4.5 SMOOCHES!
SYNOPSIS:
I broke her heart ten years ago and left town.
She hates me, and rightly so. It doesn’t matter that the rest of the country loves me, that I’m a starting quarterback with a multimillion-dollar contract. Because when I look in the mirror, all I see is a failure who was too young—and too afraid—to fight for what I wanted.
But I’m not that guy anymore, and all I need is one shot to convince her.
***
He has no idea what happened after he left. And now I’m supposed to work alongside him like we don’t have this huge, messy history?
But I’m older now, wiser, and I won’t let anything stand in my way of doing a good job for this league. Not even one overpaid, arrogant player who thinks we’re going to kiss and make up.
News flash, buddy: I am over you.
REVIEW:
I absolutely love a second-chance romance, especially when it’s a reunion of first loves, and Kendall Ryan’s Dear Jane is an engaging blend of this favorite trope with a sports romance. Ryan’s contemporary romances are light-hearted, sexy reads with just enough angsty emotion to keep things interesting. The way that Kendall combines charming plots and endearing characters in steamy romances always hits the mark for me, and thankfully, she’s given me plenty of new opportunities to enjoy her brand of romantic fiction this year.
Dear Jane reunites high school sweethearts, Jane and Wes, ten years down the line. Wes, an NFL quarterback, is signed by the team where Jane is the assistant manager and her father is the head coach. Their break up was rough, and there was a lot more to it than Wes knew about at the time. Ten years apart, however, did nothing to cool the sizzling chemistry between the two of them, despite Jane’s best efforts to fight it. I loved how they worked through their heartbreaking history, and Wes’s regret for his role in it was palpable and genuine. With some patient persistence on his part and her willingness to forgive and forget, they were able to slide back into their old groove while also enjoying getting to know their older, more mature selves. Ryan plays up this contrast—the familiarity of their shared history with discoveries in a new relationship—making it as easy for the reader to be as invested in this love story as this couple was.
Kendall Ryan’s Dear Jane was playful, passionate and unputdownable pleasure-reading. With a swoon-worthy hero and a sweet heroine, it was packed with heart-string-pulling emotion and a smoking hot romance, and I devoured this fun, feel-good story with a smile on my face in a single afternoon. Dear Jane by Kendall Ryan gets 4.5 smooches from me!
~Danielle Palumbo
