flying high. The beginning chapters were utterly perfect- romantic, steamy with sex, funny and full of relationship drama from a different set of characters but it’s only when Quint suffers a serious setback in his rising baseball career that everything begins to fall apart between him and the kind and sweet Annie. Anger, resentment and depression slowly creep in and take over the once loving and protective Quint, leaving behind the shell of the man that Annie fell in love with, however Annie is a remarkable heroine to have in your corner as her love and compassion and optimism never falters for Quint, she’s his strength and cheerleader in his darkest hours but unfortunately Quint is so far immersed in his own self pity that he begins to push Annie to the limits, testing their once unbreakable bond.
Tears blur my vision but anger is what’s fuelling my words. “You can’t be hurting as much as I am.”
“Really, because I haven’t loved you since the age of five? I couldn’t possibly be affected by all this as much as you are, if not more? Well, guess what? You’re fucking wrong! I am hurting as much as you. I may not hurt physically, but what’s happening inside me, what I feel every waking moment of every day is a pain like I’ve never felt before. The worst part is I never thought I’d ever feel pain in association with you. I never imagined you’d be the one to make the pain I feel worse with every malicious word out of your mouth.”
What started out as a brilliant story soon became embroiled in a stomach churning plot of dark angst and a serious case of WTF? Quint does something unforgivable in my eyes whether it was premeditated or not and designed to push away Annie or not, it just took the whole story down into the gutter for me. Annie’s character became far too malleable and meek and everything that was wrong or had gone wrong, the relationships that were ruined and desecrated-all of it was just swept under the carpet and everyone moved on with their lives. It’s a story that will work for some, they may love it but for me the second half was just too depressing and upsetting to even contemplate. It was very well written and the characters are well developed, even the secondary characters bring a lot of action to the table but it was just that one huge moment that threw me for a loop and sent the rest of the book downhill.
~Nicole
